Page 94 of Corrupting Ivy

He pulled the glass from my hand, then tipped my head up by my chin. “I told you. You’ll want for nothing.”

“Randall.” I brushed his stubble with my fingertips. “I don’t want to get my hopes up.” My gaze bounced from one eye to the other, studying their dark depths. There were secrets he kept hidden there, and it made my heart race. “This is too new for me to become comfortable.”

“I understand.”

Judging by the look in his eyes, he did, and that brought a sense of peace along with it.

“Now, sleep.” He stepped away from me, my bandaged hand falling to the couch beside me.

It wasn’t worth the fight, and maybe the trip would go faster if I slept through it.

Randall drew the blanket over my body and tucked it under my chin as I settled in. “I don’t think this is safe.”

“I wouldn’t let you do it if I thought it wasn’t.”

How was it that he could cause my insides to melt with just his words?

He ran his hand down my hair, caressing the messy strands, then took his seat and broke out a laptop he had tucked against the wall between his chair.

I watched him type away with a dedicated look, then closed my eyes and let the liquor soothe me.

It didn’t take longfor her to drift off to sleep with her purple, bruised lips slightly parted as she breathed.

Although I still had a meeting with Sacha to plan, I kept finding myself staring at her chest rising and falling.

The fear I’d experienced that night hadn’t diminished in the slightest, and it forced me to make sure she was still breathing. Her wounds were deep, but the internal scars were deeper. I’d help her through them. I’d teach her how to extinguish those traumatic events and feel as though they’d never happened.

And if I couldn’t, then I’d distract her by devouring her body like I wanted to do this very moment.

She took in a shuddered breath, then her body jerked to the side. It was a minuscule movement, but it was enough to bring her out of her sleep with a gasp and wide eyes.

Her eyes locked with mine, and the tension that stiffened her body eased as she caught her breath.

“Another bad dream?”

She hid her face with the blanket and nodded.

“They’ll pass. I promise.”

“You still have bad dreams.”

“I don’t dream.”

She pulled the blanket from her face. “You said you had night terrors.”

“I said it looks like I have night terrors.” In actuality, I didn’t like being startled awake. “I run a high stress, demanding life. That comes out when someone wakes me from a deep sleep.”

“Oh.”

“Just don’t wake me like that, and you'll be fine.”

Her eyes widened. “That won’t be a problem because I’ll be in my room.”

I handed her the glass of now room-temperature vodka. “We’ll see about that.” She raised her head and drank it down. “We’ll land in about two more hours, get some more sleep.”

She gave me the emptied glass, then plopped her head back on the pillows. “If I sleep anymore, I won’t sleep tonight.”

A smile crept across my lips as I thought about keeping her up all night with my face buried between her thighs. But that wouldn’t be happening for a while. She needed time to heal.

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