A few times she’d found herself wanting to ask how he was holding up, but at the last second she’d decided against it. She didn’t want to bring up Marta until he was ready and she knew that he wasn’t ready. So instead, she’d laid there in his arms offering him what little comfort she could.
“No, I’m fine,” she finally answered, closing her eyes and savoring the touch of his lips as he once again pressed a kiss against her hair.
“Do you need anything?” he asked, his voice slightly muffled against her hair.
Answers.
Reassurance that everything was going to be okay.
Promises that she didn’t think that he’d be able to keep.
A time machine so that she could go back and fix everything before her world was destroyed and her family was taken from her.
The ability to enjoy a double cheeseburger with the works.
But, she didn’t say any of that, because it would force her to face a future that she wasn’t sure that she could handle. Instead she continued to trace her fingers over his arm, enjoying the feel of his body pressed up against hers. She’d been with several men in her life, probably more than she should have, but she’d never allowed any of them to hold her the way that Christofer was holding her.
Not that any of them had ever tried.
The ones that hadn’t been put off by her scars had treated her like a f**k buddy. There had never been warm smiles, flowers, romantic dinners or flattering words. She’d enjoyed herself for the most part, enjoyed the momentary escape that they’d offered her, but it had never been more than just sex to her. Sometimes she’d wished that it had been more, that she’d been with the type of man that could make her feel wanted and loved, but it had never happened.
Until now.
It was crazy, beyond crazy. She’d only known Christofer for a few weeks and in that time he’d fired her, irritated her, taunted her, ditched her, attacked her and aided with her kidnapping, but somehow during all that he’d become everything to her. He made her smile, made her feel safe even as she fought to ignore what was happening between them, made her feel wanted and could make her smile. She could happily spend the rest of her life in his arms, she thought as she snuggled back against him, determined to soak up every last ounce of comfort that he had to offer before she was forced to face an uncertain future.
“No,” she said, shifting back against him as she laid her hand over his where it moved lazily against her stomach, “I’m fine.”
For several minutes they just laid there, staring out the large windows as Christofer lightly caressed her stomach with lazy movements of his thumb. She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly, allowing the peaceful moment to wash over her. She savored his comforting scent, his touch and the warmth that his large body enveloped her in and couldn’t help but wonder just how long this reprieve would last.
Not very long as it turned out.
*-*-*-*
Five days later………
“It’s not going to happen!”
“Cloe-”
“No!” the stubborn woman snapped, glaring at him from the other side of the couch that she’d dodged behind ten minutes ago in a sad attempt to keep him from forcing her to do what needed to be done.
“You don’t have a choice in the matter,” he said, struggling against the urge to jump over that couch and end this bullshit.
“Yeah, I really do,” she said, shifting to the left when he shifted to the right, preparing to make another run for it.
“We don’t have time for this, mein Schatz,” he said with forced patience as he closed his eyes and slowly inhaled, praying for a modicum of patience that didn’t seem forthcoming.
“Really?” Cloe said mockingly. “Because it seems to me that we have all the time in the world for this.”
His eyes snapped open to glare at the woman standing across from him. “As soon as you do what I asked, we can leave!” he snapped, coming to the terrifying conclusion that he’d finally found a woman more stubborn than his sister.
It was a truly frightening thought, but one that he was going to have to push aside and dwell on later, because right now he had more important matters to deal with, like finding a way to escape without putting Cloe in danger. It wasn’t going to be easy. They were too far from the ground for him to risk trying to descend down the side of the building with her. They were also unarmed and trapped on a heavily secured floor in a building filled to the brim with armed military personnel.
To make matters worse he had a newly turned woman with a chip on her shoulder, a temper almost as bad as his, absolutely no clue what could happen to her and she was driving him out of his f**king mind! He’d never wanted a woman the way that he wanted her, needed her and the reminder that he could never have her only pissed him off.
She was his responsibility and he wouldn’t f**k that up by letting his dick call the shots. The last time had been enough for him. Not only had he hurt her, changed her life, but he’d been so f**king focused on her that he’d failed his sister. Because of him, his sister was gone. It wasn’t likely a lesson that he’d forget anytime soon.
“One more day isn’t going to kill us,” the brat pointed out.
“We can’t afford to give them another day,” Christofer explained as patiently as he could, praying that she wouldn’t start another argument about leaving.
Of course he should have known better.
“I’m not going anywhere until we get our answers,” Cloe said as she started up the same argument that she’d been using since yesterday when the blood finally ran out and he’d announced that it was time for them to leave.
“We haven’t had blood in twenty-four hours, mein Schatz,” he bit out slowly, shifting to the left only to have the stubborn woman shift to the right. “The longer that go without blood, the weaker we’ll become. If we don’t go today, now, then we might not get another chance until they decide to give us more blood.”
Which he doubted they planned on doing anytime soon.
He’d f**ked up by trusting Ephraim, believing that he would do everything within his power to keep Cloe safe. Thankfully, it was something that he’d planned for. What he hadn’t planned on was the woman in front of him suddenly acting like a pain in the ass and making their escape more difficult than it needed to be.
“For all you know they could be sending up blood at this very minute,” Cloe pointed out as she folded her arms over her chest, bringing his attention to her large br**sts before he forced himself to look away with a curse.
For the last five days she’d been driving him out of his f**king mind. Every night he held her in his arms, forcing himself to ignore just how good she felt or how badly he wanted to run his hands over her and use his mouth on her while filling her with his fingers, tongue and cock. During the day she sat next to him while he drew whether it was on a bed, a couch, chair or the floor. She never bothered him or asked him what he was doing, apparently happy just to be near him.
He was glad that she was feeling more comfortable with him, because it meant that she felt safe with him. What he didn’t like was just how f**king comfortable she felt with him. She didn’t see any problem with walking around in just her panties and a small shirt most of the time or heaven help him, walking around na**d in front of him. He wasn’t sure when exactly she’d started viewing him as a eunuch, but for the sake of his sanity and his dick, he really wished that she’d go back to viewing him as a monster. Spending this time with her was driving him out of his f**king mind and without blood to help combat his hormones he was struggling every second not to grab her, bend her over and f**k her until they both passed out.