Personal Assistant to the Alpha (Book 9 of the Regal Eclipse Pack Series)

Chapter 27

He'd been the biggest comfort to her today. She was still clinging to him, seated in his lap, her face buried in his neck, while his hand rubbed her back and the other rested on her bare thigh. He was right though. The skin on skin contact made all the difference.

His touch calmed her, comforted her, and relaxed her. It almost made everything right. If only.. 

But she had to think about going home to her apartment, something she was dreading. She had no clothes here, nothing here and it was getting later. She needed a shower, too. "Malachi?"

"Hmm?" His hands went still though he didn't remove them.

He'd been so patient with her today. He'd spent almost the entire day just holding her. He'd kept her from completely falling apart and she was dreading being alone. "I have to go home."

"Okay."

No argument at all, which made her wonder if he wanted her gone. She felt a bit deflated at that, and slipped off his lap. The heaviness of loss settled on her again, and she almost turned back to him. "I'm going to change."

"Okay. I'll call a car."

"You don't have to," she started as she turned to walk back to his room.

"I know, but I want to," he said, still sitting on the couch.

She sucked in a small breath and nodded. He spoiled her, but she still felt like he wanted her gone. She couldn't blame him. Having an emotional female on his hands all day had to be annoying.

They'd done nothing except eat, sleep and talk. Maybe he found her rather boring. Did he have friends he could go out with here? Maybe he'd made plans for the evening. Her heart felt heavy at that but she reminded herself that she was an emotional mess and Malachi had a life before he met her. She couldn't be selfish.

She slipped off his shirt once she was in his room and pulled on her own clothes. Then she walked back out to find him pulling on his shoes. "Are you coming with me?"

"Do you really want to be alone?" He looked up at her.

No, she didn't, but she also didn't expect him to go with her. "I thought you wanted me to leave."

He stood and crossed his arms over his chest. "Why?"

"You didn't argue with me when I said I wanted to go," she pointed out.

"Because you have nothing here. I'm not leaving you alone tonight. You think I'm perfect, but I'm not. I can be rather stubborn, and you, my dear, are not staying alone." He glared at her.

He was sexy even doing that and it made her heart leap. But she wasn't going to argue with him. She had no desire to be alone whatsoever. His touch made all the difference. It kept her grounded and dulled the pain of grief some. "So where are we staying?"

He was quiet for a moment, though he still was standing with his arms crossed over his chest. "Do you mind coming back here?"

"No."

"My bed is bigger than yours and I'm not exactly short," he said.

She smiled. She'd noticed. She sort of had a thing for tall men and she loved how she fit against him. "How tall are you?"

"Six three." His phone went off and he pulled it out to look at it, then grabbed her coat. "Car's here, and it's snowing."

"Ugh." Which meant it was probably going to be freezing in her apartment. She slipped her arms into her coat and watched him slip his own on, then followed him outside. It was going to be a cold night. She was glad he wanted to return to his own apartment. Her's was going to be freezing, though she was sure he'd keep her warm.