I shouldn’t be hurt, but I am. Mike might have assumed I was dead . . . but it hasn’t even been two months. And he never let me move in with him, even though we’d been dating for years. I need space, babe, he’d tell me. And I went along with it because that’s what Regan Porter did. She was a nice girl that went along with things.
But Becca’s moved in with my commitment-phobe boyfriend after less than two months.
I toss the phone aside. Then I lay down, my head on the pillow, staring at the wall. I don’t know what I’m feeling right now. Can I feel betrayed by people who think I’m dead? Did they even look for me?
A low groan touches my ears, and I sit up. That was Daniel. I get up from the bed, sheets wrapped around my body, and tiptoe to the door of the bathroom. The water’s still going, but I hear that low groan again.
He’s jerking off in the shower.
I’m fascinated by that, and a little jealous. Sex hasn’t been ruined for Daniel. He can still enjoy touching himself, I think enviously. I haven’t wanted to masturbate since I was taken. I used to be a champion masturbator, since sex was never really that great. I didn’t blame Mike for that, though. I sort of . . . went along with it. No orgasm? That’s okay, really. Regan Porter doesn’t mind. Regan doesn’t mind anything. She’ll finish herself off real quick while you take a nap.
Stupid Regan, I think to myself. Now it’s too late and you’re scared of everything. Scared of spiders, scared of men, scared of what happens if you let Daniel out of your sight.
I’m so tired of being scared. Of being unloved.
I suddenly feel heavy with unhappiness and return to the bed. I tuck a pillow under my head and lay down and close my eyes, curling up in the sheets. I wish the world would go away for a few days. I wish I didn’t care that Mike and Becca had paired up. I wish . . .
I wish I was back in that shower with Daniel.
I picture him behind my eyelids, his strong arms flexing as he lathers up his cock and jerks himself to fulfillment. I wish I could see it. I’m not sure if I should want that, but I’m tired of being the nice girl that does what she’s supposed to. It’s gotten me fuck all in life so far.
The water stops, and two minutes later, the door to the bathroom opens. “Regan?” Daniel asks, clearly surprised to see me tucked into bed. “Didn’t you want to go get breakfast?”
I shrug, wallowing in self-pity. I don’t open my eyes.
“You okay, baby doll?” He comes to the side of the bed, a towel wrapped at his waist. A washcloth is pressed to the wound at his side that he assures me isn’t bad. You wouldn’t even know it was there from the way he acts, except there’s pink seeping through the white of the towel.
I know he’s calling me that nickname I hate to rile me up, but I don’t have the energy to bite back at him at the moment. I’m a tangled knot of emotions, and right now the only one that seems to rise to the surface is sadness. Regan Porter, the get-along girl, is totally broken. I hate that.
“What’s bothering you?” he asks, and there’s a hard edge of concern in his voice. I squeeze an eye open and see his eyes scanning the room, no doubt assessing a threat.
I feel guilty for making Daniel panic, so I sigh. “Is it weird if I say I think I need a hug?”
He looks down at me in surprise and then chuckles, that roguish grin stealing across his handsome face again. “You want me to slide into bed with you and cuddle?”
“Actually, that sounds amazing,” I tell him and sit up, hugging the sheet to my breasts. “Is it weird if I want to cuddle?”
“Does it matter? Nobody’s here to judge,” he says, sliding a leg into bed and then pulling his big body down on the left side of the bed. He keeps a hand at the towel at his waist, and then he’s lying in bed next to me and lifts an arm, gesturing that I should come tuck my body against his.
And I can’t resist. It’s been so long since someone’s touched me with kindness and affection—not sleazy motives—that I move right over to him, tucking my face into the crook of his neck and wrapping an arm around his shoulders, even as he settles his arm against my back. He’s warm and damp and he smells like fresh soap. So good. I love the feel of his skin pressing against mine, and the hand that tenderly strokes my shoulder. Not in a sexual way but to comfort.
I burrow against him. “Thank you.”
“Anything you want,” he says in a low voice.
I’m not freaked out by the touch of Daniel’s skin against mine anymore. It doesn’t make me want to puke. Instead, I relax and sigh as he continues to idly stroke my skin with one hand, my body pressed against his. We’re both more or less naked underneath the sheets and towels, but it doesn’t feel sexual. At least, not yet.
I can’t really forget about him jacking off in the shower, though. It’s there in my mind every time I close my eyes.
I open my eyes languidly, feeling warm and loved for the first time in forever. My stomach’s growling, but I don’t want to move. I am feeling too good. I see the washcloth is still on his side, and I slide my hand down his chest and peel it away from his wound. There’s a bit of bruising, and it looks like there’s a big slice down his side. It’s still seeping blood. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Nothing a bit of superglue won’t fix,” he tells me, and his hand brushes my wet hair off my shoulders.
It feels so good that I turn my face against his neck again and nuzzle him before I even realize what I’m doing. “Mmm.”