Pillow Barrier

BELLE

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that I had fallen asleep. After all the protesting I’d done, insisting to the wolf that I wasn’t going to fall asleep, I had. The second thing I noticed was that I was wrapped around another human’s body—a male human.

And he was running his hand up and down my back in a soothing manner.

“Grayson?”

He kissed my head. “Yeah, beautiful, it’s me.”

I noticed that I was holding on to his body like a koala to a tree.

I quickly untangled myself from him and sat up a little, feeling my face heat up.

I looked at him. ~Did I dream the whole thing?~

“You’re human again?”

He smiled a bit.

“Yeah. After you fell asleep, my wolf gave me back control, and I shifted back.”

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” I muttered, angry that I had lost yet another battle with Grayson.

He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.

“I know you didn’t. You were being stubborn. But thank goodness you did because my wolf would not give me back control until you fell asleep.

“He was extremely worried about you. It was either force you to sleep or complete the mating process, but I convinced him you needed sleep.”

At the word ~mating~, I realized something.

“Grayson, if I look down will you be wearing pants?” I wasn’t sure if when you shifted, you would still have clothes on.

He smiled widely. “Curious about that, are you? Why don’t you check, baby?”

I gaped at him. “Ew, no!” I grabbed a pillow and shoved it in his face. “You’re disgusting!”

He laughed loudly and lifted the sheet from his body. I was afraid to look, but was thankful when I saw boxers covering him.

“Someday you won’t feel that way,” he said. “Someday you’ll be looking all you want. In fact, you’ll be doing a lot more than just looking.” He smirked.

My mouth fell open in shock at his words.

“Ugh, you’re so gross!” I yelled. “Is that all you can think about? Sex?”

He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged, still smiling widely. God, he was beautiful.

“Yeah, basically. If we were a normal couple, we would’ve had sex multiple times by now.”

That took me aback. “If we were a normal couple? A normal couple?” I asked angrily. “We’re not a couple at all! You forced this on me! I don’t even want to be here!”

He sighed and sat up. He brought a hand up and cupped my cheek, running his thumb over my cheekbone.

“I’m sorry, Belle. I know how confused and overwhelmed you must be. I promise this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. God, if we hadn’t met on a plane, this whole mess could have been avoided.”

“Why would that have made any difference?”

“I could have courted you the proper way, asked you out, and marked you when you were ready. “But the turbulence happened, and that asshole who stared at your boobs also needed to face the consequences. Marking you was the only thing that would keep me from ripping his head off.”

His hand brushed over the bite mark on my neck, and I could only assume that he was talking about when he’d bit me in the airplane bathroom. Shivers ran down my spine.

“You’re only a human… You’re so, so vulnerable, and I could see that you had gone through so much. So my wolf forced me to do it. “I had to protect you. I guess I could have just let you go once the plane landed.

“But I knew you needed to be near me. The pain of being apart would have been unbearable, especially right after I’d marked you. I had to take you with me. I’m sorry.”

He looked truly and genuinely apologetic, and for that I was grateful. But it didn’t make it okay.

“I need answers,” I said. “I’ve never been so confused in my life.”

He nodded. “I know. Ask away. I will tell you anything.”

I let my shoulders sag in relief. It surprised me he was being so compliant.

“Um…” ~Where do I even begin?~

As I sat beside him, I felt his hand on my leg, starting to rub up and down.

My body relaxed a bit. I leaned toward him. His other hand went to my waist and squeezed.

Our bodies were gravitating toward each other, becoming closer and closer by the second.

“No!” I suddenly snapped out of it. I pushed his hands away from me. “No, you can’t touch me. I can’t think when you touch me.”

I grabbed one of the pillows and put it between us, then placed more pillows atop and around it.

“What are you doing?” Grayson asked.

“This is my side of the bed,” I said, pointing to where I was sitting. Then I pointed at Grayson’s side.

“That is your side of the bed. You stay on your side, I’ll stay on my side. Then I think I’ll be able to get through this.”

“You think a pillow barrier will keep me from you?”

I shook my head.

“Well, if your touch didn’t turn me into a pool of melted goo, then we wouldn’t have this problem!” I yelled. When I saw him trying to contain his laughter I sighed.

“Just please stay on your side, okay?”

He raised his hands in surrender. “Whatever you say.”

“Okay,” I said. “Okay, so you’re a werewolf.”