Page 44 of Savage Heart

Alaric presses his lips together to stop himself from reacting, but it’s no use. A laugh explodes out of him. “Do you say things like that intentionally to make me laugh? The ins and outs of butt plugs?”

“Don’t make fun of me because I spend more time reading books and less time watching porn. Some people like a woman who hasn’t done everything under the sun. It gives the person she’s with a chance to introduce her to things.”

He pulls me close and places a gentle kiss on my forehead that soothes my hurt feelings. “I’m not making fun of you. I think it’s great that I get to do things with you that you’ve never done with any other man. I’m sorry if you thought I was laughing at you. I swear I wasn’t, Sienna.”

“Okay.”

I curl up against him, pressing my face against his neck and loving how masculine he smells. Like soap and sex all rolled into one Alaric scent.

“We can stay here until you want to leave. Nobody can get to you here. We can get room service, and we can live in this bed for as long as you want,” he whispers softly above me.

“What if I want something that isn’t on the menu?” I say with a chuckle.

“Then I’ll go find it or I’ll tell Gideon to get his chef to learn a new recipe.”

I lean away to look up at him and the love I see in his expression takes my breath away. “You would, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course I would. That’s what you do when you love someone.”

“Thank you, Alaric.”

With a smile, he shakes his head. “No need to thank me.”

All of a sudden, I feel so tired, like I can’t keep my eyes open anymore. A terrible night followed by a wonderful time with Alaric has led to me feeling utterly exhausted, and all I want to do is fall asleep in his arms.

He seems to sense that because he pulls me close and holds me against him, almost as if to say, “Rest. I’m here, so you never have to worry again.”

Alaric Rule, a hitman who kidnapped me, protected me again tonight. I owe him my life. I intend on paying him back the only way I know how.

By loving him for the rest of my life.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Sienna

I open my eyes and look up at Alaric to see him staring down at me. With a smile, I joke, “I know a lot of people say they’d love someone to watch them sleep, but to be honest, I think it might be a little creepy.”

“So much for my being romantic, huh?”

Shrugging, I snuggle up against his side. His skin is so warm, like every inch of him is alive. It’s one of the first things I fell in love with about Alaric.

“Why were you watching me?” I ask as I trail my fingertips across his muscular abs.

“No reason,” he answers in a quiet voice. “Just woke up and there you were with your head on my chest, so I started watching you sleep.”

“I hope I didn’t snore. Very unsexy, the snoring thing.”

When I look up at him, he shakes his head. “Not that I could tell. For a few minutes, you looked like you were smiling, though. That was pretty cute.”

“Uh-oh. We’ve entered the cute faze of the relationship,” I say in a faux worried voice.

But Alaric doesn’t seem to get my humor on this and simply stares down in confusion at me. “The cute faze? What’s that?”

I don’t know if he just doesn’t have experience with relationships or he truly has never had one move into the cute faze. He’s never told me about anyone before me, so either possibility could be true.

Prepared to take my joke further, I sit up and tug the sheet with me to cover my naked body. He watches me carefully, like he isn’t sure what’s happening but curious to see what I’ll say.

“The cute faze is when everything begins to settle in between two people and things stop being sexy,” I explain quite seriously, like I’ve done actual research on my idea.

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