Sinful Instincts (Woodland Creek) (5 page)

I wake up choking. As always, I’m sweaty and struggling for oxygen, trying to fill my lungs with the air they’ve been denied. As my breathing calms, I realize it was a dream and attempt to pull myself together.

“Just a dream... Just a dream,” I coach myself. I’ve been having the same dream my whole life, but it never gets easier. I don’t know whether it’s the desperation of wanting to see the woman’s face or the fear of downing, but it’s always the same. What’s more unnerving is that I haven’t had this dream for years. The door to my bedroom door suddenly erupts; once again, I’m watching another lock being destroyed. As I grab for my blanket to protect me, my new roommate storms into my room. My eyes go wide. “Jesus Christ, what are you doing? Get out!” I holler, my heart about to burst from my chest.

Apparently not understanding basic English, he continues to walk toward me, not stopping until he reaches my mattress. “Hello! Are you deaf! Get out!” I yell again, with no comprehension. His next move sends me into complete shock. Without invitation, he climbs into my bed beside me and presses his rock-hard body against mine. Placing his thick arms around my quivering waist, he pulls me closer into his chest, aligning my body so it fits perfectly against his.

I’m about to freak the frack out. I’m just waiting for my lungs to start working. Once I learn how to breathe properly again, I am going to fight.
Like it’s my job
. His voice, sounding tired, causes a layer of goose bumps to cover my skin. “I would leave, but I cannot get any rest with you all worked-up in here.”

What?
What an ass. Just because he’s smoking hot and may be the sexiest man walking planet Earth, it doesn’t mean I’m in here all panting over him! “I am
not
worked-up. You are truly insane, you know that, right? Get out.” That jer—

“No, I’m tired. I can sense your distraught mind, and it’s so loud it’s deafening. You were having a bad dream, and your heart is racing. Although alluring, the overwhelming scent of emotions pouring off you is practically choking me.”

“W-What?” That’s it. The Nutso alarm is totally going off at full volume right now.

“It’s my animal instinct, Emma. I am syncing to your emotions. Which is frustrating because it is keeping me awake.”

Syncing? Newsflash! iPhones sync, not people.

“Oh, okay, so…what you mean to say is that you forgot to take your meds. Well, great. I’m not having bad dreams, so please, get out!” I attempt a mediocre struggle because seriously, his arms around me feel kinda amazing. He does nothing to acknowledge my rebuttal and snuggles me even tighter.

“Shhhh, Emma. Sleep.” His voice is strangely comforting, and the way his arm holds me tightly while his thick thumb begins to brush up and down my navel… God, I am two seconds away from sticking my butt out into his junk.
Geez, who’s the feline now?

And shit! Why am I enjoying this?

Before I have a chance to mentally slap the shit out of myself and remind myself that he is a stranger and
not
human, his soft lips touch my earlobe, sending a sexual current of excitement down my spine. “I’m not here to hurt you,” he whispers into my ear. He pauses, waiting for my senses to digest his words before he continues, “I can sense your fears—your nightmares. I am only here to calm you. You are not the one I want, and I have no interest in taking advantage of you. I just want some sleep.” His confession is so soothing up until that last part.
You are not the one I want
. My mood and hormones take a nosedive, realizing he just denied anything I was strangely starting to feel between us.

I'm too tired and overworked at the whole night, so I take his insult as a mere figment of my insane imagination and close my eyes. I allow my body to relax into his and as I do so, I vaguely recall his grip hardening, bringing my body even closer to his. I tell myself this is all a dream and tomorrow I will go back to being a plain Jane, waiting tables at the Bar and Grill, counting down the days until I’m out of this town. I allow my mind to shut down and as I sigh in relaxation, I finally give in and fall into a deep to sleep.

Sin

I lie pressed against her small frame until I feel her body give in to sleep and her breathing slows to a soft purr. I place my nose inside the crease of her neck and inhale the sweet scent of her.
Fuck.
I release her sleeping body and lay my back onto the mattress.
What am I doing? I should have never come in here.
Again, a battle with my mind and my body. My mind tried to fight the emotions rippling through the air, but I could sense her discomfort. My hyper-sensitive ears could hear her small whimpers as she was deep in her nightmare. I fought myself from going to her. I need to stay away. I need to deny what I felt at the first touch of her. Because if it all came to a head with the realization of what was happening, then it would mean I have been chasing a ghost the past five years. Gabriella was my soulmate. She was the one no matter how hard I fought would have been my love for a lifetime.

But if that were the case, then why is my body tingling with the need to bond? I won’t deny the immediate pull to Emma, but to be my one? No. Fucking. Way. I think about Gabriella, try to summon the smell of her skin. Sadly, I fight to remember just how soft her skin was under my hands.
Don’t forget,
I coach my straying mind. I made a promise to avenge her death and save her, and I won’t stop until I fulfill it. I turn back, wrapping my arms around Emma once again, where they ache to be. This is only temporary. No matter what my body is telling me, there is no way Emma is my one true love. Gabriella is. She was going to be.
But never once did you bond with her.
I fight my mind, ignoring the truth it tells.

We just weren’t given the time. Zander took that away from us. And for that he will pay with his life. Emma whimpers but this time it’s due to me gripping too tightly. I take a deep breath filling my lungs with her honeyed scent and I relax around her body. Tomorrow, I will back off. I need her to help me, and then I will be gone.

Emma

I snuggle against my pillow, releasing a long sigh. I’ve never fully acknowledged the fact that I love my bed, but when I wake up, I’m going to make it a point to thank my bedding for being awesome because I’m in Heaven. I snuggle further into my pillow while wrapping my legs around my comforter.
Goddamn, this is great
. I mean, how do people ever leave their beds? Inhaling my sheets, they smell like male and dominance and...
What?
My legs halt, stopping their rub-down of my sheets as I lift open an eyelid to wonder about the new scent of my bedroom. As my lid is semi-opened, I notice my head is not particularly resting on my great bed pillow. I tilt my now-bulging eyeball downwards and realize my leg is also in its own fairyland, actually making rubby-rubby formations with something that is
not
my comforter.

My body freezes as my other eyelid flies open and I recognize my surroundings. And holy fuck me, I am not in comfort heaven. My comfort has nothing to do with thread-count-to-pillow fluff. It’s because my body is sprawled out on a half-naked male body and I have somehow latched myself onto my stranger-danger roommate like a goddamn spider monkey.

I’m about to pull my whole body away and fly off my bed when his deep voice startles me.

“Where are you going? You seemed so content.”

Oh, fuck.
Fuck fuck fuck
.

“Um... I, um... How… you... I... shit, I forgot you were in here,” I manage to eventually spit out a few fragments of a sentence, hoping he gets my confusion. “I was only going to stay until you fell back asleep, but I fell asleep, as well. And sometime during the night, you Velcro’d yourself to me, so I stayed. And we woke up this way.”

Dude. He did not.

He did
not
just tell me I suctioned myself to him. I go to swiftly pull away, but he stops me by holding my body in place. “We both slept peacefully,” he murmurs into my freaked-out ear. “And we both were innocent.” My body relaxes, but not enough to grasp why I am now sober and still playing house with this stranger. This hot, not-so-human stranger who can probably kill me and has the power to change into a creature, or a beast. Or a—

My delirious snicker garners his attention.

“What is so funny?” he questions, putting my unstable moment to a halt.

“Oh, nothing. Um… nothing.”

I finally move because I feel it’s wrong to play cuddly right now, no matter how attracted I seem to be to him. Thankfully, I’m clothed, so I sit up and inspect my surroundings. As my room looks exactly the same, minus my door hinges, I am forced to look at my guest.

“So…” I say, starting off the awkward conversation. Luckily, he’s still dressed in the sweatpants I gave him, but unfortunately, I’m kicking myself for not offering him a damn shirt. He sits up and his chiseled abs clench, along with my lower core, and I force myself to turn away.

“Listen, I'm sorry about earlier. I'm not sure what you thought, but I just had a strange dream. I'm fine,” I begin, trying to pat my hair down, hoping I don’t look like a compete buffoon while fending off this… well, whatever he is. Swinging my legs over the bed, I release the blanket, walking over to my closet to retrieve my robe. I turn back and the way this man is looking at me, like he wants to eat me alive, unnerves me. “You know,” my shaky voice is back in full swing, “I don’t even know your name.” A fact that just popped into my head. I have had this enigmatic stranger in my apartment, and I never cared to ask his name.

“Sin,” his mysterious, dark voice speaks.

“Sin? What kind of name is Sin?” I blurt out, failing to be courteous.

“A name I was given. My full name is Roxsin, but I go by Sin,” he merely replies, not feeling the rudeness of my question.

“Sin… Well,
Sin.
Again, I want to thank you for saving me last night, but I think it’s time for you to go,” I insist fidgeting with my robe tie.

He sits up abruptly, my eyes almost missing his movements, and before I know it, he’s standing in front of me. “I would love it to be that easy, but it’s not.” His smooth voice relays words that don’t register.

“Okay, so… Do you need directions or something? I really don’t know my way around here, I’m not too familiar with this town either, so you’re gonna have to—”

He presses his fingers to my lips, silencing me. “We need to talk.” His voice is becoming less gentle and more firm. It’s hard to argue with his finger still lingering over my mouth. And why the hell do I want to stick my tongue out right now and lick that finger?

I shake my head, forcing him to lose his grip. “Listen, we don’t have to talk. It’s cool. I won’t say anything about what I saw. Just go on your way. Thank you again, but we both can just move on from this,” I state, folding my arms across my chest, trying to show how nonchalant I feel. I just want to forget about this whole paranormal, fucked-up mess that happened and move on. And by moving on, I'm totally debating on blowing my lease, not caring about the damage to my credit.

“I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen,” he voices, pulling me away from my future ditch-and-run plans. I focus on his eyes, and they look anything but soft. His stance now overpowering mine, I notice he has taken up a more powerful barricade around me. Shivers run down my spine as I realize this isn’t going to be a simple
adios
. I inhale a gulp of air, the dryness of my throat forcing me to struggle as I attempt to swallow.

“What... what do you mean ‘that’s not going to happen’?” Dare I ask, right? Mr. Nice Guy gone, the dominant warrior back in action.

He steps closer to me—if that’s even possible—and grabs a lock of my unruly hair that has fallen in my face. “What I mean is that I lost something last night I had spent a very long time trying to catch. And since he seems to have taken a liking to you, you’re now going to help me get that back.”

Yeah. Okay,
what
?

“Yeah, so, no. Thanks, but I’m not sure I can help you with that,” I reply as I attempt to push past him.

He halts my attempt to pass bringing me back against his body, and I can feel the heat pouring off him. “You
will
help me.” His voice is stern, forcing my vision to lock with his, a freckled hazel brewing into a soft, amber glow. Yep, they’re
glowing
. I begin to shake my head in crazy mode. I need to shake this off. I need to get some coffee in me. Get this attractive Greek God of a wacko out of my apartment. Shit, I should leave with him. I need to get the hell out of this town!