Free Evening Primrose (Devil's Hornets MC Book 2) by Kathryn Thomas

he knew what she was talking about, but before he left she wanted to have an answer. He didn’t say anything, but he looked like he was fixated on her cheek.
     
    He walked over to her and touched the spot that seemed to transfix him. His hand felt cool on her cheek. That was where she was slapped earlier, but it shouldn’t be hot to the touch still or maybe that is what she was like all over. Her body was probably trying to burn that whole situation out of her brain… have mercy, she wished that were possible.
     
    “I can’t believe he hit you.” Jack said as he stared at her, and she grabbed his hand and held on to it.
     
    “I can’t believe you’re trying to make me stay here by myself. This isn’t something I like admitting to, but I’m afraid to be by myself.”
     
    “Do you want me to ask someone to stay with you?” Jack said like she wasn’t used to sleeping with him and sleeping in his bed.
     
    “No, I don’t. I wanted you to stay here. With me.” She didn’t want there to be any way to misunderstand what she was saying.
     
    The deep breath he took told the story, and she knew that whatever the reason he would come up with didn’t matter. He didn’t want her anymore, and that was that. She’d gone through a lot in the last day or so, and although she didn’t want to bother Jack anymore, she didn’t want to feel as icky as the last 31 hours had made her feel.
     
    “Come in the bathroom while I take a shower,” Natalie asked in the form of a statement. “Please.”
     
    He followed her as she went into her room and picked out some clothes to wear and her favorite lotion. She watched everything he did as if she could soak up all the memories and save them for a later day.
     
    She didn’t remember a time when they weren’t chatting and laughing their way through long drives, good food, and great sex, but it seemed like those days were over. That wasn’t what this was supposed to be about; she was supposed to be taking… taking back her life and her sexuality. Natalie owned the desire she had for Jack and she honored it, because when she was sitting in that box of a room that she didn’t even realize had windows, she didn’t think she’d ever feel desire again or the air on her face. But she was here, and she was going to live her life to the fullest.
     
    The water was perfect, and she took off her clothes and stepped under the water feeling the dirt and the grime wash away. Although she wanted to live her life to the fullest, she didn’t know how to get him involved in what she wanted. She was contemplating what to do next when two large hands plunged into her hair and she startled.
     
    “It’s okay, it’s just me,” he whispered in a voice she was familiar with, and the unstoppable tears ran down her face. It was stupid, but she was happy to let the water of the shower hide the tears.
     
    He washed her hair and moved his hands down her body washing her clean. When he was finished, she was a bit disappointed. Don’t people give out orgasms anymore?
     
    Getting out of the shower, he opened his arms so he could wrap her in a thick fluffy towel. The only thing that was missing was the fun and laughter.
     
    Walking her back to her room, she wondered what was going on with him. In the warehouse and all the way to where they were now, he seemed distant. Even at this moment it seemed like he was putting on a show for her, but she wasn’t going to complain, because she needed him… she needed this… now.
     
    “Take off the towel and lay down on the bed,” he said in a gruff whisper.
     
    She wanted to ask so many things and say so many more. She was filled with so many emotions. Happy that she was alive, excited to see Jack again, guilty about what happened while she was captive, mad for all the other people that ever happened to and they didn’t have their own retrieval squad, frustrated that she wasn’t able to connect with Jack on the same level they’d had before and