Choosing Riley

Chapter 10-1

Chapter Ten

Riley snuggled down into the thick pile of blankets, trying to get warm. She could swear ice was beginning to form on the inside of the walls. She understood they needed to have shields and things like that, but none of that would do a damn bit of good to them if they were all dead from hypothermia.

She hated cold weather! That was why she had left Colorado and stayed to the south as much as she could. She should have just gone to live back in San Diego, where her Grandma Pearl and Tina lived, but she had wanted to see if she could make it on her own.

Tears pooled in her eyes and overflowed as she thought about what a mess she had made of her already crazy life. Was it too much to ask for just one thing to go right in her life? She pulled the covers over her head and turned her cellphone on. She was going to have to talk to Tor about recharging it and her iPad again. She didn’t know how he did it, but she was grateful that he had figured out a way to keep them charged for her. It was the only link she had to her life back on Earth.

She pulled up a video of her sister and Pearl at the bar. She had recorded it on Tina’s birthday several months ago. Her Grandma was relating some silly story that happened the weekend before when a bunch of biker wannabes encountered the real thing.

They had sat around laughing, drinking beer, and having a good time. Tina and she had been getting along better lately. Riley had a feeling it was because they had confided to each other that they were terrified of ending up being like their mom and Pearl. All either one of them really wanted was to fall in love, have a happy home, a couple of kids, and the mangy mutt that would come along and adopt them.

“Pearl, have you heard from momma lately?” Tina was asking Pearl.

“Now don’t you be asking me about that wasted piece of fluff,” Pearl said gruffly. “She made her decision when she left you girls and decided not to come back.”

“But,” Tina started to say.

“She’s gone, Tina,” Riley heard her videotaped voice say. “Let her go.”

Riley bit her lip now as she looked at the sadness in her baby sister’s eyes. Tina was only two years younger than she but had never given up hope that their mom would one day come home. Riley and Pearl knew that would never happen.

Riley had used her contacts at the bail bond company she had been working for to look up information on their mother. She found out their mom had died when she was ten and Tina was eight, of a drug overdose in Los Angeles. Riley had traveled up to the City of Angels to visit the grave. Pearl had their mom cremated and her ashes placed between her great-grandparents.

Riley had confronted Pearl, wanting her to tell Tina, but Pearl had been adamant. “Your momma has caused enough pain and sorrow. Let your sister have her dream for a little longer. She will find out eventually. I’m just not ready for her to find out yet.”

Riley had reluctantly agreed simply because it was Tina’s twenty-second birthday, and she didn’t want her sister to remember finding out their mother was dead on her special day. Tina had always been the more sensitive of the two of them. Riley wasn’t really sure who Tina took after, but it was probably her dad.

Riley had never found any information on him or her own father. Riley knew she had Pearl’s smart mouth while Tina just became quieter when she was confronted. Riley figured she took after her father in size. There was no doubt about that. Tina was petite like Pearl and the pictures they had of their mom when she was a little girl, and had their mom’s straight, dark hair.

Tears poured down her cheeks as her iPhone finally cut off. She sniffed and let them come; quiet sobs poured out of her as she thought of her small family back home that she would more than likely never see again. She figured she deserved a good cry every once in a while. No one could blame her for that.

She drew in a deep breath when she felt the bed she was lying on suddenly sink down. The covers were pulled free from around her head until she could feel the freezing air on her damp cheeks. She looked up into dark, tawny eyes filled with concern.

“Can I hold you?” the deep voice asked quietly.

Riley’s eyes filled with more tears, she bit her lip and nodded slowly. She pulled the pile of blankets back so Vox’s huge figure could crawl under them with her. She waited as he pulled his boots and vest off.

He tossed them onto a nearby chair before he crawled under the covers with her. She didn’t care that she had promised herself that she would stay away from his ornery ass. She didn’t care about anything but feeling safe, protected, and warm for a little while. She needed to be held and he was offering.

She would have been the biggest fool in every known star system if she turned down a heater better than any electric blanket, not to mention she was just feeling very fragile and lost right now and needed something she could hold onto. She would kick his stubborn butt out after she had a good night’s sleep and was feeling better.

Riley curled up as close as she could next to Vox’s warm body without actually pulling him on top of her. She let out a deep sigh of contentment as he wrapped his strong arms around her waist, pulling her even closer. Her head rested on his broad shoulder, and she rested her hand over his heart.

Vox held her close. After a few minutes he noticed her breathing had slowed down, and her body had melted against his as she slipped into a deep sleep. A chuckle shook his body slightly. This was the last thing he expected. Why he should be surprised or have expected anything less was beyond him anymore.

He had planned to claim his mate. He had expected a fierce fight, followed by some new bruises, before he would wrestle her down and make love to her so much she would have to concede that she was his mate. Instead, he had entered the room she had claimed only to hear her muffled sobs. They had broken through his fierce determination and replaced it with something inside him he had never experienced before—tenderness.

When he had drawn the covers back and she looked at him with her big, baby blue eyes shimmering with tears and sadness, his heart had actually hurt. It had melted into a mushy puddle when she gazed up at him with such heartfelt need when he had asked if he could hold her. He bit back a silent groan as he felt her soft, plump flesh melt against his body.

Her hand moved up to curl in the hair at the base of his neck just as she rolled over enough to bury her nose contently against his chest, a soft snore escaping her. His body pulsed for a moment before he felt it relax as his own tiredness overwhelmed him. He turned his head so he could rub his cheek against her hair.

It feels so good to hold her, he thought sleepily. I’m never going to sleep without her against me again.

Vox gave up on trying to stay awake. He would claim her when they were both well rested. It would be more fun anyway. A smile curved his lips as he realized this was the first time he had been able to hold her without getting hurt. He was making progress after all.