Page 104 of Forged By Sacrifice

I pulled off all my clothes, leaving me in my underwear. She eyeballed me as I got into bed. I patted the spot next to me.

“Don’t you trust me to keep my word?” I asked.

“Maybe I don’t trust myself.”

“You said you were sore. I won’t let you harm yourself,” I said, smirking.

She crawled across the bed, making it hard for me to keep my promise as her T-shirt dipped, showing me a glimpse of tantalizing flesh at the top of her breasts. I swallowed.

“What’s that look?” she asked.

I just shook my head, knowing it would kill me and my balls to keep the promise I’d given, but I’d do it anyway. I pounded the pillows and tucked her body next to mine, placing her book on her lap.

“You know, I don’t expect to stay in here every night,” she said casually, still looking at the words on the page.

“Why not?”

“We aren’t moving in together, Mac-Macauley. We’re dating.”

“I see your point, but it seems absolutely insane for you to sleep in your own bed.”

“That’s just because you want to have sex daily to soften your morning wood.”

I laughed. “I just told you, no sex.”

“You said no sex tonight.”

“Ah, the lawyer in you, looking for every little nuance,” I teased. “I’ve taken care of my morning wood on my own for twenty-eight years. I don’t have to have sex to help me.”

She looked up, a soft blush spreading over her cheeks. “Did you just tell me you masturbate every day?”

I grinned at her. “Not every day.”

“Wow.”

“There’s that word again.”

“I don’t even know how I’m supposed to read now.”

I laughed and turned on the TV. “I’ll put on something boring.”

And that was how we fell asleep: with her book still on her chest, the TV turned to the American History Channel, and my body trying hard not to react to the gorgeous woman next to me.

? ? ?

The week went by with us in this fashion: dinner together, study together, fall asleep together. I was loving the simplicity of it all. The chance to get to know her that didn’t end after a normal date. We didn’t eat out every night. Georgie cooked one night. I cooked another. But it was just time we got to spend learning the curves of each other’s bodies and souls.

On Wednesday, she reminded me her brother and sister were flying in the next day. She was nervous, running a hand over her ponytail, not quite meeting my eyes. I grabbed her hands and pulled her up next to me. “Georgie. Stop. It’s going to be fine.”

“Raisa says Malik has been in a mood.”

“Do you think my sisters are never in moods? Didn’t you see Dani come home on Tuesday? If she hadn’t gone to work out, I might have thrown something heavy at her.”

She picked at an invisible lint on my T-shirt and then smoothed it out.

“What’s really bothering you?” I asked.

“It’s just… I know how hard it is for you to be linked to someone who comes from my background. If you liked them, it would at least be an easier pill to swallow.”

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