Sheltered(20)

You’re not leaving.

His words repeat through my mind. He’s crazy. That has to be it. It’s the only way this makes sense. He’s too good-looking to have it all together anyway. Nobody is this perfect, so clearly he’s nuts.

I realize my fingers are digging into him and I jerk my hands back. I wiggle to get away from him, needing space. I’ve got to figure out what the hell is going on.

The grip he has on me tightens. I fight a little harder but freeze when my ass comes into contact with something hard. It’s then I realize I’m straddling him, with my core right up against him. The shirt I’m wearing has ridden up, and my panties are on full display. I glance down and then back up, and our eyes lock. It takes everything in me not to wiggle again. My breathing becomes shallow and I say nothing. His own is growing deeper and more pronounced.

“I have a boyfriend,” I blurt out.

Well, maybe I do. I never really told Fritz it was over, or even processed what happened between him and Lilith, so I guess we haven’t officially broken up. Though in my head he’s pretty much dead to me. I would never be with a cheater. Not like my mama. She didn’t care when her boyfriends stepped out on her. Maybe because more than anything I want loyalty. I’ve never had that in another person, to be able to always count on them no matter what.

Ryker’s whole face changes when I say that, and a look of anger takes over. The gentle softness he carried before is gone, and my heart starts to race. Fear takes hold and I try to remind myself that he wouldn’t hurt me. But should I believe that from a man who said he isn’t going to let me go? I don’t know why, but I do believe him. He seems like a man who always says the truth no matter if you’re going to like it or not. Kind of like how he said he isn’t letting me go. Though I’ve been wrong about a man before. That’s clear from my choice in my last boyfriend.

He stands with me still in his arms, and I let out a loud squeal. But instead of him doing something crazy, he sits me back down in the chair I was in a moment ago. My eyes dart around the room looking for an escape. When I look back at Ryker, he pins me with a look that tells me I’d never make it if I tried to run. He’s probably right. The man is easily twice my size and most definitely in shape. I can’t even remember the last time I did cardio, so I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t make it a block. How many acres did he say this place was? If it’s longer than the driveway I’m screwed.

He turns around to face away from me and takes a deep breath while he runs his hands through his short hair. Maybe I shouldn’t bring up the boyfriend thing again. Clearly that’s a hot button subject with how much it pissed him off. And I don’t want to piss off the handsome, crazy guy who wants to keep me.

Why in the world does he want to do that in the first place? This can’t really be about some attraction he has for me. This man cannot be hard up for women. He’s hard up for you, I remind myself. And damn, was he hard. I close my legs when I feel a tingle between them, remembering that length and heat pressed up against me there. There has to be another reason, though. Something I’m not seeing.

“Drink your tea, Cricket. I’m going to get you something to eat.” His voice is calm, unlike how he looked moments ago.

He’s still facing away from me, and I can see the strong muscles that trail down his perfect skin. My eyes slowly move down his back and to his ass, where his slacks hang dangerously low. I wonder if he feels soft to the touch, or if there’s any give at all between his skin and his muscles. Every inch of him is oversized, like he’s been engineered to be the best of the species.

When he walks towards the microwave and hits a button, I’m snapped out of my drool-fest.

“I’m not hungry. I think I want to go back to sleep.” Yeah, I need to go back to my room so I can get some space and figure out what the heck is going on.

I need to get out of here, but I’m also being honest when I say I want to go back to bed. I know how long he said I slept, but I still feel tired. I’m starting to think that maybe he did drug me. I want to ask him a million things, but I also don’t want to trigger the anger I saw on his face a few moments ago.

“You’ll eat, then you can go back to sleep if you want to,” He says, and there’s no room for argument.

The microwave dings, and he pulls out a dish then walks back towards me. My eyes can’t help but roam over his torso now. The muscles of his pronounced chest create shadows and make him appear even larger. His arms are bigger than my thighs, and I’ve never had a gap in between them. There’s hair across his pecs, and a trail that leads down to hard abs. It disappears down into slacks, and god help me, he’s got that sexy-as-hell V-shape on either side of his hips. His body doesn’t look real. It looks like something sculpted from stone that was put on earth to populate the species.

I look away quickly when he catches me checking him out. He’s crazy, why am I losing it over this guy? Great. I like cheaters and psychos. My taste in men might be worse than my mama’s.

He sets the plate down in front of me and my stomach growls when I see it’s chicken parmesan. Ryker leans down and kisses the top of my head as he hands me my fork.

“See? You’re hungry.” He takes a seat next to me and watches me, waiting.

I look at the food. What if he put something in it? As if reading my mind, Ryker takes the fork from my hand and takes a bite for himself. He chews it up and then swallows, giving me a small smile. “I would never hurt you.”