“Go to sleep,” I whispered. “We can panic about the future in the morning. It’ll still be there. Unfortunately.”
He huffed a laugh, and I felt it against my mouth. I hadn’t meant to get that close, but there I was, almost kissing him.
And he was right there, breath warm, lips a fraction open.
I could’ve leaned in that last bit. Could’ve deepened it, made it something fiery and consuming, a lot like Cole.
Instead, I tipped my head and pressed a careful kiss to the corner of his mouth. Soft. Barely there. His hand tightened around mine, hard enough to hurt. “Stay?” he whispered.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said.
He shifted, making room, and I stripped and got in. Carefully, slowly, like approaching a skittish animal, I draped an arm over his middle. Not heavy. Just…anchoring.
The dragon inside him stirred at the contact. I felt heat roll under his skin, curious and probing. For a second I tensed, waiting for the flare.
It didn’t come.
Instead, the warmth settled into something steady. Like banked coals in a hearth.
“Feels like it likes you,” Cole mumbled, already sliding toward sleep. His voice was slurred at the edges.
“Good taste,” I murmured.
He made a tiny sound that might have been agreement, might have been the beginning of a snore. His body melted against mine by degrees, tension leaking out of his muscles. His head tipped toward my shoulder.
“Phoenix?” he whispered, just as I thought he was gone.
“Yeah?”
“If I—if this doesn’t work. If the dragon keeps…doing things. You don’t have to stay.”
Ice slid under the warmth. I swallowed. “I know,” I said.
“Okay.” His lashes fluttered. “I just—” He struggled for the words. “I want you because youwantto be here. Not because you feel guilty. Or trapped. Or like you owe me for not setting you on fire.”
I shifted, nudged my nose against his hair. “I’m here because I want to be. No one’s ever given me this much chaos before. It’s intoxicating.”
He made a soft, hoarse laugh. “You’re…you’re impossible.”
“And yet,” I murmured, “you want me in your future. Sucks to be you, Armstrong.”
His breathing evened out slowly, the rhythm settling. The heat coming off him steadied, ebbing and flowing with each exhale. The dragon curled down, its presence now a low hum instead of a roar.
I lay there, listening.
For the first time in a long time, my body didn’t ache with the need to move, run, watch the door. My muscles loosened. My mind…didn’t, not quite, but it made room for something besides panic.
I watched him sleep. Not in a creepy way, I told myself. Just in anI nearly lost you and my brain needs to confirm you’re still hereway.
He didn’t look like a superstar hockey player right now. Didn’t look like a dragon. He looked like a guy who’d finally put down a load no one else had realized he was carrying.
I reached up with my free hand and brushed a curl off his forehead. He didn’t stir.
“You idiot,” I whispered. “You absolute, beautiful idiot. How did you get under my skin this fast?”
The honest answer sat right there, heavy and obvious.
Because I loved him.
