Flock (The Ravenhood #1)(74)

“Sean was my third,” I look at him pointedly. “That makes you my fourth. Before the two of you, I was in two separate and monogamous relationships, which may seem boring to you, but…” I shake my head. “Anyway, my point is, I don’t sleep around. And that day…I’ve never done anything like that. I’ve never been in this position. I’m a one at a time type of girl.”

Silence. The bastard is not going to make this easy on me.

“I know it seems hypocritical, but if you are sleeping around, I can’t,” I gesture between us. “I’m not…I don’t think I can do this.”

He eyes me without a word, not giving me an inch as I carefully avoid his erection and scrub off the day from his muscular thighs. He holds his injured hand away from the spray as I circle him, going up the same way I came down, daring to look up at him through the streaming water. Not a hint of his earlier smile, just his rapt attention when I rise and tilt his head back, soaking his onyx hair. The water cascades down the cuts of his body, as he hovers above me, temptation personified.

The urge to take another bite is damn near impossible to resist.

I pour shampoo on a shaky hand before raking my fingers against his scalp, feeling his exhale on my chest. It’s utter agony being this close to him while clutching what’s left of my moral standards tightly to me. Once he’s clean, I step out, toweling off before he does, and then I take my time drying him off, not bothering to find him some boxers because I know his sleeping preference. Overly doting, I coat his toothbrush with toothpaste, and he rolls his eyes but takes it as I gargle with some of his mouthwash. Out of the bathroom, I can feel his eyes trail me as I straighten and pull back his rumpled sheets. After he slides in, I bend and press my lips to his forehead, knowing he won’t like it. And he doesn’t, shaking the maternal act away while giving me the stink eye.

I can’t help my laugh and nuzzle him with my wet hair to spite the air surrounding him. I pull back to hover above him and I see his lips twitch before he grips my neck and draws my mouth to his. He goes deep, setting me on fire. A moan erupts from my lips as he thoroughly fucks me with his tongue, before pulling away and adjusting his pillow.

“Do you need me to stay?”

“I’m not Sean.”

Nodding, I pull away.

“If you need me, you know where to find me.”

Feeling the slight sting of his rejection, I walk back down the hall to see Sean shift in bed, pulling up the sheet to make room for me.

“He good?”

“He’s good.”

He reaches for me and pulls me into his arms and within minutes, my dreams find me.





SEAN WENT ON A HIKE this morning and I decided to stay back to check on Dominic. He’s spent the whole of the morning in his bedroom. I know he’s in pain. After hours of waiting in vain for him to appear, I walk up the stairs with my arsenal in hand and knock on his door.

“Yeah?” Sounds from behind it.

I open it just enough to get a coffee cup through.

“Coffee, black,” I say, and he takes it.

I push the plate through. “Eggs, runny. Peas, ice cold.”

I shove my hand through the door last.

“Woman?”

I leave both the question and my hand hanging in the air. “Woman?” I wave it back and forth, a smile on my face.

Chuckling, he pulls me into his room and onto his lap where he sits at his computer desk, his breakfast situated to the side of his keyboard.

He runs his good hand along my back, and through the tips of my hair as I rest the peas on his wrist. He winces on contact.

“Bad?”

“Hurts like a motherfucker.”

His mood has lifted considerably from last night, and I’m thankful.

“Serves you right. Why did you go crazy like that?”

“I have a temper.”

“Noooo, not you.”

“Yeah, well, that motherfucker almost killed Sean.”

“Then I’m glad you broke his jaw.”

A tense silence follows and suddenly I feel awkward.

“Just wanted to check on you.”

I move to get up so he can eat his breakfast, but he stills me, maneuvering me across his lap before picking up his fork and digging in. His clean scent invades me as I sit locked in his arms.

I glance around his room in the full light of day. Eyeing the private library over his shoulder that takes up one entire wall. “So, I’m guessing reading is a hobby?”

“You could say that.”

“One of mine too.” I shake my head. “Gotta say, you fellas surprise me at every turn.”

“Why, because we aren’t illiterates with mile-long rap sheets?”

“Your presentation is deceiving and…effective.”

Assumptions from unsuspecting others like me keep them hiding in plain sight. At the most, they come across as twenty-something delinquents, but that’s not the whole truth. People believe what they want to. The boys don’t fight or negate their reputations because it keeps them in the dark. And the dark is their playground.

“I can’t imagine you on a college campus. Did you like living in Boston?”

“It was all right.” He dips his toast in the yolk and pops it into his mouth.

I glance over my shoulder as he makes quick work of inhaling his eggs.