Leaning up, I scoot forward, and he throws his leg over me and sits against the headboard. “Would you like to take off your wet shirt?”
Hesitating for a few seconds, I pull my arms back into his shirt and wiggle out of my wet t-shirt and pull it through the neck hole of his shirt to throw on the floor. His shirt smells like him. Leather and soap envelop me and I’m immediately warm.
He reaches around me and rearranges the sheets to pull them over me, and leans back onto my pillows against the headboard. “Lean back on me, Lepa.”
At first, I don’t know if I can do it. I sit there for a few moments, breathing and telling myself that he would never hurt me. I know he wouldn’t. But the damn dream is messing with my mind. Slowly, I lean back onto his chest, letting my head rest on his shoulder next to his neck. He’s so warm.
His arms come around my upper body and he locks me into an embrace, his fingers curling around my upper arms,and leans his cheek onto my head. “Sleep. Nothing can get you now.” His accent is thicker than it usually is.
It only takes a few minutes, but my body has relaxed and I don’t think I have ever felt so safe and comfortable. His chest is hard against my back, but there’s no place I’d rather be.
A chuckle bubbles up from my chest.
“Something funny?” Keeping his voice soft and low because it’s still the middle of the night, I can still hear the humor laced in the question.
“The mystery is solved. I’ve wondered if you have tattoos on your chest and back, and now I know you have them all over your front.”
His chest vibrates under me with a chuckle, the sound deep and comforting. “If you wanted to get me naked, all you had to do was ask.”
Heat creeps up my neck and I don’t know what to say to that. One hand squeezes my arm, and he chuckles again. “I’m kidding, Lepa.”
We are silent for a while and my eyes are getting heavy, but I don’t want to go to sleep because I feel so good leaning against him right now.
Sucking in a breath, I keep my voice low. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Da.”
“Tell me what your home was like in Serbia.”
It’s slight, but I feel him freeze under me for a fraction of a moment. I set my hand on his forearm that’s across my chest and say, “Something happy.”
A deep breath lifts his chest under my back, and I lower with him as he lets the breath out, the exhale moves some of the hairs across the top of my head.
“My father had two brothers, they were very close. Our dom was on one large piece of land with a common gardenarea. I remember a lot of green, trees in all directions, not so different from here.”
“Dom?” I ask.
“Our homes.” He clarifies, and I nod.
“Our mothers would spend a lot of time together in the garden while all of us kids would play together. I had lots of cousins. Some trees had pink blooms and some white, there were always blooming flowers in every direction. Our mothers loved their garden.”
A big yawn stretches my mouth, and I cover it with my hand before I ask, “Do you ever go back to visit?”
Another sigh. “No, it is all gone. It was burned when we escaped.”
I’m jarred out of my cozy comfort, and I try to sit up, but he holds me tight against him. Setting both of my palms on his forearm, I sigh. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”
“Don’t be sorry for wanting to know me better. It is a gift, one I don’t take for granted.”
“But I don’t want to cause you pain.” A slight hitch of emotion in my chest makes me hiccup. After I have a nightmare, I tend to be emotional after, and, as much as it pisses me off, I often end up crying myself to sleep.
He shushes me and squeezes my shoulders harder. “You did not cause me pain. I like to think about my mother sometimes, especially during happy times. Her face has become fuzzy in my memories, and I don’t have pictures of her, so talking about her is a comfort.”
Nodding again, I ask, “How old were you when you came here?”
“I was twelve.”
“Where did you live?”
