He gave a drowsy nod. “Mmhmm.”
I rolled onto my back and pulled him with me. He draped over my chest, and something about his weight pressing me into the mattress was deeply settling. His breathing slowed, my eyelids grew heavy, and I let exhaustion chase away all other worries until my head was blessedly blank.
Penny was okay. That was the last thought wisping through my mind before sleep caught up to us both.
31
Penny
Iwas groggy when I woke, warm and comfortably cushioned with Kit fast asleep beneath me. I pushed up gently, testing sore muscles and trying not to disturb him as I aimed to slide off the bed. My days-old clothes were wrinkled, and my skin and hair were greasy from sweat. A soak in the tub sounded like the remedy for all my ills.
Rolling over, I hit the floor on my knees. The echoing thump made Kit bolt upright. His hand flailed toward me, catching my arm and squeezing too near my sore elbow.
I yelped.
“Penny?” he blurted, and I hurried to clasp my fingers over his.
“It’s okay,” I told him. “Just getting up is all.”
Sorrow stabbed in my chest at seeing him so frightened. He’d looked that way a lot since I’d woken up the day before. He hadn’t said much about what happened after we both passed out in the kitchen, but the way he hovered nearby, and the worry that pinched his dark eyes hinted at things he might be keeping to himself.
Kit’s panic shifted to relief. He released me and laid back with a grunt.
Turning toward him, I tipped my head to rest on his stomach. I’d enjoyed his attention the previous evening, at least when I was aware enough to realize it. He was constantly close, and I wanted to keep him that way as long as possible.
“Do you want to get in the bath?” I asked.
He craned his neck to look down at me. “Together?”
I nodded.
Kit considered for a moment, then nodded as well.
I pushed up to my feet, letting his fingers snag in mine as I pulled him from the bed.
We must have looked a sight, both weak and wobbly, stumbling into each other as we made our way to the bathroom. It was close quarters, barely room enough to stand between the sink and deep, wooden tub. But proximity was becoming familiar, and we brushed and bumped against one another a few times more, letting our hands roam and then linger.
I undressed first, eager to strip out of my soured clothes, while Kit took a match from the ledge on the wall. He struck it and opened the firebox below the boiler. It took only a few seconds before the kindling inside began to catch.
The chilly air made me shiver. I hugged my arms around my bare body and watched while Kit studied me. Mostly out of concern, but he was admiring, too.
Kit stepped toward me and curved his hand around my ribs. He bent in and bumped his nose into mine, and I responded with a soft, savoring kiss.
He pulled back and pecked my lips once more before murmuring, “I'm glad you're all right.”
I rubbed the sore spot near the bend of my elbow.Bruises dotted my skin where the fluids had been administered. I flexed my arms, one then the other, as though they would feel different somehow. But the only thing that had changed was my understanding of what Kit left unsaid the day before.
“You saved my life.” I looked up at him. “Didn't you?”
Hadn't I known he would? When I was staring Merrick down, drinking the poison and testing fate, some part of me felt safe because Kit was beside me. Because he gave me his word. And I believed him.
“You weren’t well, Pen. I thought…” His gaze angled toward the bruises I'd been studying. “You needed help. I did what was necessary, but it may not have been what was prudent.”
Questions cropped up in my mind, but I kept them to myself as he continued.
“The local herbalist was involved.”
“The man you got the hemlock from?” I asked.
