Spark

“None of that,” I tell her as her eyes trace my body. For the first time I wonder if someone likes what they see. I work out. It helps me burn off energy. She fights a smirk as she drops back down onto the bed. “Sleep,” I tell her, reaching for her feet. I pull off her shoes, tossing them to the floor. I crawl in next to her, pulling her into my arms. I can’t hide my cock as it presses into her. She wiggles against me but her eyes fall closed.

“Why are you doing this?” she asks with a long yawn.

“Someone should take care of you.” Her body tenses for a moment. I already know what she’s going to say. I beat her to it. “Everyone needs someone to take care of them sometimes.” Her body relaxes in my hold again. Sleep takes her moments later. I roll us, putting her partly on top of me, enjoying the feel of her pressed into me. I plan on getting the best worst night of sleep I’ve ever had.

9

Bailey

I wake tangled with him. Both of us are clinging to each other. I lie still for a moment to get my thoughts together. I kissed him with everything I had in me. The small brush of his mouth to mine sent my whole body into overdrive. The need to be close has me clinging to him.

I soak up the feel of having someone holding me. I’ve never experienced this with a man before. The feeling of being protected and cared for is one that I could definitely get used to. I can feel something inside me I haven’t felt in a long time relax. I swear even just breathing comes a little bit easier.

I didn’t have a terrible childhood, but I am an only child. My parents were more concerned with themselves than they ever were with a nuisance of a child. I wasn’t mistreated in a physical sense but emotionally their detachment took its toll on me in my early years. My Grandma Helen was the one that raised me for the most part. I learned all of my baking from her and my life skills, for that matter. She was my everything. I always loved when I’d get to stay with her.

When I was thirteen my entire life was uprooted when Grandma Helen came to pick me up from middle school. I could tell she had been crying. I dropped my book bag and ran to give her comfort, knowing something was wrong. She wiped the tears from her eyes and told me that my parents had died in a car wreck. She wrapped me in her arms and comforted me like only she could. She reassured me that everything would be okay and that she would always take care of me. She kept her promise for as long as she could. When I was eighteen she fell ill and when I was twenty she passed.

Those were some of the loneliest days of my life once she was gone. They were also the scariest because I no longer had someone who I knew would always be there for me. I was alone in a world that I didn’t know much about. I’d been so engrossed in spending every moment with my grandma, I’d lost contact with any friends I’d had before.

Instead of dwelling in my sorrow, I packed up the little I had and moved. I needed a fresh start even though my life skills were limited. My determination, kindness and baking skills have gotten me to the point I am in my life. Grandma always told me if you want something you fight for it. Just like she did. They told her she’d have months but she fought for years so we could have more time together.

I feel his fingers start to stroke my back. His soft touch snaps me back to reality. I’m reminded that I’m sleeping with the enemy. Everything that I’ve worked so hard for is going to disappear due to this man and his business.

Those thoughts have me pushing away from him in an instant. I will hold up my end of the bargain but I won’t let myself fall for him. I need to keep up some sort of wall between us. I reach for the nearest pillow and put it between us, needing a physical barrier from him. It’s only a pillow but it’s something.

I try and get the pillow snug between us. I almost fall off the bed in the process. Jax’s arm catches me before I can faceplant on the floor. The pillow I was trying to wedge between us goes flying across the room as he pulls me back to him. So much for that.

“Back to sleep.” His voice is low and filled with sleep. “Baby. Go back to sleep.” He pulls me on top of him, my legs slipping between his. I breathe against his neck, debating what I should do. He smells so good. I can enjoy this for a moment.