“Don’t Mia me, Derek.” She shot up and was suddenly sitting there, bleary-eyed, pouty, and as annoyed as fuck. “Get your sexy butt back in this bed and go to sleep. I’m tired.”
I felt the cocky grin creep over my face and my chest puff out. Tinkerbell wasn’t a pushover. Something I’d need to remember. She might be tiny, but she was a firecracker. One I was going to have a great time setting off. Repeatedly. With the fight seeping out of me, I snuggled down under the covers and tucked Mia up against me as close as I could get her.
“Thank you.”
Her warm breath tickled my neck. I wasn’t going to sleep a wink tonight, and I didn’t give a toss. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be right now. We’d deal with real life tomorrow. I’m sure it’d still be there.
My eyes closed and a silence settled across us. For a long moment, I lay completely still, hypnotized by Mia’s steady breaths and the violence of the storm raging beyond the window. “So, you think I have a sexy butt?” I teased. I felt her try to wriggle away. Not a fucking chance I was letting that happen. Instead I tightened my hands around her waist and held fast.
“Shut up and go to sleep.”
I didn’t need to see her face to know she was smiling. I felt it.
***
Pain.
Excruciating, white hot, blinding pain tore through my body.
I doubled over and clutched my balls protectively. It was hard to believe that moments ago I’d been lost in one of the best dreams I’d had in a long time and now I was curled in the foetal position with my eyes watering, gasping for breath.
I heard a squeal behind me but I couldn’t turn to see it. I couldn’t move. I was frozen in that spot. Nothing was moving me until the pain subsided or at least eased.
After a few deep breaths, I managed to focus enough to start to put things back into perspective. I wasn’t in my own room. It was too girly. “Shit, Mia!” Forcing myself to sit up despite the agonizing pain, I had to get to Mia.
When I managed to turn around, the hurt I saw in Mia’s wide eyes made my own seem insignificant. Wiping my eyes on my forearm, I forced any sign discomfort from my face and steadied my voice. It wasn’t fucking easy. “Mia…”
She was standing across the room, her back pressed against the mirrored wardrobe door, her whole body stiff as a board. I watched as her shoulders rose and fell rapidly as she struggled to steady her out of control breathing. Everything about Mia appeared panicked. Rising to my feet, I wobbled towards her, noticing for the first time that I was wearing only one sock. Right now that wasn’t important. I paused just out of Mia’s reach. There was something wrong. Seriously wrong. I couldn’t push it. If she wanted to tell me, then I was here to listen whenever she was ready.
“Mia…talk to me.” The neediness in my voice was undeniable but I didn’t give a shit.
“I-I-I…”
She couldn’t look at me. Her eyes were set on the floor. Her whole face was pale and covered by a thin film of sweat. She was a fucking disaster. I wished I had my pants on. Having this conversation, hell, having any conversation in my underwear was unsettling. Glancing at the clock, I noticed it was a little before four in the morning. The storm had eased, but the rain was still rattling steadily on the window.
Slowly, so as not to startle her, I extended my hand out in front of her, hoping she’d take it.
I swear my heart was going to explode.
Or my head.
Or my lungs.
My heart raced.
My head pounded.
I forgot to take a breath.
I didn’t take my eyes of her.
She looked like a terrified kitten.
Like a kitten who’d been dunked in a bucket of icy water and knew it was coming again.
It was a look I’d seen before.
Too many times.
A look I didn’t want to see again.
Ever.
And definitely not on Mia.
When her icy fingertips touched mine, I knew I was one hundred and fifty percent fucked. The relief that flooded my veins was undeniable. Unmistakable. Unshakable. I might have been oblivious to many things most of the time, I was a guy after all, but not this time. This time even blind Freddie couldn’t miss this one.
