I play with her hair, rubbing it between my fingers as I just soak in this feeling. I know she’s it for me, but I’ve got no clue if Bailey sees us beyond this one night. I’ll make her see, no matter how long it takes. Which is why I just lie here in the moment and memorize all of this, because who knows when she’ll let me do it again.
When she rolls off me, mumbling something I can’t make out in her sleep, I take the opportunity to get up. I find her phone and plug it in, checking that her weekly alarm is set at the same time I noticed she set it for on Sunday night when I was here last. Locating an extra charger, I plug my phone in next to hers.
Noticing the time of night and how long it is till said alarm goes off, I decide to not wake her up with my tongue between her thighs like I want to. We’ll have time for that later. Doubt my girl will enjoy being tired at work. And her calling in sick or showing up late just isn’t her style.
And since I know her so well, I pick up our clothes. Bailey isn’t a neat freak, but she doesn’t have things scattered about. Even in her classroom, everything had a place. I put her discarded clothes in the laundry basket and move mine to the papasan chair she has in the corner of her room. I haven’t seen one of those in years, but I can totally picture my girl curled up like a ball in the chair while reading a book with the nearby blanket covering her.
I check my phone once more, making sure nothing’s come in about Dad or the club, before I lie in bed with my girl and curl around her. I probably should have put my boxers back on, but if my Troublemaker is naked, I’m not about to put a stitch of clothing between us.
I might be gentlemanly enough not to wake her with my tongue or dick inside her, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to miss the chance to have all her beautiful naked flesh pressed against me all night. No matter how much my balls ache and turn blue from the temptation. This isn’t our only time together.
I try to move her back on top of me, but she mumbles again and even jerks her arm out of my hands as she snuggles in on her side. I can’t help but smile at her antics. Even in sleep, my girl’s a fighter.
I give in because I’d rather be with her than without. Curling my body around hers, I use a bit more force to get my arms around her and pull her to me, her back to my front. It only takes a second before she settles and sighs in contentment.
I rub my hand along her body, settling her even more as I feel her sink further into me. The joy I feel from her subconscious trusting me can’t be described. Some might think she doesn’t even know it’s me holding her, but I know she does. Trusting isn’t easy for her. And after what her ex did, I don’t fault her for it.
I breathe out my anger before it surfaces. I knew she’d been married but didn’t know the details. Now I do, and it took a lot for me not to hit something when she told me the whole of it. Mainly to not drop Bailey off before hunting the asshole down and slaughtering him in his sleep. Wouldn’t be hard, and I doubt anyone would miss him. Might even knock off the wife too. She doesn’t seem worth the oxygen she takes from the trees.
But now is not the time to plot their deaths. Now is the time to just enjoy my girl in my arms.
I pull her tighter to me and bury my face in her hair. She smells like trouble, fire, and a touch of sweetness.
No, this won’t be our only time. Bailey is mine. Now and forever.
Chapter 24—Bailey
Idon’t hide the smile or care that half the class oohs and aahs at the ping from the text that just came in on my phone. They’ve been doing that since Reese came by two weeks ago. It was also coincidentally at the same time that I stopped putting my phone on silent. It’s for emergencies, after all, and who knows when one will occur?
Like the first day after we had sex and I forgot to bring my lunch. A complete emergency if there ever was one. Me without my lunch would be a huge issue for all those involved, as I’m beyond a grump on an empty stomach. My misfit friends say I rival the gods and goddesses of chaos and destruction when I’m hungry. Guess Reese wasn’t that far off in his nickname for me if my friends have been basically calling me a troublemaker for longer than I can remember.
With it being the last day of summer school today, the rules are basically null and void anyway. Everyone has their phones on. Honestly, I’m just happy they showed. This last class is purely an attendance day and nothing more. I’ve already submitted all my grades, and every single student passed with flying colors. I doubt I made enough of a change for them all to become scholars, but hopefully I made enough of an impact on them to keep them in school to get their diplomas. Not going to harp on any of them to go the college route. Not only do I fully believe that you can be just as amazing without a piece of paper that says you have a bachelor’s as you do with one, but Reese showed them other areas outside of college that they can venture into.
You didn’t wake me up again.
I fight the smile forming on my lips from reading Reese’s text. I even bite the bottom one to keep from laughing as the angry emoji pops up a second later.
I tried,I type back, but I already know he isn’t going to like that answer.
My man is many things, but an early riser is not one of them. Not unless he has to be. And he rarely gets to sleep in, from what I can tell. The first night he slept over, he left before I woke. But the second one? The one after our amazing first night together? I’m not ashamed to admit that I took pride in the fact that he was dead to the world when my alarm went off.
Okay, that’s not entirely true. He shot up like a rocket with a gun aimed at the door till I giggled at the craziness of it all and he focused enough to see where he was. He grumbled about it being too damn early and tried to pull me back down, but I managed to get away. Just barely. He growled and made my lady bits quiver, but with a soft kiss to his nose, he settled enough for me to escape to the bathroom and shower. When I was ready to leave, I didn’t have the heart to kick him out. Something about having a naked man sprawled on his stomach in your bed with all that yummy tattooed skin on display does something to a girl. Makes her want to keep him there for as long as possible. So I did what any red-blooded woman would do: I snapped a picture, then wrote him a note for when he woke.
I had zero worries that he would steal from me. If he was going to, he could have already done so. And I didn’t have time to make him breakfast, nor do I have any idea what he likes, so I left it to a simple note that said I would see him later and to lock up when he left.
Have you ever seen a man pissed off and panicked at the same time? Neither have I, but I can only imagine. I missed the first two calls because my phone was buried at the bottom of my work bag. But on the third one—’cause he wouldn’t stop calling, and everyone was curious who it was—he all but screamed at me to see if I was okay. I thought he was freaking out for nothing, and I didn’t really get it till I saw it from his side. I can still recall each part of that conversation.
“Bailey? Are you okay? Are you all right? Where are you?”
“Ah, I’m fine. I’m at work.” His tone made me flustered, and I wasn’t sure if I should freak out like him or not.
“Jesus fucking Christ.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” His cursing had me panicking anew. “Is something wrong? Are my parents hurt? Is it your dad?”
“Fucking hell, woman.” He took a deep breath, and it took everything in me not to scream at him to tell me what was going on. “You left.”
I remember jerking back at his words, confused by them. “Ah, yeah. I have work. Remember?”
