Page 17 of Take

I ROLLED OVER, HUGGING THE pillow in a rare moment of bliss after having slept through the night without any nightmares. I sighed, feeling refreshed as I stretched my legs out and hit warm, hard—

My eyes flew open and I came face to face with a naked smooth torso with black ink lines running the length of his side. The sheet covered his legs then stopped in a crumpled chaos at his hips. My gaze trailed down the path of hairs to . . . I bolted up right, yanking the sheet with me.

“Morning, sunshine.” He was sitting up in bed leaning against the headboard, eyes glued to his phone as his fingers tapped on the screen.

“You’re in bed.” Jasper had ignored the hint of blanket and pillow on the floor and slept in bed with me. I should’ve known he would. His leg rubbed against mine and abruptly, I pulled mine away.

“You’re certainly observant first thing in the morning.”

“And your asshole button doesn’t have an off switch.”

He chuckled. “About time you woke-up. Been awake for hours listening to you snore like an elephant with its trunk kinked.”

I gasped. “Elephant . . . kinked . . . you’re such an asshole.”

“Hmm, you also lack variety in your vocabulary.” His mouth twitched and I wanted to smack him. I didn’t because I had no intention of putting my hands anywhere near him. He was naked or partially naked. I was in his t-shirt and boxers and I couldn’t decipher if the fast pumping rush through my veins was from anger or from the thought of him being naked in bed with me.

I’d coasted through the last four years without having to say much and suddenly in the last twenty-four hours, I was talking back, arguing and even smiling. “What are you doing?”

“Playing angry birds. Addicting. Red bird is the shit—”

I exploded. Not like me. So not like me, but I was furious. I hadn’t felt emotions like this since . . . my first few months in captivity. “What the hell are you doing in bed with me?”

He continued to play on his phone without even reacting to my outburst. His brows lowered in concentration and his lips pressed together as he slid his finger across the screen.

“Are you listening to me?” Jasper’s nonchalance was making me react irrationally and I had a feeling that was exactly what he wanted. And this was why I preferred to be silent rather than talk because people rarely listened to anything but themselves. “God, so typical.”

“Oh, I’m anything but typical. And I heard you, just chose to ignore you. My right. It’s your right to get out of my bed.”

“Your bed?”

Jasper’s brows rose and there was no sign of his playful grin. “Yeah, sunshine, my bed. I clearly remember shoving a handful of bills in your hand to pay for this room. And I paid for the room next door, which by the way still pisses me off. I don’t like to waste money.”

“Well, it wouldn’t have been wasted if you let me sleep there.”

“It wouldn’t have been wasted if you’d listened to me in the first place.”

He lowered his hand from his phone then slowly stroked his abdomen, fingers moving over the blocks of muscles. I watched, breathless, unable to look away from his smooth, hard body. Then his hand slid lower, down the trail of hairs . . . the sheet lifted and his hand disappeared. I swallowed. The sheet tented . . . I wasn’t sure if it was his hand or . . . I jerked my eyes away, but my gaze didn’t go far; instead, I was staring at his chest, admiring the hard mounds and valleys.

“Done with your perusal?”

My already heated cheeks burned. “Surprising you even know a word like that.”

“Oh, baby, you’d be surprised about a lot of things I know. Care to find out?”

I scrambled out of bed taking the sheet with me. Big mistake. Well, it wouldn’t have been if I hadn’t looked, but I did and he only had boxer briefs on and his cock was obviously rock hard—and huge. My eyes flew to his and there was no smile, no cocky smirk . . . he was smoldering with desire.

“Oh, God.” I spun, ran into the bathroom and slammed the door. I heard Jasper’s deep chuckle following me.

Damn it. I felt like a nuclear weapon traveling on a road ridden with potholes. Unsteady and ready to explode at any minute. Everything he did was testing my control. Shit, he wasn’t testing it; he was splitting it apart.

I put my hands on the lip of the sink, closed my eyes and tried to will the eruption of emotions away, but the image of Jasper, lying in bed half naked, casual, confident, making no apology for his erection, wouldn’t vanish.

He desired me. He was turned on and we hadn’t even touched. It made me feel . . . wanted. Desired. God, why did I want him to want me? He was arrogant. Selfish. An assassin who was hired to protect me from someone . . . a someone who had no reason to want a girl who lived for four years tucked away in Spain.

“Max. Let’s move.” Jasper knocked on the door. It was a no nonsense voice, stern as if telling his soldiers to move out.

I had to stop this . . . this . . . well, whatever it was. People used people to get what they wanted in life. I’d learned that really young and Jasper was certainly at the top of the list of using others, except he didn’t try to hide it. I knew he was being paid to protect me. I also knew he was playing with me and enjoying it.

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