I crossed my arms over my chest and did my best to seem indifferent.
He was quiet for a while as he waited for me to come clean on my own, and when I didn’t, he stepped closer and placed his hands on my hips, his face close to mine. “Talk to me, baby.” He rested his forehead against mine, his powerful hands snaking across my back, protecting me like bars in a cage.
Whenever he was affectionate and authoritative, I wanted to submit. I was usually defiant to the ends of the earth, but I found myself wanting to be the opposite with him. “I just have a hard time sleeping sometimes…”
He stared at me with the same expression, as if he knew exactly what I meant by that, without further explanation. “No one is going to walk through that door except you. You don’t need an alarm system—you don’t even need a door. No one will touch you. I promise.”
“How can you make a promise like that?”
“Because I’m the Skull King. I can make any promises that I want.” His hand went to my neck, and his fingers lightly traced the area around my lips. “Would you feel safer if I got you a gun?”
“I don’t know how to use a gun.”
“I can show you. Would that help?”
Even if I’d had a gun when those guys broke in to my apartment, it wouldn’t have helped me. But now I had an alarm system and a tank for a door, so I would have time to react if something like that happened. “Yes.”
“Then I’ll get you one.”
My nightmares were the things that haunted me the most, that forced me to wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air, seeing shadows that looked like adversaries. Having him beside me felt much safer than having a gun in my nightstand, but I refused to ask him for anything. He wasn’t my boyfriend, just the man I was sleeping with.
“Anything else?”
I shook my head.
He leaned down and kissed me before he pulled away and got dressed.
I had to fight the urge to ask him to stay, the sleep in this apartment with me so no one would come after me. But I managed to hide those feelings away so he wouldn’t be able to see them.
After he was dressed, he walked to the front door and said goodbye. “I’ll see you later.”
“Alright.” I rose on my toes and kissed him goodbye.
With both of his hands on my ass, he squeezed hard as he kissed me, giving me his tongue like he’d just walked in the door. He bit my bottom lip gently, telling me how much he’d miss me until the next time he came over. Then he smacked my ass before he walked out the door.
I stayed in the doorway and watched him go, watching his powerful frame shift slightly with his movements as he disappeared down my hallway. I stared at his thick ass, his powerful arms, and those enormous shoulders.
And I already missed him.
Whenever I was on the stage, my mind was so clear it was like I was meditating. I didn’t think about the people in the audience, didn’t worry that the other dancer wouldn’t catch me after I leaped into the air. It was the closest feeling to peace I’d ever felt.
The bright lights didn’t affect me, and it was as if I was in a dream. Asleep so soundly, nothing would pull me from this illusion. I was passionate about dance, to say the least, and when I was on stage, that was when I felt most alive…and dead at the exact same time.
The music stopped, and I held my poise, my toes pointed and my hand raised to the ceiling. My chin tilted to the floor in the form of a bow, holding the position as the orchestra went quiet before the music began to rise, building to a crescendo before I began my spectacular spin.
And that was when I saw him.
Sitting in the same seat as the first time, he was squeezed between two older men, refusing to adopt an appropriate attire for the theatre. The most he did was throw on a sport coat on top of his shirt and black jeans. His blue eyes were focused on mine, and he didn’t smile as he looked at me, watching me with the same intensity as when he was on top of me.
The look only lasted a few seconds before the music exploded.
And then I turned away like nothing happened, keeping my professionalism since every eye was on me at that moment.
But I felt my heart race with excitement, felt my body come to life like we were alone in my apartment. He was the only person who could pull me out of the moment, take my focus away from my performance, make me think of anything else but my body.