Hunter (King’s Men MC #1)

24. Ryleigh

24

RYLEIGH

We spent the day together.

I didn’t know whether he had work. Still, I was thankful he was around because after all we had done in my apartment, I needed him close. After my scare from this morning, I didn’t want to be alone.

And what was more, when nighttime hit, he didn’t go home like I expected. Instead, he returned to his apartment to grab a spare change of clothes and returned to me.

I spent the night in his arms.

There was no nightmare.

I had slept surprisingly well, and for the first time in a very long time, I slept until seven in the morning, when the sun was already up.

I looked around my empty room, my hand coming down on the side of the bed that Xavier had slept in, and found it cold.

Wherever he went, he had been there for a while.

Just when I was about to call him, my front door clicked open, and I heard his footsteps moving across the hardwood floors before he appeared at the threshold of my bedroom door.

He looked wide awake.

No hint of sleep in his eyes, and he was carrying two cups of coffee.

“Is that for me?” I asked.

He smiled. “Of course.”

He came up to the bed, sat down on the side, and handed me a cup.

I took a sip of the sweet coffee, with a good amount of milk and sugar, just the way I liked it.

I wondered how he had guessed it.

I smiled at him, grateful, and he tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear before he dropped something small on my lap.

I looked down at it.

“What is this?”

“A key.”

I rolled my eyes. “I know that. What is this to?”

“My apartment,” he answered.

I frowned up at him.

“Your apartment?” I asked.

I didn’t realize we were at the point to be exchanging keys.

“Seems only fair,” he said casually. “Considering I have a copy of yours.”

One of my eyebrows rose at that. “Don’t you think you should have asked me first?”

I couldn’t decide if I was mad about that.

After the emotional turmoil I’d been in the day before, I didn’t think I was in the right mindset to react to anything.

“What would you have said if I asked?”

“I don’t know. You didn’t give me a chance.”

“This is more practical. Considering how odd my hours are at work, I can come by and sleep with you once I get home from work.”

“That is to say you’re invited,” I said drily.

He shot me an arrogant look that had me rolling my eyes. “Oh, I know I’m invited.”

I shook my head before a small laugh escaped.

I probably should be mad at him about this.

And talk to him about boundaries, which the man didn’t seem to know the definition of.

But he did give me the key to his apartment. And…

It sounded fair.

If he could come to my apartment when he wanted, I assumed the same rule would apply to me.

I looked back down at the key.

“I can see you plotting behind those fascinating gray eyes of yours,” he said, coming in closer to me, smiling a little.

“Oh, yeah. Now that you gave me a key to your place, I’m going to start planning your demise.”

He laughed. “Good luck, baby. But every time you fail, I fuck the defiance out of you.”

I shivered at his words. I was still sore from last night, yet I wanted him again.

He shot me a knowing look.

“I have to work today, okay?” he said carefully.

I bit my bottom lip. Even if I asked Xavier to explain his job to me, would he? Or would he continue to be evasive? And what was so bad about his job that he felt he couldn’t tell me?

I nodded instead.

He smiled and leaned forward, kissing me. “Be a good girl today, and I’ll give you a treat.”

Oh, boy. I could only imagine what he meant by a treat.

He laughed at the look in my eyes and tugged on my hair playfully before he got up and got ready for his day .

I lay back down on the bed and listened to him.

It was surprisingly soothing, and I could easily see this happening between us for the next twenty, thirty, hell, even sixty years.

Until we were old and gray.

That just sounded perfect to me.

Was I na?ve to be envisioning forever with him?

Perhaps so. I couldn’t bring myself to stop.

He came out of the shower fifteen minutes later, a towel wrapped around his hips, showing off his tattoos.

One of these days, I was going to make him lie down on the bed while I explored.

And maybe explore other things as well.

My eyes moved down to his cock.

Oh yeah.

I could definitely see myself exploring that.

I licked my lips as he turned away from me and dropped the towel. I let my eyes take in his fantastic ass.

Like the rest of him, it was perfect.

And I was right. He was tan everywhere.

He turned around, and I didn’t move my eyes away from him quickly enough.

He smirked. “Busted.”

I pouted. “Are you sure you won’t come back to bed and play?”

He sauntered over to me, leaning down and cupping the back of my head.

I grabbed his stiff cock and stoked up and down his length.

He closed his eyes and let out a small groan, making me feel powerful.

Fuck.

Was there anything hotter than to know you had power over such a powerful man ?

My thumb moved over his tip, taking in the pre-cum leaking out, and that was when he pulled away.

“Nuh-uh, naughty girl. I have to get to work.”

His thumb swiped across the tender skin under my eyes. “This seems to be better. You don’t look as sleep deprived.”

I wrinkled my nose. “It’s all the sex. It tires me out.”

“Is that so? Then I suppose we should have sex more often.”

I nodded, trying to keep from laughing, and his eyes twinkled in amusement.

He leaned down, pressed a hard, quick kiss against my lips, and then walked away to get dressed.

I watched him while I sucked on my thumb, and when he was done, he turned around and saw what I was doing. His eyes darkened, and I smiled against my thumb, tasting a little bit of him there.

Delicious.

“You are trouble,” he said.

“You like me as I am.”

He shook his head, smiling a little, and muttering something under his breath before walking out the door.

I stayed where I was for a moment, still reeling over all that had happened since I moved into this apartment and met Xavier.

It all seemed to be fate.

I didn’t even know what I was doing there.

It was late, and I had received a text from Xavier earlier that he wouldn’t be home until later.

I should have gotten ready for bed once I finished my dinner.

Not stand outside at his front door, debating .

It wasn’t like I hadn’t been in here before.

If there was anything that might tell me more about him, wouldn’t I have found it already?

Except, I had always been with Xavier, and there wasn’t really time to explore his apartment.

But if I do this, our relationship would go back a step… or two.

I would essentially be saying that I didn’t trust him.

But I did.

I trusted him with my safety.

I trusted him not to hurt me. To protect me.

But I didn’t trust him to not lie to me.

I had never caught him in a lie, but I knew he omitted things.

My hands shook as I inserted the key into his apartment, jumping a little when the lock clicked.

I didn’t know what I was expecting.

For the key to be a false one?

For him to lie about this?

But he didn’t because I was now looking inside his dark apartment.

Slowly, I walked inside and closed the door behind me, turning on the hallway light.

It felt eerie like this.

Or maybe it was because I was doing something I wasn’t supposed to do.

Was I about to discover something about the man I was falling for that I wouldn’t like? Something that would make me run?

I didn’t know.

I looked around his living room first, and when I found nothing out of the ordinary, I moved to his bedroom.

There was nothing under his bed or between the mattresses. I went inside his walk-in closet. The man really did live on dark jeans, dark t-shirts, and black boots. He had two leather jackets with some symbols on them, but other than that, nothing was interesting about his walk-in closet.

I moved to the drawers next, opening them and taking in the contents. It was all so normal.

There wasn’t anything bad hidden inside.

I found a gun under his mattress by the pillow, which was the most interesting thing so far.

I had put it back, scared I might accidentally take off the safety or something.

I let my hand shift through his sock drawers, going under it when a voice spoke behind me, sending shivers up my spine.

“Did you find what you were looking for?”