NERO: Chapter 19

She’s so fucking beautiful.

Her soft breaths fanning the hair that’s fallen across her cheek.

The blankets are pulled up over her shoulders, and even though the bed looks small and uncomfortable, the blanket is thick, so I know she’s warm.

Perfectly warm.

Fuck, I want to touch her. That soft soft skin, the heat of sleep relaxing all her muscles. Leaving her limber. Ready.

My cock starts to harden.

Okay, arguably, this is the creepiest thing I’ve ever done. Standing in the corner of a sleeping woman’s room, watching her when she doesn’t know I’m here. Soaking in the scent of her. The colors and textures and expressions of her.

But she wants me here.

And I can’t shake this feeling that she needs me.

I can’t offer her what she’s really seeking, can’t give her a future or happiness, but I can give her this. I can give her tonight. Give her pleasure.

Payton makes a soft sound, and my body goes taut. She shifts, her eyes squeezing closed, another murmur working its way out of her chest.

My left foot lifts, readying myself to reach out and comfort her. But before I can step my leg forward, Payton’s eyes pop open on a gasp.

I carefully lower my foot back to the carpet, holding my body completely still.

“Shit.” Her whisper might as well be a shout with the way it hits me and reverberates around in my skull.

She lays there for a moment, looking at the ceiling, and I wonder the best way to announce my presence. I’m certain that open door was an invitation. Still, there’s no way for me to let her know I’m standing here, in the dark, without scaring her.

Payton lets out a small groan, and I watch with rapt attention as she shoves the blanket off her body and climbs out of the bed. Even with the curtains closed, there’s enough streetlight filtering in around the edges of the window to highlight the bare skin of her thighs.

I’ve never seen her like this. Not up close.

The last time I was here, she had a blanket pulled up to her chin most of the time. And then later ––I clench my teeth so I don’t groan as my cock grows even harder––when I pulled that blanket down a few inches, put my hands on her, actually felt her skin under my palms… it was fucking addicting. One hit of that sweetness was all it took to hook me.

And now. Well fuck, now she’s barely dressed.

It’s a good thing I know that she put those shorts on for me. Because if another man sees her like this, I’ll rip their eyeballs out with my bare fingers.

Payton rolls her shoulders when she stands up from the bed, and it stretches her cute little shirt tight across her tits. And, Jesus Christ, her nipples are pebbled and pressing against the shiny fabric like little beacons, leading me home.

When she walks away, I nearly moan. Her ass has the perfect amount of jiggle. The cheeks bouncing beneath the thin material every time her foot strikes the carpet. I want to grab my dick. Squeeze it to calm it the fuck down. But where I am right now, I’m in her peripheral vision, and I don’t want her to see me yet. Not until I’m ready.

She pads across the hallway, and a small smirk pulls across my lips when I hear her in the bathroom.

It’s nothing. Everyone pees. But I bet that’ll stress her out more than finding me here, sitting on her bed.

When I hear her steps move toward the living room, I push away from the wall.

And when her steps stop, and I hear her sharp intake of breath above the silence of the apartment. I smile.

She knows.

And when her steps head back toward the bedroom, back toward me, I take a seat.