Chapter Seventeen
Miki opened her eyes and for a minute wondered where she was. Hotel rooms, with their big heavy curtains, were always a little too dark for her. But then she felt Conall’s big arm wrapped around her, pulling her close into his even bigger chest.
She relaxed and glanced at the clock. Seven a.m. She’d actually slept six hours. Two days in a row she’d slept longer than three or four hours. Of course, Conall kept wearing her out. Really wearing her out.
Was it supposed to be like this? He should’ve gotten bored by now. Started ignoring her. Plotted a way out that wouldn’t involve getting his ass kicked by Sara. She thought they’d started down that road the day before. He’d been watching television while she worked on her computer. He’d been quiet for almost an hour and she found herself debating whether he was ignoring her or giving her space to study. On a whim, she muttered something about not finishing what they’d started against the wall in the first hotel room he had. Before she knew it, he had her pinned against the wall like a butterfly in a display. After that it continued for hours. Against the wall. Against the desk. Face down on the bed. Pushed over the bathroom sink. Bent over a chair. She was pretty sure there wasn’t a stick of furniture in the room her ass hadn’t been on.
She was so confused. He was confusing her and she didn’t know what the hell she was doing. This was not her terrain. Sara and Angelina handled the social stuff and Miki made sure they passed calculus class and didn’t get kidnapped by bikers.
But now it was getting harder and harder to separate her body from her heart. Even though she continued to promise herself she wouldn’t go down that road. But she made the mistake of listening to those two crazy bitches. What the hell had she been thinking? She knew better. Did she learn nothing from the ninth grade lip-gloss and bloodletting incident?
Yet, she wouldn’t trade the last few days she’d spent with Conall for anything in the world. He’d taught her sex was fun, pleasurable and freakin’ amazing.
Just thinking about him inside of her made her want to turn over and grab that big cock of his. But then she remembered what she had to do in just a few hours. Get up in front of a bunch of uptight professors who barely tolerated her, wearing a suit she hated, defending a thesis she wasn’t sure she believed anymore. And how the hell could she defend something she didn’t believe in? Unlike Craig’s work, her thesis relied on theory as opposed to hard facts from her own lab work. Who the hell would approve that?
Choking panic began to weigh her down, but she shook it off. She had to get her shit together. She had lists to write. She slipped out from under Conall’s arm, found her notes, and sat down to obsess over her future for the next eight-and-a-half hours.
She thought she was being quiet, but thirty minutes into her obsessing Conall woke up. He looked at her with that one eye thing he did first thing in the morning and sighed.
“You’re obsessing, aren’t you?” Because he’d just woken up, his grumbling voice was even more so. The sound made her wet in seconds. She shook her head and went back to her notebook. She didn’t have time for this.
“It’s what I’m good at.”
Conall stood up, gloriously naked, and walked into the bathroom. He closed the door behind him and, within seconds, Miki heard water running. It was her turn to sigh. Let the ignoring begin!
She went back to her notes and was halfway down the page when Conall walked back out of the bathroom and straight over to her. He reached down, took the notebook out of her hand and pulled the T-shirt she had on over her head. He tossed it aside, then picked her up and took her with him into the bathroom.
“What the hell are you doing?”
He closed the door with his foot, and took her to the huge marble tub. The room was steamy from the hot water, the tub filled with bubbles. He sunk them both in and relaxed back. Christ, he hadn’t stormed out of the room to get away from her. He’d gone off to make her a bubble bath.
“Conall?”
“Miki?”
“I should be preparing. Or panicking. Or both. Probably both.”
“Forget panic. It’s a waste of energy. And prepare what exactly? You’ve got a freakin’ photographic memory, Mik. You’re telling me you don’t already know each and every detail from your thesis, your textbooks, and your notes?”
Bastard. “Okay. You’ve got a point, but—”
“No buts. You’re going to relax if it kills us both.”
“Relax? How am I supposed to relax?”
Conall pulled her close and began to kiss her neck, his hands sliding over her body.
“You didn’t answer my question, Viking.”
“Yes, I did,” he muttered against her neck.
Bastard. “So this is your plan?”
“Pretty much. You got a problem with that?” He slid his hands between her thighs and Miki braced her hands against the sides of the tub. God, the things this man did to her. “Miki?”
Christ, she was panting. When did that start happening? “What?”
She felt him smile against her flesh. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Bastard.
Conall snatched the door open and three of his Pack jumped back. “What?”
“Uh…” Billy Dunwich was the only one brave enough to speak in the face of his scowl. “We were just checking on—”
“When we’re ready, we’ll be down. Until then just wait.” He slammed the door in Billy’s face. Zach, true to his word, had sent eight of his best wolves to escort Conall and Miki back home. They were even taking a later flight to ensure the whole group would fly together. But until then, he didn’t want anything interrupting him and Miki. And he meant anything.
He turned and looked at the woman he loved. He didn’t even hide the smile on his face. With Miki he didn’t have to. She leaned against the desecrated dresser, wearing nothing but one of his T-shirts. It reached to the middle of her calves. “I see.”
“You see what?”
“You. You’re a closet Alpha.”
“I’m a what?”
“You heard me. You’re a closet Alpha. You don’t really wanna be in charge, but you love to order people around and scare the shit out of them. You’re probably only friends with Zach because he doesn’t scare easy. Most likely because he’s not the brightest bulb in the batch.”
Zach was a lot brighter than Miki would ever give him credit for, but other than that she’d hit it all right on the head. The woman absolutely amazed him.
“Is that right?” Conall walked toward her and immediately she began to back away. He watched her nipples get hard under his T-shirt and he listened to her labored breathing. “What else have you figured out about me?”
“You clearly like to stalk me around this hotel room.”
“Aw, Miki-baby, don’t say that. I’d stalk you anywhere.” She laughed and he backed her up to the bed. When her knees hit the mattress, she held her hand up.
“Stay!”
He stopped and watched her.
“I’ve got to get ready for…uh…ya know…that thing I’ve gotta do.”
Well, he’d wanted her relaxed.
“We’ve got three hours before your dissertation.” He nuzzled her outstretched hand until she gave a little moan, then he sucked her middle finger into his mouth.
“You, Viking…” Christ, is she panting? “…are a very bad influence.”
Miki looked up at him with those big, beautiful brown eyes of hers. “You know,” she whispered desperately, “if I start running now I can be back at Sara’s by tomorrow night. Afternoon if I don’t get stopped by the cops.”