Page 41 of Never Fear (Whiskey Ridge)
His jaw ticked, eyes darkening for a moment before he corrected me. “Liked how I felt inside you.”
“God. Do you ever stop? For one fucking second, do you ever think, ‘Hey, maybe I shouldn’t be such a cocky ass and should quit annoying everyone around me?’”
He was somehow drifting closer to me while barely moving, and I hated that I could feel every beat of his heart beneath his hard muscles. Hated that I liked it. Hated that I wanted to feel it pick up speed while I did unspeakable things to him.
I hated that he was right.
Would I ever admit that, though? Probably not.
Austin was an ass, and I was stubborn. I wasn’t sure which was worse.
“Go to sleep, McKenna.”
“That’s it? I just get told what to do by you now, too?”
His free hand came up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingertips lingering on my jawline. “Your eyes are bloodshot, and you’re shaking.”
“It’s cold.”
“The heater’s on.”
“So?”
“So your body is tired.” He dropped my hands, but they stayed put while he glided his touch along my arm to my elbow. “Admitting it won’t kill you.” Something in his gaze told me he wouldn’t let it, even if it could.
My fight slowly receded with that, much like it had before. Somehow, Austin was beating down my defenses one by one while simultaneously building them up stronger.
“Fine,” I bit out, finally removing my hands from him. Our eyes remained locked for a few more seconds. Seconds that felt like a millennium to my heart. Because behind that steely gaze and promise of death, Austin was soft. My body ached to want to fall asleep curled up next to him, but my mind was too stubborn to say the words aloud. To ask him to not have the guys come over so he could hold me while I fell asleep.
Instead of showing him the side of me I kept hidden under lock and key, I broke our trance and headed for my bed, not stopping until I was under the covers, the edge tucked under my chin.
And I could say Austin stayed until I fell asleep. Or I could let myself believe he left the moment I turned away from him. But even the most minuscule of cracks in my barriers knew—he was the reason I closed my eyes and didn’t hear the gunshot again. The reason I slept soundly knowing that even if that man was still hidden in the trees, nothing would touch me.
Austin would never allow it.
Chapter 17
Austin
“And you didn’t get a look at the fucker?” Booker asked as we came back inside the house, making sure to lock the door behind us.
A little more than an hour after the incident, Booker had arrived on McKenna’s doorstep—alone. Henley had stayed at the ranch to watch over a sleeping Brynne curled up with Nightmare. Booker didn’t want to wake her despite knowing damn well she’d be pissed as hell by the time morning came around, wanting to know exactly what had happened to her best friend. He claimed he’d deal with it then. Better her be mad than in danger, too.
Couldn’t say I didn’t agree with him on that.
“McKenna got a glimpse at him longer than I did, but even then, the forest was dark. Moon’s barely out tonight, and from what I did see, he was wearing a black hoodie.” My ass hit the cushion of the couch, the memory of McKenna riding me hitting me in full force. Fuck no, I hadn’t been sleeping. The woman had been less than twenty feet away, tucked in her room. Mymind couldn’t even dream of settling with her in close proximity. It’d been an answered prayer when her door opened and she tiptoed down that hall. If she had wanted to wake me, I’d have shot up and bent her over this couch—just like I knew she’d dreamed of, and just like I had. But she’d wanted me sleeping, so the best I could do was keep my eyes closed while Miss-I-Do-What-I-Want slid my cock into her warm, drenched pussy. And when she’d clenched?—
“Austin.” Booker’s voice floated into my lust-hazed mind like the cock block he was.
I cleared my throat, shifting on the seat before laying an arm over the back. He sat across from me in the chair whose placement made no damn sense—right next to the TV.
“Yep.”
“I asked if we could talk to McKenna,” he assumably repeated.
“No. She needs her rest.” I dropped my arm from the back, rubbing my neck as I leaned forward, elbows on my knees. “I’ll talk to her when she wakes up.”
Booker’s broody stare drilled into me like he was about to lecture me. That was something he was good at with Henley. Not me. So whatever he was about to say, he could save it.
