Page 50 of Bound By Fate
Hell, I didn’t want any of this for Katie. I wanted her to be happy. This right here didn’t come close.
I remained knelt down on the floor when she came back in and stood next to me. Looking up, she was so gorgeous, and she didn’t see it in herself. I wished she did. I wished she saw what I did.
“Will you lay with me?” she asked, turning to sit her bottom on the bed.
Fuck, that was music to my ears. “Of course.”
“Where were you before I woke up?”
I stood and nodded to the chair. “There.”
“You could’ve slept on the couch. It probably would’ve been more comfortable,” she replied, moving into the bed and under the covers once again.
“But if I were in there, I wouldn’t have heard you.” Her head laid on the pillow as I turned out the light and moved to the other side of the bed. I only thought for a second before I did it. I pulled her into my body, wrapping my arm around her and fitting her to me, her head resting on my chest along with her hand. She didn’t protest.
I let all of my heat envelop her, hoping to relieve some of her fears.
She didn’t protest. Instead, she laced her fingers through mine and held them to her chest. A chest that was thumping rapidly. Fucking loved this.
“You’re safe, Katie. I’ve got you.”
“I don’t really know much about you, Dryerson. Why is that?”
A soft chuckle escaped me. “Because you haven’t asked.”
Her body stilled, getting rigid. “I haven’t asked?”
“Nope.” And she hadn’t in all this time we’d known each other; that was the one thing she’d never done. Find out about me. She knew the surface, but did she really know the real me?
She turned in my arms. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry. You must think I’m a selfish twit.”
Even in the darkness, the moonlight lit up her face that appeared horrified. “Nah. Get comfortable and ask away.”
16
KATIE
I’d never askedhim about his life. What the hell kind of person was I? This man had been inside me. He was in my niece’s life, my sister’s life, and I knew nothing. All because I didn’t ask.
To say I felt like a moron was a huge understatement. I’d been so wrapped up in my life, my troubles, my feelings and pushing him away from me that I didn’t even get to know Dryerson on a friend level.
Because that was what I wanted with him, right? To be friends. To both be in my sister and Remy’s lives without us actually being together.
It didn’t speak very kindly about me as a human being. He deserved more, but I already knew that.
It made me feel even worse in that moment. Unfortunately, I was the jerk in this situation, and I hated myself for it.
It was time to rectify that mistake.
“What’s your full name?” I asked, starting off slow. Knowing his first and last, I had no clue what his middle was.
“Benjamin Joseph Dryerson,” he answered without pause.
“Did the girls in school call you Benny?” I teased, feeling his chest move in a chuckle.
“Actually, most of the school did. It just stuck, and I didn’t give a fuck. Then, in the Marines, we went by our last names, and I carried that one through. So Dryerson it is.”
This made me smile. “Can I just say that Benny is seriously cute. I may have to start calling you that.”
