She shut off the water and rested her cheek on the back of my shoulder. “No. I understand you have a lot going on and that you’re trying to find whoever did this to me in the first place. I just missed you and feel better when you’re close by. I get that I have to share you with the Point.”
I lifted a hand to run it over her newly chopped hair. It might be short and a little crazy, but it was still soft and felt like silk where it clung to my wet fingers.
“You shouldn’t have to.”
She laughed and there was no humor in it. “In a perfect world, maybe, but so far not the Hill, not the Point, and nowhere in between is perfect. We just have to make the best of what we have.”
I curled my hand around her neck and asked, “Are we falling in love, Bry?”
She laughed again and pulled away from me. “Probably. Why wouldn’t we? Life is a mess, I have someone trying to kill me, and you’re right in the thick of a war on the city. What better conditions could you think of to fall in love?”
Definitely the Bonnie to my Clyde. I turned to follow her as she walked into the bedroom.
“You think we’ll survive it?” I hadn’t ever been in love before, and so far, it was like its own special kind of battle I was trying to win.
She sighed at me. “I don’t know, but I sure hope so.”
I needed to change the subject before one of us let good sense talk us out of what was happening between us.
“What do you know about Drew Donner?”
She was working on folding down the comforter on the big king-size bed, so she just answered me over her shoulder. “We have a bunch of the same classes this semester. He’s nice enough, so we study together sometimes.”
“He never asked you out or anything?”
She stripped out of the black pants she was wearing, leaving her in nothing but a tank top and a pair of barely-there panties. This was serious conversation, but my mind immediately went blank and all I could do was stare at her long legs as she climbed up on the bed and sat on the edge. She still had a little red mark on her knee from her close call in the parking lot, and the reminder of her being injured now and before was enough to get my mind back on track as she studied me for a minute before answering.
“He’s made it pretty clear he would like to be more than friends, but I was never into it and I told him so. He doesn’t love it, but he never pushes the issue.”
I stalked toward her and didn’t stop until I reached the side of the bed and had positioned myself between her legs. I leaned over her until she was propped up on her elbows and I was just a breath away from being laid out on top of her.
“And why weren’t you into it?”
Her chest rose and fell and she let her weight drop so that we both collapsed on the bed and I was completely covering her. She twisted her hands into my hair and met my serious look with one of her own.
“Because I was into you, even if I didn’t want to be, and I knew no one else was going to compare.”
Damn straight no one was going to compare. This girl got to me in a way nothing else had in a very long time, and the pull between us was something that people looked a lifetime for. It didn’t matter that my world was dangerous, that she was going to have to take a risk by being with me—we were supposed to be together—and no deranged stalker or better judgment was going to keep us apart.
I kissed her hard and fast and went to move up and off of her. After all, she was hurt and there was no way I was going to do any more damage to her, but her grip in my hair tightened and she didn’t let me go.
“I’m having someone check him out. The guys at that school seem to have a hard time when you turn them down. I want to know what his deal is.”
Her eyes glittered up at me, and she curled one of her legs around my waist, which had my hands reaching for bare skin against my will.
“He doesn’t have a deal. He’s just a typical college guy. He wouldn’t hurt me. He has no reason to.”
My fingers stroked her thigh and I felt my heart rate speed up a little. I had to remember her head was probably killing her. I kissed the outside curve of her eyebrow.
“I’m still looking into him. Brysen, you just got out of the hospital this morning. Let me up and we’ll go to bed. I told you, I want to take care of you.”
One of her hands let go of its death grip on my hair to twine around my shoulders as her other leg joined the first, meaning I was now fully cradled against the center of her and the only thing between my growing erection and her warm center was her panties and my jeans.