“Oh, nothing much. Poetry, mostly.”
“Poetry?” Why did this make me bite my lip? “Anything notable?”
His gaze sank to my mouth, lingering there, and I felt it like a live wire wrapping around my heart. “There was this one verse. It’s from a poem by a Portisan empath named Lurian, about sleep, ironically.”
“Read it to me?”
“Okay. Let me find it again.” He glanced down at the book in his hand, his techPad bobbling while he flipped through the pages, showing me his chin, his throat, his chest covered by a crisp white button-down. Repositioning the techPad, he swept his bangs back off his forehead and recited,
“I feel the change in your breath
a whisper after the storm
and in your dreams we float on our backs
while I vow to love you forever
under these stars that formed us
so long ago”
“Hmm.” I sighed, sinking back onto my pillow. “That’s lovely.”
“It is.” He set the book down, bringing his techPad closer. “You look beautiful,” he said, his eyes glittering in the darkness. “But a bit tired.”
I laughed, appreciating his diplomacy. “I’m sure I look more than a bit tired. But now that I have this”—raising myhand, I dangled his sleep mask from my fingers—“I think I might finally get some sleep.”
He cleared his throat. “Did you get the socks too?”
“I did.”
“Are you…wearing them?” he asked, his pupils dilating.
“I am.”
“Can I see?”
Standing from my bed, I propped my techPad on my dresser, then moved far enough away that my body filled the frame. I teased the hem of my shirt, raising it just enough to reveal the top of the socks. They were so long they reached above my knees.
“Good lord.” He bit his knuckle. “That is the single sexiest thing I have ever seen in my entire life.”
I snorted, looking down at my fuzzy, wool-covered legs. “You are a strange man.” I raised my shirt a bit higher. “But I think I have something you might find even sexier.”
“Wait. What are you doing?” he said in a flustered rush.
“What do you think I’m doing?”
“Sun—Phoebe, I mean. Don’t. You shouldn’t.Ishouldn’t.”
“You want me to stop?” I teased, sliding my shirt up an inch higher, and then another. “What are you afraid of, Joshua? It’s not like anyone can see you, all alone in your little closet.”
He pressed his lips together, stifling a moan. “Yes, but ‘TheIgnisar’s new L&C Gets Caught Masturbating in Closet’ is not a headline I ever want to see.”
“Really?” I said as my shirt reached the tops of my thighs, so close to revealing the soft curls and smooth skin between my legs. “Sounds like a stimulating read to me.”
His eyes slammed shut. “If I am ever fortunate enough to see you naked again, it will not be on my damned techPad.You need to get some sleep. And I need to go to my pod to take another cold shower.”
“Another?”
