Mel was sure her face was as red as a tomato by now. She crossed her arms protectively over her chest, while chastising Bryan. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it!”
Bryan said nothing else, merely setting the bucket in place and walking out of the room snickering.
Chapter 17
Mel awoke wrapped in a cocoon of warmth. She sighed contentedly and snuggled in closer to the source of the heat. Mmm, now this was the way to wake up. Funny, she’d never realized how comfortable her body pillow was before. It smelled good too—sort of spicy and masculine...
Wait. That wasn’t right. Her pillow smelled like the lemon-fresh scent of her laundry soap. She moved her fingers, exploring the surface beneath her...uh-oh. Last time she checked, her body pillow didn’t have a rib cage. This was not good.
Cautiously she opened one eye and saw a muscular pectoral just inches from her face. Oh great, what had she done now? Without thinking, she gathered her strength and pushed hard against the body that was pressed to hers, twisting away with the intent of creating as much space, as fast as possible, between herself and the person beside her.
As escape attempts went, it was highly unsuccessful. She barely made a quarter turn before strong hands caught her, pulling her back.
“Not so fast, sweetheart.” Ryne’s voice was rough with sleep.
Yep. Just as she suspected. She was in Ryne Taylor’s bed and he was in it as well. Finding herself effectively trapped, Mel looked up at him and scowled. After last night’s incident, he’d refused to let her stay alone, claiming she’d just have more bad dreams and he didn’t want his sleep disturbed anymore than it already was. Of course, she’d protested and in the end, the annoying man had simply picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.
Once in the bedroom, he’d dropped her onto the mattress, turned off the lights and climbed in beside her before she even had her wits about her. His arms had held her tightly against him, thwarting her attempts to leave. In the end, under the threat of being tied and gagged—he wouldn’t really do that would he?—she’d finally stopped her struggles. Lying stiffly at his side, she’d listened as his breathing fell into a steady rhythm, indicating he was nearing sleep. At some point, she must have dozed off too, though her intention had been to sneak out as soon as he slept.
“I see, from the frown on your face, that you aren’t a morning person.” Ryne rose up on his elbow beside her. His dark hair hung messily about his face and the morning stubble on his chin made him appear more handsome than ever.
How dare he look so sexy first thing in the morning, Mel thought to herself. She scowled thinking that her own morning appearance was probably less than appealing. It just wasn’t fair!
“Tsk, tsk. I can’t have a grumpy woman in my bed. I have a reputation to uphold, you know.” A crooked grin appeared on his face and his eyes twinkled with devilment. “I definitely have to do something about this.” Without another word, he tilted her chin up and kissed her.
In shock, Mel gasped which provided him the perfect opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth. Instinctively, she struggled, but he merely chuckled against her lips and continued on with the kiss, using his weight and superior strength to keep her in place. She pushed against his shoulders, and twisted her head trying to break free, with no effect. Annoyingly, even as she began pummelling him with her fists, she realized her lips were moving against his, returning the kiss.
Ryne lifted his head and grinned down at her. “Ah, no more scowl, but...hmm...still not quite the look I was hoping for, maybe...” Suddenly, Mel found her arms pinned over her head.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“Experimenting.” And with that, he kissed her again. This time it was slow and gentle, his lips pulling and sucking on one of hers, tenderly nibbling then licking. Abandoning her mouth, he trailed his lips lightly over her jaw to her ear. Taking his time, he left butterfly kisses on her forehead, down her nose, across her cheeks before finally settling on her mouth once again. Mel felt every nerve ending tingle to life as something inside her instinctively responded to him.
At some point, she had stopped her struggles and was now kissing him back with growing enthusiasm. Ryne lifted his head and whispered into her ear. “You liked that didn’t you? Me, holding you down.”
That jolted her to awareness. No—this couldn’t be happening! Mel grabbed onto a remaining bit of sanity and wriggled, trying to work herself free again. Ryne moaned in approval and shifted his attention to her neck, his teeth grazing the skin there. He rolled so that his body only half covered hers, his leg insinuating itself between hers. She could feel his erection pressing against her thigh, hot and heavy. For the first time, she became aware that he was nude. The realization had her struggling even more, but perversely, her resistance was increasing her own excitement; the touch of domination proving to be highly erotic.