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  I pouted and then sputtered out, “R...Raven...” I didn’t want to play that card, but that had really hurt and I was feeling vengeful.

  Raven had been next to the bathroom but suddenly materialized next to the bed. He reached down, grabbed Marc by the ankle, and gave a solid tug. Marc had no chance to grab onto anything, and flew off the bed, landing in a heap on the floor.

  Raven stepped over him and sat on the edge of the bed. “I share with Kayli,” he said.

  I grimaced, wondering if I’d gone too far. He’d just one-upped Marc in front of other guys. That was never a good thing.

  Marc sat up, holding his stomach. “Shit, Raven,” he said, shock and hurt in his tone.

  In an effort to save the moment, I put my feet against Raven’s back and pushed. Raven was a solid block of muscle, unmoving. Still, I tried, groaning. “No,” I said. “You guys should sleep in the whole other room that’s on the other side of the bathroom. A girl needs privacy.”

  Raven reached around, grabbing my leg. Before I could pull it back, he pushed. I went sliding, tumbling toward the small bit of space between the bed and the wall. He held on, though, keeping me in a position where I couldn’t sit up, I couldn’t slide down. I simply hovered uncomfortably.

  “Give in?” he asked.

  I didn’t want to, but it was getting harder to sit up enough that I wasn’t knocking my head into the wall. “Ugh,” I said, reaching to hit him, but I couldn’t let go of the bed or I risked really hurting myself.

  He shook my leg, threatening to let go.

  “Okay! Okay,” I squealed. “I’ll share.”

  Raven pulled me up until I was on the bed again. He held onto my ankle though, and put it in his lap, petting it. “See,” he said to Marc. “We share.”

  Marc stood up, combing his fingers through his hair and straightening it. “Good luck with that,” he said. “She’ll probably kick you out while you’re sleeping.”

  “It happens,” Raven said.

  I grimaced again. “Once or twice,” I said.

  Marc turned his head, a curious look on his face.

  Brandon smiled, but his eyes were far off. He was amused, but he was clearly thinking about something else.

  Kevin cleared his throat, standing by the door of the bathroom and nodding toward the desk. “Is that the paperwork?” he asked.

  I followed his gaze to a binder sitting on the desk. It looked similar to one of Blake’s that he’d shown to me earlier. “I think so,” I said. “Someone should bring that to Axel and Corey and go over the details.”

  Marc went to the desk, picking up the small black binder. He opened it, flipping through it. He looked at me and then back down at the pages. “This is quite a bit of work you’ve managed to pull together.”

  “Don’t look at me,” I said. “There’s more people working here. I just asked for what I thought we might need. If I’m missing anything, you’ll have to talk to Ethan or Avery.”

  Kevin squeezed past everyone and headed toward the hallway again. He looked at Marc. “Should we bring it to Axel?” He looked at Brandon. “Are you coming with us or staying here?”

  “I’ve slept a little,” Brandon said. “And I’m not going to be able to sleep for a bit. I might as well get familiar with the ship. Maybe you and I can take a tour. I want to see where guests will be and I want to know all the exits and hallways we’ll be able to use.”

  “Let’s drop off the binder first and see if Axel needs anything,” Marc said. He turned to me. “If you’re going to sleep, do it now. We’ll catch up on what we can.”

  “I’ve got a plan A,” I said. “But we could use a plan B...and C.”

  Marc agreed and followed Kevin out. Brandon lingered for a minute, sharing a short, silent conversation with Raven. I couldn’t see Raven’s face, just Brandon’s. He looked a little worried at first but then relaxed and followed Marc out of the room.

  As soon as they were gone, Raven got up. He closed the door and started going over the room. He checked the vents, the light switch, the lamp. He got on his knees and checked under the bed.

  “The boogie man isn’t here,” I said.

  He straightened up on his knees, reaching to touch my leg. “What?” he asked. “Boog man?”

  No translation for boogie man. “Never mind,” I said. “What are you doing?”

  “Checking,” he said. He moved on, fiddling with the desk, opening the drawer. He even picked up the pens and inspected them.

  Well crap. What was going to happen if he found Doyle’s listening devices? Well, maybe that wouldn’t be too bad. Doyle didn’t need to hear from us. I sat up and got off the bed, moving to the bathroom to use it.

  Before I could close the door, Raven’s thick arm blocked it. He pushed it open.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, trying to close it on him. “You can’t come in here.”

  “I need to check it out,” he said. “Give me a minute.”

  I groaned and let go of the door. It might be some Academy routine when they get to a place they weren’t familiar with. Or Raven was super paranoid.

  And after I’d been kidnapped, I guess he had a right to be.

  Raven went through the bathroom, checking the sink, including inside the tap. He turned the light off quickly, studying the mirror, probably to see if it was two-way. He turned the light back on, going clockwise around the room to inspect fixtures, pipes and even under the toilet seat. He unfolded the towels that were white and embroidered with a blue L.

  Once he got to turning over the little blue and white seashell soaps, I’d had enough. “Okay, okay,” I said. “They didn’t put bombs in the soaps. Will you get out of here, now?”

  “They would have in Russia,” he said.

  “Then take the soaps out,” I said. I shooed him toward the door of the bedroom. “Now go away. I have to pee.”

  Instead of going into our bedroom, he went through the other door. I followed, intending to close it, but Raven again shot his arm through the doorway.

  “Leave it open,” he said.

  “I have to pee,” I said, squirming dramatically so he’d take pity on me.

  “Leave it open or I have to stay in the room with you.”

  Ugh. “Why?”

  “Axel said we have to stay together.”

  “He didn’t mean you have to watch me pee.”

  He pulled the door, but used his hand to stop it before it latched, leaving it open a little. “Leave it like that,” he said.

  I groaned again, and then lifted my fist to my face and bit my fingers. It was either that or scream in frustration. I’d have to talk to Axel about Raven and his lack of boundaries.

  For the moment, I settled for knowing Raven was preoccupied with looking for who knows what. I ran the water in the sink first and then I went to the toilet, sitting and hoping the sound wouldn’t carry too much.

  For extra noise, I started fiddling with the toilet paper. At first, I thought the toilet paper was wrapped in blue paper. I tore off a layer and started to unroll, and found blue after blue sheet wadding up in my hand.

  “Freaking rich people,” I said in exasperation.

  The door opened and Raven barreled in. “What?”

  I closed my legs. My knees were covered with the jeans still, so I wasn’t really showing anything. I covered my arms over my waist quickly. “Raven! Close the door.”

  “I heard you say something.”

  “I was just weirded out that this ship has blue colored toilet paper.”

  He looked at the toilet paper and then approached, peeling off a layer and inspecting it. “Yes.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Not a big deal. I just didn’t know there was such a thing as dyed toilet paper. It’s weird.”

  “I thought it was a cover.”

  “So did I.”

  He grunted and then dropped the paper into the waste basket. “Hurry up. Obviously I didn’t go through this well enough. I missed it.”

  “Just get o
ut,” I said.

  He left, leaving the door open again. I finished up quickly and then washed my hands with one of the tiny soaps. No explosions.

  He entered again as I was drying my hands. I wanted to gripe at him that I could have not been finished yet but decided to save my breath. I inspected my teeth in the mirror. “I don’t have a toothbrush.”

  “There’s some in the luggage. Open one up.”

  “I don’t want to,” I said, suddenly not caring about cavities as much as I did about rest. I was tired and wanted to get as much sleep as I could before the chaos started tomorrow morning. I had a feeling someone would be down to wake us up super early.

  I left the bathroom. Raven continued his inspection of the bathroom.

  I pulled the blanket and top sheet away from the bed, considering going to sleep in the jeans I was wearing.

  I rejected the idea and shirked the jeans and boots and socks into a pile by the chair. I scurried into bed. The T-shirt I was wearing was long and covered some of my lower body. I had forgotten to ask Corey or the others if they’d remembered to pack anything for me to wear.

  Raven came into the room. He knelt on the bed, his hulky body causing a dip and making me roll into him. He bent over me. His brown eyes inspecting my face. “Will you sleep?”

  “Yeah,” I said. Duh. That’s why I was in bed.

  “Are you feeling better?” he asked. He brushed his fingers along my forehead, like feeling for a temperature. “You’re not over-excited?”

  I think he meant something like if I was overdoing things. I shrugged a little. “Sleepy but okay.”

  He bent down and kissed me on the forehead, his lips lingering there for a long moment as he breathed in through his nose. “Goodnight,” he said softly.

  I smirked, feeling obligated to forgive him for being the brute who wouldn’t let me pee in privacy. Raven was a bulldozer with a fuzzy kitten heart.

  He climbed off of the bed, and went to the bathroom. He left the door wide open and proceeded to strip off his shirt, and then started undoing his boots.

  “Raven!” I said. “Close the door.”

  “I’m just taking a shower. I’m not going to use the toilet.” He unbuttoned his jeans and slid them down his thick hips. He hadn’t been wearing any underwear, so I got a clear view of his muscled butt and, some tattoos on his leg. Yup. Found the tiger tattoo.

  Something was rather sexy about realizing Raven went commando.

  I tried to avoid looking at him, having a feeling I wouldn’t sleep at all if I did. By the time he was actually in the shower, I’d lost my view and turned over.

  I settled down. I stared at the porthole, feeling odd being in a new place, and especially on a ship. My senses woke up a little. I remained as still as possible, wondering if I would feel the boat rock at all with waves or anything. At times I thought I felt it and then wondered if I wasn’t and it was just my imagination. At first, I thought I would have a hard time getting to sleep.

  I partially woke up when Raven settled into the bed next to me, only then realizing I’d even fallen asleep. He was on his back at first, but his weight and the way the bed was formed, caused me to roll into him. He shifted to his side, an arm resting over my stomach and cuddled into me. It wasn’t long before I drifted off again.

  A BEAR LIES WITH A THIEF

  I didn’t wake up again until morning light filtered through the porthole, the only light in the room. It was gray, either very overcast or it was still super early in the morning. I swallowed the thickness of sleep in my throat. I fought the idea of going to sleep again. Maybe if I could find Corey before I talked to Axel, I could see if he had any updates as to his mood and any more suggestions about winning him over.

  Did any of them sleep? There was someone next to me in the bed, I assumed it was still Raven. I wondered if any of the others slept in the other room.

  Since I didn’t know the time, I sat up, thinking to find a clock. Where was that cell phone? Then I remembered I’d thrown it at Marc. Was I not going to get that back? Where was Raven’s phone?

  As I was sitting up to look around for a clock or a phone, my stomach started to knot up. I thought it was hunger, until I felt it lurch. I paused, unsure of why it would feel like that. As nausea started to come over me in waves, I shifted again, laying back on the bed, breathing slowly.

  The nausea subsided, although my stomach felt strange. Was this leftover from when I had been sick? It had been at least a week since I’d last felt nausea over the treatment we’d gotten at the hospital. I wasn’t sure how long that was supposed to last, and had started to feel better. Why would it come back now?

  I remained horizontal in the bed, telling myself maybe I just needed a moment. Move slow, and cool down, and relax.

  I breathed in slowly, deeply, letting it out. While my stomach settled, I tried to tell myself it might just be a fluke.

  I’d been so focused on my stomach, I’d been oblivious as to what else I was doing. It was then I noticed I was holding on to Raven with my hand. At first, I’d thought it part of his hand or wrist or something.

  My hand encircled to figure out exactly what it was, and discovered to be cylindrical, thick and pierced…and hard.

  Whoops.

  My eyes darted up to his face, but his slack face and even breathing told me he was still sleeping. I stilled, not letting go, and not moving my hand either. I don’t know what compelled me. I didn’t want to move too quickly and wake him up.

  Part of me was a bit curious, though.

  I looked over his body, his rose tattoos along one arm, the tribal ones on the other, and then the ones on his stomach. He was broad around the waist, but it was pure muscle. His chest was just as big. It was the first time I noticed he didn’t have much hair around his chest, even close to his crotch. Did he shave so the tattoos were more noticeable?

  Big, bad Raven slept naked. I shouldn’t have forgotten. When he’d moved into bed last night, the blanket must have masked that. There was no masking now, out in the open with my hand on his cock, his morning wood on display while he slept. I wondered if that was a regular thing for him in the morning. Was he more sexually active then? Or just dreaming? I didn’t really know much about erections. Some of the other guys got excited at different times and tented or adjusted themselves. I ignored it as guy issues. I knew they couldn’t help it. It amused me at times though.

  Eventually, I did let go, worried he’d wake up and feeling guilty that I’d held on for so long. I also felt like I might be taking advantage of him while he slept for my own curious purposes. It had been an accident when I started, but there was no good reason to still have my hand on him now.

  I was about to turn over when a hand enclosed around my wrist. I gasped, horrified to have been caught.

  Raven gazed at me through half open eyes. He was calm, not even smiling, just lazy. He brought my hand back to his crotch, and gently pressed it to his cock again.

  He said nothing, his eyes telling me to do what I wanted. There was no pressure to move, no request, not even an inkling that he wanted me to do anything in a certain way for him. He’d caught my curiousness and now he encouraged it.

  At first, I didn’t want to. I’d accidentally found myself in a position I wasn’t sure I wanted to be in. Sure, I’d started it. There were steps to take before you got to this point, though, weren’t there? Still embarrassed about getting caught, my hand stiffened against him.

  He removed his hand but did nothing, simply looking at me.

  An odd sensation built inside me. Curious, calm. Something in Raven’s eyes told me it was okay, that I shouldn’t be embarrassed.

  So I relaxed my hand. I didn’t do anything other than feel the piercing with my thumb, and then worried about if it might hurt so I moved my thumb away. He hadn’t flinched, hadn’t done anything except calmly watch my face.

  I’d had a few boyfriends in my life, and a few of them would put my hand on their crotches during make-out sessions. I
knew they liked stroking but not at any time had I had the chance to simply explore. Before it had been about the endgame, what they wanted.

  I moved my hand down, feeling the thickness between my thumb and first two fingers. I held it up, weighing it in my palm. I traced the veins. I don’t know why I felt oddly comfortable doing this with Raven now. Maybe because he wasn’t asking me anything at all.

  I started to get more embarrassed and then tried to pull my hand back.

  Raven leaned into my hand, pressing himself against my palm. He moved his arm to reach for me, cupping my cheek in his hand. His eyes settled on my lips.

  Raven. He’d stood up to me with Marc. He’d fought off my father and bad guys for me. I got angry with him often, but after getting kidnapped, he had become my shadow. He was always there, sleeping next to me on the couch, or just sitting quietly beside me while I watched TV or was being lazy. I couldn’t help but feel close to him.

  I closed my eyes and then felt his lips on mine. The lip ring was missing. His lips were dry with the first kiss, and he licked them before the second.

  It was a calm kiss, steady and slow. I hadn’t kissed any of them in a while and remembered that they hadn’t kissed me at all since I’d been in the hospital.

  My soul craved this now. Feelings built up inside of me, a desire to be close. An emptiness was overtaking me and I really, really needed something for it.

  Raven eased out of the kiss, backing up to look at me. He settled again on his side, propping himself up with his right arm. His left moved from my face, along my neck and shoulder and down my arm to my hip. His hand smoothed over my waist, and then massaged the muscles of my back, following my spine.

  I relaxed at his touch, breathing in deeply. The massage felt good, and encouraged my own exploration of his body to continue. I did, but gently. I’d gone this far. I went back to the piercing, moving it slightly, and then encompassed the entire head in my hand. I used fingertips to explore the ridge.

  Raven’s breathing got more heavy the more I touched him. His hand climbed up my spine, slow and massaging. Smoothly, he eased his hand over my shoulder and then down to my collar bone, just above my breast. “Will you let me?” he asked, his voice thick, gruffer than his normal deep tone, his accent heavier than usual.