Page 11 of Shadow

How had I come to this point? Mere hours alone with him and I was caving. Did I not have any willpower at all?

When it came to him, apparently fucking not.

Scowling, I pushed myself from the floor and snatched up my pillows, placing them on the bed. Rurik opened his eyes, watching me, but I pointedly ignored him. I didn’t want to see the smug look on his face or the glimmer of triumph I knew would be in his blue eyes.

Stiffly, I laid down on the bed, staying as close to the edge of the mattress as I could without falling off. I heard Rurik sigh behind me, and I stiffened even more, my muscles so rigid, it kind of hurt. Why couldn’t he just leave me fucking be?

“You’re going to fall off the bed,” Rurik grumbled from behind me, his voice low and husky. I hated the way it made my body come alive, and I detested even more the image that came to mind—him between my thighs as he slid inside of me and used that same tone to tell me how good I was being for him.

Fucking hell. I didn’t even bottom. I was strictly a top.

“I’m fine,” I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest when the air conditioning in the room turned on. Seriously, it was cool outside. Why was the damn AC on?

I heard Rurik shifting, and then, a moment later, the sheet and comforter draped over me. I clenched my jaw, but I wasn’t stupid enough to complain. I was getting cold, and between the blanket and Rurik’s body heat radiating from beneath the covers, I was going to warm up quickly.

“At least don’t freeze half to fucking death,” he muttered before laying back down.

I didn’t respond—just closed my eyes and tried willing myself to sleep. But it didn’t work. While the bed was much more comfortable than the floor—at least the hotel had sprung the money for a comfortable mattress—having Rurik behind me and in the same bed with me made it extremely difficult for sleep to come.

“You’re so tense, it’s making me tense,” Rurik complained with a huff as he moved again. “Relax, Malik. I won’t bite… unless you ask me to.”

“Oh, fuck you,” I snapped, glaring at the wall in front of me. “You just can’t help yourself, can you? You always have something?—”

Suddenly, his arm banded around my midsection, and then, he was yanking me across the mattress until his chest was flush against my back and his knees were tucked right behind mine. I sucked in a sharp, surprised breath when his hard, thick cock pressed against my ass, and mine thickened in response almost instantly.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I snapped, hating how breathless my voice sounded.

“Cuddling you,” Rurik said as if it was the most normal thing in the world. “You’re tense, and neither of us will get any sleep if you keep being all rigid.” He slid his hand under my shirt, and I couldn’t contain the shiver that rolled down my spine as he slid his rough palm up my abs to my chest, pushing my shirt up as he went. When his hand settled over my heart, he lightly tapped his index finger in time with my rapid heartbeat. “Relax, Malik,” he murmured against the back of my neck.

“Hard to do when you’re—” I cut myself off, refusing to finish that sentence. Being this close to him was making my tongue loose—too fucking loose.

He hummed and tightened his arm around me, still tapping that index finger over the center of my chest. My heartbeat was slowing, and even if I didn’t want to, my body was relaxing back against his.

Damn him.

“Hard to do when I’mwhat, Shadow?” he asked, his voice low. Soft. I swallowed thickly. “When I’m holding you?” He pressed a kiss to my shoulder, and I closed my eyes, another shiver racing down my spine at the shockingly tender kiss. “Don’t think so hard about it. Just let me hold you. Go to sleep.”

I didn’t respond. Instead, I just let my eyes stay closed, focusing on the soothing tap of his finger over my chest. I didn’t know when he stopped or even if he ever did. The gentle, rhythmic tap of his finger and his soft, steady breaths fanning over the back of my neck lulled me into a state of semi-consciousness until I leaned back into him a little more.

He made a little rumble of contentment and nuzzled against the back of my neck. And that was the last thing I remembered before sleep took me and I had the best night’s rest I’deverhad.

9

Malik

Irefused to acknowledge that I’d slept peacefully the entire night, and I pretended as if last night didn’t happen at all. I wasnotgoing to acknowledge howcalmI’d felt all night in Rurik’s arms nor how well I’d slept with him at my back. And discussions of how I woke up rock hard and practically on top of Rurik with my head on his chest, my arm thrown over his flat stomach, and my leg thrown over his, were off the damn table.

As soon as I’d woken up, I’d been internally horrified that Rurik was already awake and had been scraping his blunt nails along my scalp. I’d shot out of his arms immediately and lurched from the bed, rushing into the bathroom. I took an ice-cold shower to force my dick to practically retreat into my body, and then I got dressed for the day. Thankfully, when I emerged from the bathroom, he just told me to get my shoes on so we could go get breakfast. He didn’t say anything about me crawling into bed with him or how I’d practically laid on top of him while sleeping.

Now, as we sat in a small diner down the street from the hotel we’d stayed in for the night, Rurik was still quiet, which was unlike him and had me on edge. The only reason I was able to swallow every bite of food I put into my mouth was because I needed to eat to keep my strength up.

That and the whole hunger-rage thing. I wasn’t keen on being dropped to my knees by Rurik again, even if I did sort of like it. And I refused to focus onthateither or how every time he dropped me to my knees, something in my head went quiet and forced the rage I constantly felt to recede a bit.

“When we finish here,” Rurik finally said, making me drag my eyes up from my plate of eggs and hashbrowns to look up at him, “you’re going to make the phone call to Kaleen and arrange a meeting.”

“He’s going to want to meet alone,” I warned him. Kaleen wasn’t the kind of man to back himself into a corner, even if we had no intention of harming him. I would be meeting him alone or there would be no meeting at all, regardless of if he owed me or not. That was just how he worked.

Rurik nodded. “I figured as much. You’ll be alone, but you’ll wear a wire.”

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