Awarm hand trailed across my hairline and down the side of my face.
“Cari,” a rich voice called. “You need to wake up. It’s time for lunch.”
I burrowed toward the heat next to my cheek but didn’t respond.
Something tickled my nose and I tried to slap it away. Once I was done, I tucked the back of my hand beneath my cheek.
“Cari, you need to eat something.”
“No. Sleeping,” I grunted.
Something tickled my nose again and I smacked at it, hitting bare flesh.
“What’s this?” the voice asked, picking up my hand and pulling my sleeve away from my wrist.
“Huh?” I cracked one eye open and tried to focus on the form sitting next to me.
A calloused thumb brushed over my wrist. “Are these bruises?”
Suddenly, I remembered where I was and who I was with.
I yelped and sat up with a jerk. My forehead hit something hard, and Daniel swore.
“Fuck!”
I scrambled back against the arm of the couch and rubbed my forehead where it had made contact with his chin.
“Are you trying to give me a concussion?” I asked. “Why in the hell are you touching me?”
Daniel glared at me as he cradled his chin. “After I called your name for five minutes, I thought a shake on the shoulder would be kinder than dumping you on the floor.”
I snarled at him. “You were touching my face and my wrist, not my shoulder.”
“Yes, because shaking your shoulder wasn’t working either. Do you always sleep like a coma patient?”
Yes, yes, I did. But I wasn’t going to tell him that.
“Excuse me for being exhausted from nearly being killed earlier,” I snapped.
He sighed and dropped his hand. “Can we not fight for the next hour, please?”
“It depends. What am I having for lunch?”
“If I say the best pizza I’ve ever had in my long life, will you agree to a short truce?”
“How long of a life are we talking?”
He cleared his throat. “Close to a hundred and twenty-five years. I’ve had pizza in a lot of places, and this is the best.”
Wow, a hundred and twenty-five years old. That was…old.
“All right,” I agreed. “But I reserve the right to continue attacking if I determine you’re wrong.”
The ghost of a smile hovered on the corners of his mouth.
“I would expect nothing less.”
* * *
