A creak from the house has me sitting up with a jolt. Turning toward the sound, Ifind Ada standing on the porch, barefoot and wrapped in one of her fuzzy robes as she peers out at me.
“Are you okay?” she calls out, face scrunching in concern. “Did you fall or something? I heard a shout and I…”
Fuck, I woke her up. Probably scared the shit out of her again, making her think she was in danger.
“I’m fine.” My voice is a rough croak, so I clear my throat and try again. “Everything’s fine.”
It’s a lie, but I’m not about to dump my worries onto this traumatized, shivering woman.
“It’s too cold out here, you’re going to freeze like that,” I call to her as I stand up, attempting to brush the snow off of me but only managing to spread it around more.
“So are you.” Ada frowns at me. “Come back inside before you freeze to death.”
I cock my head at her. “That’s something that happens?”
She gives me a befuddled look. “Uh, yeah? If you stay out in the cold long enough, it’s possible.”
Shit, another thing to worry about. Not for myself, but for her. What if she gets lost out in the woods and can’t find her way home? There’s no one else out here for miles now that her human embodiment of trash neighbor is gone.
I swallow down my surge of panic and nod. When I get to the door, Ada stops me with a hand on my chest, and suddenly every sensation in my body narrows to that one point of contact.
“Take your shoes and jacket off when you get inside so you don’t track snow everywhere.”
It takes a moment for me to process her words, too caught up in her nearness and her delicate fingers fiery points on my chilled, bare chest. I shrug my jacket off and set it on a hook by the front door, then bend to undo the laces of my boots.
“Jesus, why don’t you have a shirt on under there?”
Her question makes me laugh. I look at my torso pointedly and then back at her. “Because you didn’t give me one.”
“Oh.” Ada’s cheeks flood with color, and my cock twitches remembering how the same thing happened when I had her pinned against the tree in the forest as she screamed my name.
Stop it. She doesn’t want that. You don’t even know if she wants you here.
I focus on taking off my boots, and her frown deepens.
“No socks? God, sleepy Ada really isn’t good at providing adequate attire.”
I wiggle my toes, which tingle as blood flows and they begin to thaw in the warmth of the cabin. “To be fair, I didn’t need it in your dreams.”
It must be the wrong thing to say, because she pales.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, her voice wavering like she’s on the verge of crying again.
Any worries I had about my predicament vanish like they always seem to do when Ada is distressed. I can worry about being stuck here, where I’m going to live, if I’ll ever get to see my friends or go home again, how to exist in the body that is a constant barrage of stimulation, and everything else later. When Ada’s eyes aren’t welling with tears.
“Hey, shh, no, it’s fine, Princess.” I reach out to pull her into my arms on instinct and against all odds, she doesn’t flinch away. Gods, I can’t get over how amazing she feels pressed against me. So fucking soft and perfect.
I only have a moment to savor the embrace before she shivers, and I curse my stupidity for pressing my freezing body against hers. “Let’s get you back into bed where it’s warm.”
She doesn’t protest, letting me guide her to the bedroom. Exhaustion is still clear on her face, and she lets out a shuddering exhale when she’s tucked back in her sleeping pod.
When I turn to leave the bedroom and let her rest, her brows knittogether.
“Where are you going?”
I frown. “I was going to go sit by the fire and try to dry off and warm up.”
“Oh. Okay.” For some strange reason, the tension on her face releases. “You’re not leaving?”
