Page 14 of Untouchable

CHAPTER 9

Katarina

“THE MORNING AFTER”

Ican see the sunlight before my eyes are even open. Bright against my closed eyelids, I squeeze them even harder, trying to fight the inevitable. I roll away from my window, hoping to find relief from the pounding in my head, but when I reach my arms out, there’s a pinch in my shoulder, and I wince. Ugh, I must have slept in Tabitha’s dress. I shift, trying to ease some of the pain from lying on it, but when I find it useless, I throw myself upright, reaching for the zipper behind me. Blindly fumbling for the mechanism, I pull it halfway down, convinced that’ll be enough to slide the dress off, before freeing my aching body from the leather prison. I throw it haphazardly across the room before pulling the sheet above my head and nestling back into bed.

Before I have the chance to fall back asleep, I hear a door open, followed by sounds that inform me I am, in fact, not at home. From the sounds of it, I’m at…no.

I couldn’t be.

Iwouldn’tbe.

“Shit.” I hear the door lock, and my heart begins beating rapidly in my chest as Ace moves around the room. There’s a dip in the bed, and my body reacts in a way I’m unfamiliar with.“Katarina.” His voice caresses every inch of my skin when he speaks. I slide the sheet down just enough to peek my eyes out, regretting it the moment I see his face. His dark brown eyes are steady on mine, his long black hair held back by his bandana, as always, and a plain black T-shirt hugging every muscle like it’s painted onto him. The more I sit here and admire him, while he says nothing in return, the more aware I become of the situation and start to panic. I hold the bed sheet close to my now naked body, sitting up straighter in Ace’s bed.

“What am I doing here? How did I get here?” My breaths are coming a bit faster now as I look around the room. My boots lay on the floor next to his door, my dress flung across the room where I tossed it a moment ago. That’s a good sign. At least I didn’t wake up naked. Then I remember that I chose to forego underwear last night and realize my dress being on doesn’t mean as much as I thought it did anymore.

“Did we–”

Ace cuts me off with urgency in his tone. “No. We didn’t.” I sigh in relief as he walks across the room and picks my dress up off the floor, throwing it to me before turning to face the wall. I pull the dress on and get the zipper halfway up before realizing I can’t pull it the rest of the way without my arm screaming in pain.

I walk up behind Ace, tapping his arm. “Um, can you help me?” When he turns around, my body reacts similarly to how it did when I felt him sit next to me on the bed, and my eyebrows pull in on instinct.

What the hell is going on?

He nods in agreement, and I turn around to allow him to zip me up the rest of the way, hating the goosebumps that break out across my flesh, causing my nipples to peak when his fingers caress my skin.

“There.” I turn around to face him, having to look up at him since I’m without my boots.

“Why am I here? What…what happened?”

He crosses his arms over his chest, his face serious. “What’s the last thing you remember from last night?”

“Tabitha and I went to the saloon. We saw some of the guys, Viper, Minnow, and Jake—acting like idiots, of course. We sang with the band, got a couple of drinks…” My eyes narrow, looking up at him. “You…”

The muscle in his jaw flexes once. “What about me?”

“I was standing with Tabitha at the bar. She was talking about the guy who had asked for her number, then…” My throat feels dry as I struggle to believe if what happened next actually happened, or if I dreamed it. It all feels too blurry to be real.

“Then?” he demands.

I try to swallow, desperate for some relief for my burning throat. “Then you came up behind me. You whispered something to me, and then you…”

Touched.

Bit.

Kissed.

Squeezed.

“Use your words, Little Reaper. I need to know what you remember.”

“You told me to play along, that I couldn’t fight my way out of this one—whatever that meant— then you started touching me, kissing my neck…that’s all I remember.” I walk away from him, realizing how hard it’s become to breathe while standing so close to him. My heart begins hammering harder the more I replay the events of last night.

“You don’t remember me telling you how good you looked?”

A hysterical laugh escapes me. “Yeah, okay.”

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