Page 81 of Keep Me Close

Just when it seems like she’ll doze off, I press my lips to her temple. “Time to get out, baby. You need to sleep.”

She makes a few disgruntled noises as I carefully slip from behind her, rising to my feet and reaching for a towel. I quickly dry myself off before helping her out of the tub and wrapping the thick cotton around her shoulders, my hands lingering as I do the same for her. When I’m done, I hook an arm under her legs and lift her against me.

“Knox—” She lets out a soft laugh, her arms slipping around my neck.

“What?”

“I’m more than capable of walking.”

“Yup, you are. But that doesn’t mean I can’t carry you to bed.”

Without further protest, she rests her head against my shoulder as I stride into the other room. The city lights cast the space in muted shadows as I set her down on the mattress and draw the covers back, easing her beneath them. Then I do the same before gathering her into my arms. She curls against me, as if we’ve done this a hundred times before, her head settling against my chest. I tug the blankets over us and let my hand drift up and down her spine in a slow caress until her breathing evens out. It doesn’t take long before she’s drifting off to sleep.

After that, I stare at the ceiling, one arm wrapped around her, my hand resting at the small of her back. That’s when the truth fully settles in. The second I stepped into that bath, I crossed a line I’ll never be able to come back from. Nothing about the way I feel for Cheyenne is fake.

If I’m being honest with myself, it never was.

I look down at her auburn hair spread across my chest, her face peaceful, as if she finally feels safe enough to let go, and the sight of it nearly undoes me.

Not with lust or even desire, but with something deeper and far heavier. An emotion that knots low in my gut before I’m finally able to put a name to it.

I’m falling for this woman.

And the crazy part?

I don’t bother trying to talk myself out of it.

Instead, I pull her closer and press my lips to the top of her head, my arm tightening around her like I can keep the world at bay if I hold on hard enough.

With a sigh, she curls even closer to me. All I can think about is being the place she feels safe.

The one she reaches for.

For the first time in my life, that thought doesn’t scare me.

If anything, it feels inevitable.

29

Cheyenne

I wake in the dark with a racing heart. For one disoriented second, I have no idea where I am. The air smells faintly of soap and something masculine. Panic spikes before my brain has a chance to fully catch up. The terror hits hard enough to suck me under as everything returns in fragmented pieces.

The zoo.

Laughing with Knox.

Stepping off the elevator and finding the box with a shattered frame and note.

Fear like I’d never known had crashed over me like a wave.

Knox had wrapped me in his arms and held me until everything inside had calmed. He’d run a bath before joining me in it.

The memories are enough for my breathing to calm. I turn my head and realize I’m not alone. I’m in Knox’s bed. His arm is draped loosely over my waist, his chest warm against my back. Heat from his body surrounds me, and with it comes a truth I can’t ignore.

I asked him to make love to me.

My throat constricts. Even after the bath and the way he touched me, kissed me, brought me to orgasm until I was shaking with it, he didn’t take anything for himself. He hadn’t used the moment to get what he wanted, even though I offered myself up freely.