Bonded

Chapter 12

He stared at the ceiling of his hotel room. Somewhere in the room a clock ticked away the seconds of the long night. Through the mate bond, he could feel her nearby. He had an awareness of her. He knew she was close, but she wasn't with him. The palms of his hands itched wanting to touch her. His arms ached wanting to hold her. He was fairly certain the only way he was going to get any sleep that night was if he smothered himself with a pillow. There was a tentative knock on his door. He knew who it was before his feet hit the floor. He pulled a plain white t-shirt over his head and stepped into a pair of black basketball shorts before answering his door. She stood in the hallway looking nervous and shy.

"Hey." He tried to keep the excitement out of his voice.

"Hi." she shifted her weight from side to side and fidgeted with her hands. Her face was freshly scrubbed, and her hair was up in a messy top knot with coils of curls escaping at all angles. She was wearing a long sleeve grey t-shirt with a pair of light pink pajama pants and black fuzzy socks. He had never seen anything sexier.

"I didn't wake you, did I?" Internally, she rolled her eyes at herself for sounding so unsure.

"No, I was up. And even if I wasn't it would be okay. Is everything alright?"

"I couldn't sleep because I was cold, and I remembered you were always warm, and you said if I needed anything..." She didn't finish her sentence. She had been tossing and turning in her hotel bed a few floors up when she convinced herself that she needed to see him immediately. She decided if she could see him for a few minutes, she would finally be able to get some sleep. Sleep that she desperately needed if she was going to make it through the next few days. Her body decided it was going before her brain could catch up. One minute she was debating with herself if he would still be awake and the next minute, she was out of her room and down the stairs. She didn't even bother with putting on a pair of shoes. Before she knew it, she was pulling her hand away from his door and listening to her knock echo in the empty hotel hallway.

Greyson simply held his hand out to her. She eyed it skeptically for a moment. A voice in her head was telling her this was a bad idea. That she should turn around and head back to her room before it was too late. Instead of running, she placed her hand in his. The effect of her touch on him was immediate. It calmed and soothed him. At the same time, it caused him to ache for more. More of her. All of her. He could see that he was having an effect on her too. She may not feel the mate bond as strongly yet, but it was there, tickling at her unconscious. At his touch her entire body visibly relaxed. The tightness in her shoulders let go and the crease in her forehead smoothed out.

He looked down at her. His mate. His Rebecca. He counted to ten in his head before grabbing her into a tight hug. Her smell enveloped his senses. It was like a drug. He wanted more. He wanted to always smell her. He wanted her to permeate his entire life.

"I missed you," Her words were muffled by his chest. She thought she was more prepared for him this time, but she was wrong. The second she put her hand in his, her entire world spun. She felt split. Pulled in two. Her brain told her to pull away, to protect herself, to maintain all the walls that she had built up, brick by brick, in the years since she last saw him. Her body, however, refused to listen. Her body leaned into him. Her body wanted nothing more than to curl up next to him and luxuriate in the peace he brought. The internal war caused her body to shudder.

Greyson closed his eyes, enjoying the moment. "I missed you too. This you. I don't know who that power suit wearing, kale eating, corporate warrior is that I met earlier. I missed this you. A lot."

"You may be the only one." Her words were still muffled by his chest. She couldn't bring herself to pull away from him enough to look him in the face.