Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 38973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
“You need more rest,” Gunner said softly once the movie ended.
I huffed. “All I’ve been doing is sleeping,” I muttered, burrowing more into his big, burly chest.
He chuckled, his fingers sifting through my hair. I almost purred. “Yes, but God only knows how long you were laying on the ground. You got rained on. The temps dropped drastically last night. And you have a head injury. Sleep is a must, sweet boy.”
I looked up at him. “Do I have to go to bed by myself?” I boldly asked. I wasn’t ready to be apart from him. And strangely enough, I cared if he slept or not, too. I didn’t want him down here, laying on this couch. It wasn’t fair. And he was too big for it anyway.
He arched a perfect, blonde brow at me. “Do you want me to lay with you, Ace baby?”
Immediately, I clammed up. It was hard enough for me to ask him to come to bed with me. He didn’t have to put me even more on the spot. Shoving his arms from around me, I jerked to my feet, the blanket falling from my shoulders. “Forget I asked,” I muttered.
His arm banded around my waist before I could take one step away from him, and he yanked me down to sit on his lap. I snapped my eyes up to meet his. Even sitting down, he was so much bigger than me. He cupped my cheek, keeping our gazes locked. His eyes were a shade lighter than mine—almost icy. But there was so much warmth there. Warmth for me.
“What?” I grumbled, wishing I had the willpower to rip my eyes away.
“You’ve had a lot happen in the past twenty-four hours, Ace,” he said calmly, always so fucking patient with me. My brothers had never been this patient, and it made my chest all tight and fuzzy and it made me want to fucking cry. And I wasn’t a crier. “You’re overwhelmed, and that’s understandable.” He looked at my hands, which had begun to play with his shirt absentmindedly. It was like now that I could touch him—touch someone—without wanting to shred my skin, I couldn’t stop. “You even said touching me, being able to touch anyone, was something new for you, right?” I nodded. He smiled softly at me. “Then, trust me when I say you need rest. You need time for your mind to settle again.”
“I don’t like being put on the spot,” I muttered. “You put me on the spot.”
“I was clarifying what you wanted, giving you the chance to change your mind in case you’d said what you did without meaning to.” My shoulders rose to my ears, and finally, I dropped my gaze, staring at my hands, which had stilled. I felt stupid now. “Look at me.” I slowly lifted my gaze. “I want nothing more than to cuddle you and hold you while you sleep, Ace.”
Everything inside of me relaxed and turned to goo at his words. “Then will you lay with me, Papa?” I asked, testing the term on my tongue. It felt… right.
Gunner’s eyes brightened, and something possessive anchored itself in his gaze. He tightened his hold on me, drawing me closer. I shivered, sinking into him. “I’ll lay with you, baby. All night until you wake up, if you want me to.”
I nodded. “I do,” I said softly. I leaned into him, not wanting to move. He bound his arms around me as I rested my head on his shoulder. My cheeks were warm as I tentatively asked, testing the name out again, “Will you carry me to bed, Papa?”
His warm, low chuckle was music to my ears as he scooted to the edge of the couch. I wound my arms and legs around him. “Yes, sweet boy. I’ll carry you to bed.”
Tucking my face into the curve of his neck, I smiled, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. My brothers were going to have a fit over how quickly I’d become so wrapped up in Gunner, but I didn’t give a fuck. They could all kiss my ass.
Gunner was mine—my Papa—and I was never letting him go.
CHAPTER FOUR
Gunner
Ace was still passed out in my arms as the sun rose the next morning. I’d been awake for about an hour, just watching him sleep. It’d taken me a while to fall asleep last night, though he’d passed out not long after we slid into bed and I wrapped my arms around him, cuddling him to me. He’d clearly had a flashback or a nightmare the evening before. There was no mistaking the haunted look in his eyes when I’d come to check on him—a look that now haunted me.
He hadn’t wanted to talk about it. I understood that better than he thought I did. I’d gone through my own horrors during my time in the military that still affected me years later. But Ace was still very young, whereas I was thirty-seven. Whatever he’d gone through probably hadn’t been that long ago.