Page 69 of Sanctuary (The Wanderers 1)

Chapter 21

Her men were quick. Not surprising. By the time she finished choking down her food, they surrounded her.

“We have a surprise for you.” Jay’s eyes twinkled as he spoke.

She lifted her brows. “Oh?”

He nodded over his shoulder toward his room. “Come.”

She rose from her chair as Nile pulled it out, glancing down to make sure her towel was going to hold. The idea that she was wearing nothing but thin terry cloth had kept her feeling decidedly naked for the past half hour.

All four men were now wearing loose shorts. They all had damp hair. Broad chests and shoulders were everywhere. She should be nervous. She was nervous.

She followed Jay into his bedroom, but as soon as he stepped out of her line of sight, she gasped, her eyes going wide. She hadn’t been in here yet. Since returning to the apartment, she’d only been to the bathroom and the kitchen. They had prevented her from going into the bedroom once she’d gotten out of the shower.

“What did you do?” she asked as she stepped farther into the room.

“We thought you needed your own space,” Gatlin said.

She reached the bed and dragged her fingers along the comforter. It was a pale yellow, as were the walls. There was a pile of pillows in other pastel colors at the head of the bed. Daisies sat in vases on both bedside tables. Framed sketches of daisies hung on the walls.

She took it all in and then glanced at Jay. “But this is your room.”

He shrugged, one side of his mouth quirked up. “Now it’s yours.”

“But…” She was too shocked to know what to say.

Jay approached her and cupped her face. His dark eyes penetrated deeply. “I don’t need a room, baby. I just need a place to lay my head when I’m tired. We have plenty such places in this apartment. You, on the other hand, need somewhere to go that’s private where you can be alone when you feel the need.”

She hadn’t been alone in weeks. But she’d been fine. She licked her suddenly very dry lips. “But I don’t want you to give up your room for me. I’m fine floating from room to room.”

He chuckled. “I’d give up anything for you, Layla. Do you realize that? We all would.”

She swallowed over the lump of emotion in her throat and glanced at the others. They were all smiling and nodding.

“You’re welcome to sleep in any bed you want, princess,” Ledger said, “but a woman needs her own space. There will be times when you want all of us to leave you alone. When this door is closed, we’ll take that as a sign that you’d like some privacy.”

Closing doors, or rather not closing them, had been part of their agreement from the first day she’d arrived. She hadn’t wanted any of them to feel like they were shut out, so from that first day on, no matter who flanked her in the night, they never closed the door. Any of the other men could easily see into the room, hear what was being discussed, watch… Not that there’d been much to watch since they’d obviously agreed to a hands-off policy that needed to end right now.

Gatlin was next to speak. “We also want you to be able to have individual relationships with each of us. One-on-one time that’s not as intense as being bombarded by so much testosterone,” he teased.

She winced. The thought of anyone feeling left out still made her nervous.

Jay cupped the back of her head, his fingers threading in her almost-dry hair. “Trust me. You won’t always want all four of us in your space.” His fingers slid to her neck and shoulder, bringing goosebumps to her skin as they danced along her collarbone.

Maybe he was right. It was hard to imagine right now, but she’d spent so much time in the last few weeks wanting something they had yet to give her that it was hard to fathom a day when she’d prefer to be alone.

Nile cleared his throat. “We chose yellow because we know how much you miss the sunlight. We thought it would make your room feel brighter somehow.”

“I love it. You’re all so thoughtful.”

She turned around, grabbed the top of the comforter, and dragged it down to the foot of the bed. Feeling bold and wanting to break the ice, she tugged the tucked corner of the towel free and let it fall to the floor.

A collective gasp she’d heard more than once and hoped to hear for the rest of her life filled the room. Her skin tingled with need as she climbed onto the bed, positioned herself against the pillows, and reached out both hands. “Lose the shorts. Make me yours.”

Jay dropped down next to her on her right, took her hand, and brought it to his lips. After kissing her knuckles, he spoke, “Are you sure, baby?”

“Never been more sure.” She shivered. She was nervous, yes, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want this.

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