Page 54 of Untouchable

“Yes, Reaper?”

“Are you braiding my hair?” Our eyes lock and my heart does this weird flip in my chest.

“Yes. I am.” I see her lips curl as she fights back a smile, and that makes me smirk as well. When I comb the hair by her neck with my fingers, her eyes fall closed and I watch her shoulders relax. So I let her hair fall and her eyes fly back open.

“What are you doing?” she asks with a confused look on her face.

“We skipped the best part.” I reach around her, my chest barely brushing her back as I grab her hairbrush from the counter. She quietly watches as I brush through her hair, letting her eyes fall closed after a few strokes. I run my fingers through the tops of her hair and she lets out the softest moan. I’d have missed it if her room weren’t so silent right now, but I’m glad I didn’t. I pull my hands away from her head and her face immediately morphs into a pout.

“Don’t stop.” Those two little words, falling from Katarina’s lips, make my thoughts spiral into a completely different territory. I’m imagining all the ways I could make her beg me not to stop—touching her, kissing her, filling her up with my cum—when her eyes fly open and she laughs nervously.

“I mean, thank you.” When I finally refocus, her cheeks are rosy and she’s holding one arm with the other, a very shy stance for the boldest woman I’ve ever met.

“Don’t mention it.” Then I start over, pulling three strands of hair together, until it’s time to add more.

“Where did you learn how to braid?” she asks, making me smile at the memory.

“I have a younger cousin, Marisol, who insisted on having her hair in braids every day for school. My tía Sofia, worked late nights and when she got home every morning, she was always rushing to get the kids to school. Since Mamá and I lived with them, I promised Marisol I would braid it for her so she was ready before her mamá ever got home.” I reach the end and nod for her to hand me an elastic from the counter.

“That’s so sweet, Ace. Marisol was lucky to have a cousin like you.” I shrug, not sure how to take such a sincere compliment from her.

“My family worked so hard and it always just felt nice to know I was helping out, you know? It just felt like the right thing to do.” I stand back and look at the braid, taking pride in the fact that even all these years later, I can still do one so well.

“Ah, perfecto.” She spins around, caressing the long braid in her hand, and smiles.

“Okay, you have to teach me how to do this!” She stops spinning and faces me.

“Or you can just call me whenever you want it done and I can do it for you.” I take a step closer to her and her eyes bounce between mine.

She crosses her arms over her chest, her smile falling into a scowl. “I’d hate to put you out. You know, invade your space.”

“I don’twantspace from you, Katarina. I rented this place because I thought it was nice, and that it was time we started having a little fun on this trip. I’ll still gladly climb in that bedwith you tonight if that’s what you want, or need. But the space is an option if that’s what you prefer. Understand?”

She nods her head slowly. “I guess so.”

“Good. Let’s get going. We’re losing daylight.” I pat her hip and head downstairs, hoping that she’s as excited about our next stop as she was about her braid.

“The Badlands?! Shut up, I have been wanting to come here for years!” Katarina squeals as she hops off the bike. A single piece of her hair falls into her face when she pulls her helmet off and I find myself reaching out to tuck it back into place without thinking twice about it. She smiles at me softly. “Oh, thank you.”

“I took the liberty of grabbing this for you.” I pull her camera out of the bag that’s mounted on the back of my bike and she smiles wider.

“You’re just full of surprises today, aren’t you?” she takes a few steps back, pulling her camera up to snap a few shots in my direction.

“Seems that I am.”

We spend the better part of our day exploring every single sight Katarina asks about. Watching the prairie dogs, going to the lookout, watching the grass blow in the wind for over thirty minutes just because it was pretty—we did it all and every second was worth it to see her smile.

“I think my entire memory card is full just from this trip,” she says, scrolling through all the pictures she took today.

“I can’t wait to see them,” Bodine says, making her smile.

“I’m sure they’re magazine-worthy, but can we go? I’m starving.” We all turn to face Mikey. “You can’t tell me none ofyou guys’ stomach hasn't growled even once since we got here.” Katarina rolls her eyes, putting the lens cover on her camera.

“Yeah, I guess we should head out. Hey, how long are we staying here, Ace?” She turns to face me as we trek back to the bikes.

“A few days,” I answer.

“Sooo…could we maybe stop by the store to grab a few things to have there? So we’re not having to leave every time we get hungry.”

---