Orange Blossoms

Naked Sleep, pt 3

And the conclusion to Naked Sleep. Naughtiness ensues at the end so beware!

Unedited.

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He was holding back. This was definitely not the kiss I was expecting when I saw him again. Not my idea of a “welcome home” smooch. Rey was being way too gentle and I had a feeling it had to do with what happened earlier.

I couldn’t blame him. The events at the rest stop were pretty intense.

Having to sit in the backseat of the SUV while we left him standing there hadn’t been easy. In fact, I’d kept a death grip on my brother’s hand as we drove away. I knew it wasn’t the end but there was something so final about us leaving and him staying behind that got to me, had me worrying and questioning what would come next.

But he was here. He was real.

My fingers smoothed over his cheek, splaying over the left side of his face as I deepened the kiss. I’d gone from dreaming about him to waking up with him next to me. There was no way he knew how relieved I was when I felt him and then saw him.

By the smell of his skin and the humidity in the room, I imagined he did a few things before he got to me. Not that I had a problem with that.

It’d been a long night, hell, it was a long day. The drive to get here took a good five or six hours. Traffic was ridiculous and once we got to the safe house, I was tired but too wired to go to sleep. So I kept moving, trying to keep myself occupied with anything I could.

My brother endured it, Michelle less so. She got annoyed with me a couple of times but after a hushed brief conversation with Vince, she let me do what I needed to. Vince’s eyes would follow me wherever I went, like he was afraid if I stopped something bad would happen. He didn’t like it when I decided to go to my room to unpack and take a shower. Nothing was said but the worry was clearly etched in his face as I said good night.

He was afraid of me taking it all in and then deciding to do something stupid because I couldn’t handle it. My hands were shaking at the end of the night and I was jittery, clear signs that I was uneasy and about to snap. I couldn’t get it out of my mind that something was going on with Rey and it took me forever to fall asleep. I hated that they might’ve interrogated him and treated him horribly because of me.

This thing between us, whatever it was, was too fragile, fresh and new, to have to endure me freaking out over what might or might not happen.

But now…it was like an eerie calm had dropped over me, centering me in ways that I’d never had before. Maybe it was the simple fact that he was here. There was a sure, solid connection to my future through him and I was able to now be confident for everything to be ok.

So him being gentle now wasn’t what I wanted. I may be injured but I needed to feel both him and the pain to know it was real and happening, that everything was fine. Very strange, maybe a tad hypocritical but it’s what I needed.

My fingers ran through his hair, brushed down his neck to his chest, and because he was still holding himself back, I grabbed his nipple and twisted.

Not something he liked.

The reaction was instantaneous as he pulled back, swearing. “What the fuck?”

I looked at him, completely serious as he propped himself up on his hands and looked down to where my hand still rested against his pectoral. The feel of hard muscle under my hand was distracting but not enough to get me off this subject.

“You’re treating me like glass.”

His eyes flashed up at me, anger mixing in with the lust. “Oranges, you’re hurt.”