Brave by The 12 NAs of Christmas, Zoe Dawson

could barely breathe. My arms
tightened around her. I slid my fingers over her face, tilting her
chin up and kissed her gently, and she kissed me back. “Goodnight,
Alissa.”
    I
watched as she hobbled away. Basking in the afterglow of that kiss, I
followed her retreating form, looking toward my room. I sighed. I
could take a sleeping pill tonight. Now that Alissa could move around
easily, I didn’t have to worry about her needing me.
    I
paused as everything inside me seized. She needed me. Damn, why did
that sound so good? She was like sunlight and strawberries, warmth
and comfort, passion and desire, all wrapped up in a gorgeous
package. I didn’t deserve her, a woman like her. I headed to my
room and stripped down to nothing, too tired to even care about
clothes. Swallowing one of my sleeping pills, I got into bed and let
the blessed darkness overtake my mind.
    Splintered
silvery pieces of awareness filtered through my consciousness, and I
felt the heavy weight on my eyes that I always experienced when I
took one of those damn pills.
    “Dakota?
Where’s my coffee? You know I’m a coffee whore.”
Her voice was distant, and I couldn’t seem to fully wake up
just yet.
    Her
voice was much closer. “Are you still in bed lazy bones?”
    I
lifted my sleepy eyes and saw her hobbling toward me. When she
reached down to strip the blankets off me, I tried to react, but it
was too late. The cool air drifted over my skin. She gasped, but
instead of looking away, she stared at me. Her gaze like a sensual
caress, she moved her eyes over my body, from my throat, down over my
chest to just below my waist. She lingered there, and I couldn’t
stop myself from reacting to the shocking frankness of her stare. My
dick went rock hard, a very easy task in the morning, but her eyes
continued on down over my hips and the length of my legs.
    The
smoldering fire in me flamed and I made a soft noise—a groan.
“Alissa, please,” I said, “You’re killing
me.”
    Her hot
blue eyes settled on mine and the tension in my body drew as tight as
a bow. She turned and fled, slamming my bedroom door behind her.
    But the
heat in me didn’t subside. I wanted her. My body was on fire,
my reaction to her purely natural, purely male. I tried to slow my
beating heart, get myself under control. I couldn’t face her in
this state. But the desire in her eyes scorched me like a burning
brand. After everything she’d seen me go through, how could she
be attracted to this shell I inhabited?
    Although
right this moment, I didn’t feel like a shell. I felt an
intense, dark hunger, but I couldn’t act on it. She was here
for only a short period time. It didn’t matter that I was
deeply attracted to her. Once I got myself under control, I entered
the kitchen, but she was very busy with her computer.
    I went
to the fridge and got out eggs and bacon.
    “You
know, you could warn a girl.”
    “Right,”
I said, turning around and meeting her eyes. “How would that
come up in casual conversation? Oh, by the way, I sleep in the buff,
so don’t come into my room and rip the blankets off me unless
you mean business.”
    She
flushed and looked away. “What if I meant business?”
    “Alissa,”
I said, solemnly. “I’m not…sure…not…whole.
I’m too much of risk for you. I don’t want start
something I can’t finish. I hope you understand.” I had
to nip this in the bud. Getting physical with her…I didn’t
think it was a good idea. The demons so knew how to attack me when my
guard was down. And, it would be, with her. If I took Alissa like I
wanted to, I was afraid that they wouldn’t only find me…they’d
find her.

Chapter Seven
    Alissa

    I did
understand. That was the problem. But, I still wanted him. That
hadn’t changed one bit. It still hurt. The way I had looked at
him had been no joke. But it was probably for the better. I tried to
think around his nakedness, like he had beautiful eyes or his hair
was so sinfully dark. But there was no