Page 60 of His to Protect

Chapter 13

Trina

“Thank you,” I murmured, half into the glass of water pressed against my lips. “I’m feeling better, though.”

Declan stood over me and watched me swallow the pills he’d just handed me along with the water. “David said every four to six hours.”

“It’s just an ankle,” I reminded him, fighting to keep the edges of my lips from quirking up. If I’d learned anything this afternoon, it was that Declan didn’t like seeing me hurt in any way.

One side of his nose twitched and he nodded when I handed the empty glass back to him. “How are you feeling, for real? Be honest.”

“I feel well rested, but tired. And my ankle is sore, but not in a painful way, just tender.”

He searched my face as if examining me for any hint of untruth before he nodded again and walked away. I watched as he headed to the small bathroom and rinsed out the glass before he shut the door. While he used the restroom, I rolled to the other side of the bed to the nightstand, the only other furniture in the hotel room besides a small chair pushed up to a tiny desk in the corner, and grabbed the remote. I’d just turned on the television when Declan exited the bathroom. As soon as I saw him, my breath stopped inside me.

He had taken off his shirt and I couldn’t stop staring at his chest.

He was cut.

Ripped.

Holy crumb cakes, the man was a serious work of art.

My eyes followed him as he sauntered around the bed, almost as if he’d slowed down when he noticed my eyes were stuck to his body like glue. Then he sat down on the bed next to me.

Next to me!

My eyes bugged out when he kicked his feet up on the bed, crossing them at the ankles, his back at the headboard.

Then he reached over to me, slid his arm around my waist, and pulled me to him as if I were light as the pillow he rested against.

“Um. Declan?”

His arm tightened around my waist until I had no choice but to rest my head on his shoulder and my hand on his stomach.

Without speaking, he plucked the remote out of my hand and started flipping through channels.

“You’ve had a long day, and you’re tired,” he said, before I felt his lips press against the top of my head. “Had a lot of ideas in my head today, of how we could move forward with exploring whatever’s going on between us, but that’s going to have to wait.”

Um. My blood began pulsing and heating. A throb began, and not in my injured ankle, but in a much more pleasurable area. I couldn’t stop my fingers from flexing against the taut skin of his abdomen, which was covered by the sexiest dusting of hair.

I wanted this. I wanted whatever he originally wanted to explore.

I wanted to explore him…and his body.

I wanted him to explore mine.

Not having had a lot of partners, only a few before Kevin, I’d never needed to take that first step and let a guy know what I wanted. In my limited experience, young guys were pretty blunt about what they wanted and expected.

Still, I gathered whatever confidence I had and tilted my head back, twisting so I was looking at Declan’s jaw. His jaw was tight, his eyes straight ahead on the television.

“Declan?” I whispered, adjusting as best as I could so I was sitting up further. His fingers on my hip held me in place. “What if I want to explore…um…you tonight?”

His eyes turned to mine and his jaw tightened further. “You’re hurt.”

I looked up at the ceiling and opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off by dropping the remote, then cupping my cheek with his warm, large, calloused hand. “When I take you, Trina, and I promise you I’m going to, I want to know that everything I’m giving you is pleasure. And tonight, I can’t know that for certain. I don’t want to be worried that you’re hiding pain in your ankle when I’m making you feel good in other places. But trust me, it’ll happen. This will happen between us, when I can know that I can take you and not hurt you.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips against mine. The surprise I felt at hearing his words, along with the taste and feel of him, his lips surprisingly soft, made my lips part and he slid his tongue inside my mouth.

Tasting me.

---