see me naked, yet. A moment later, she reappears in the doorway. I can see her hardened nipples through the sleep shirt she’s wearing and saliva pools in my mouth.
Fuck me. I used to think it was so hard to see her and only be able to watch her, but I was wrong. This is a far more difficult battle. Dropping my gaze, I take in the rest of her body. Clean, dressed, safe.
“The bathroom door doesn’t lock,” she says as if I didn’t know that already.
“I know. None of the doors lock except the main entrance and the gym.” A tense moment of silence blankets us. Pulling the covers back, I ask, “Do you need anything before we go to sleep? A drink of water?”
“I’m not sleeping with you.” She lifts her chin into the air. Her defiance really is a fucking turn on, and if she didn’t matter so much to me, I would snap her in two.
Turning to face her fully, I don’t bother making my voice soft, there is no way she will win this fight. “You will sleep with me in this bed. This is one thing I insist on. I’ve waited too long for you to not sleep in the same bed with you now. So, you can either come to me on your own, or I will drag you to the bed and tie you to it. Choose, but either way, you’re sleeping beside me.”
Slowly she blinks as if she’s not sure she heard me correctly.
“What’s it going to be?” I ask, my patience slipping.
Padding over to the bed, she climbs up onto the mattress, a look of rage on her face. God, she is adorable when she’s mad. She lies down at the edge of the king-sized mattress and pulls the blanket all the way up to her chin.
Her gaze stays trained on me the entire time, like I’m a big bad monster. I can see fear, anger, and curiosity swirling around in the dark depths of her ocean colored eyes. I didn’t bother putting a shirt back on, and just like earlier, she stares at my bare chest when I climb into the bed, taking the spot beside her.
Her cheeks are a hue of pink, but when she realizes she’s been caught, her face turns bright red.
“It’s okay to look. You don’t have to be shy with me.”
“It’s wrong. You’re a monster. You kidnapped me.”
Ignoring her words, I roll onto my side and pat the spot beside me. “Come here. I want to hold you.”
Her lips press into a firm line, and she shakes her head. “I’m fine here.”
Sighing, I reach for her, throwing an arm over her middle, I drag her toward me. “When I said sleep, I meant in my arms.”
“I don’t want to sleep this close to you. I want to go home.” She squirms against me and rolls onto her side, facing away from me. Tightening my hold on her, I crush her back to my chest and keep her there. It takes a few minutes, but eventually, she stops struggling.
I guess it’s because she feels my cock hardening and pressing against her ass while struggling. Burying my face into the back of her neck, I inhale deeply. For the first time in a very long time, calmness sweeps over me. The same calmness I felt all those years ago when Dove held my hand and told me everything was going to be okay.
Years of pain and anguish are washed away in the blink of an eye and all because I get to hold her, finally. All I feel is Dove. Her warmth surrounds me, her sweet scent tickles the hairs in my nose. And I’m reminded that this isn’t a dream. This is real. The steady rhythm of my heartbeat drums in my ears and I squeeze her a little tighter.
“Goodnight, Dove,” I whisper into her hair. She doesn’t say anything back, but that doesn’t bother me; soon enough, she will see things for what they are.
For a while, her tiny body shakes with fear, but when she realizes I’m not going to do anything, she relaxes into my arms. It doesn’t take long for sleep to find me, and I hold Dove in my arms the entire night, my love for her an unbreakable prison that she will never escape.
My muscles ache when I finally open my eyes. Having Dove in my bed was both heaven and hell. Heaven because I was finally holding her,