Lifting her hand to her mouth, she chews on one of her nails before she takes a step back.
“I’ll leave you to it.”
She’s managed to spin around before I find my words.
“No,” I bark, my deep voice echoing through the silent house.
She pauses, her small fists curled at her sides.
“I didn’t mean it like that, Pet,” I explain as I push to my feet and stalk after her.
She’s standing in the middle of the huge living room with her shoulders curled in on themselves. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her look so small and vulnerable. And that’s saying something after all the positions I’ve put her in over the past couple of weeks.
“I never want you to think that I think any less of you because of the position they put you in.” My voice is deep yet quiet as I close in on her.
She startles when the heat of my body hits her back, and she only gets tenser as I reach up and pull her shorter hair away from her slender neck.
“What are you doing?” she whispers.
Without answering her, I dip my head and run my nose up the column of her throat, breathing in her sweet scent.
Goose bumps erupt across her skin as her entire body shudders with desire.
“None of that changes anything. We all have things in our pasts we’d rather forget. In fact, I guarantee that the three of us have many, many more regrets than you do. We made our stupid decisions. You had all yours taken away from you.
“That doesn’t make you weak. The fact you’re standing here right now with your head held high proves exactly the opposite.”
A self-deprecating laugh falls from her.
“I’m standing here right now because I get haunted by everything I’ve been through every single time I fall asleep. They’re invisible. They’re not going to hurt me in my nightmares. If I were as strong as you say, then I’d defeat them,” she says quietly.
“We will,” I promise darkly, letting my lips brush the spot beneath her ear.
She shudders again.
“Reid.” She moans, her head falling back to rest on my chest.
“Are Mav and JD sleeping?” I whisper, my hands clamping down on her hips to hold her in place.
She gasps the second she feels how hard I am against her ass.
“Y-yeah.”
“Did you come searching for me for a reason?”
“Maybe,” she confesses.
When I don’t respond, she fills the silence.
“You weren’t there and—” She swallows her words as I suck her earlobe into my mouth.
Good work not making the first move, asshole.
“Shit.” She gasps when I nip her with my teeth at the same time I drag her harder back against my dick. “W-what are you doing?”
“Thought it was pretty obvious, Pet?”
She sucks in a few greedy breaths before replying.