Chloe finally drifted to sleep with courage settling quietly in her body, and Kayne on her floor, close enough to catch her if she fell.
Not that either of them was getting much actual rest.
Not with all that electricity sparking through the air.
#
The first thing Kayneregistered was pain.A long, grinding twinge down the entire left side of his spine, as if he’d slept folded inside an overhead compartment with a brick for a pillow.The second thing he registered was warmth radiating from somewhere above him.
He cracked one eye open.
Chloe.
She was curled on her side at the exact edge of the mattress, one arm dangling down as if she’d fallen asleep mid-reach for him.Her fingers were inches from his shoulder, close enough that if he breathed too deeply, they might actually touch.
That warm rush in his torso?
Yeah.There it was again.The thing he kept pretending wasn’t happening.The thing getting harder to ignore now that she was sleeping as if she trusted him with her whole damn world.
Kayne let his eyes close briefly.He shouldn’t be on this floor.He knew that.She probably did too, but she was too polite to say anything.Too sweet.Too damn trusting.She would’ve slept on the floor herself if he’d let her, probably making some overly reasonable argument about “fairness” while he herniated three discs watching her do it.
A faint sigh escaped her.She shifted under the blankets, the movement soft and sleepy.He felt every inch of it across the small, treacherous space between them.
Fantastic.Now his pain had company.
He pushed himself upright slowly, bracing a hand on the mattress.His palm sank into the warmth she’d left there.Big mistake.It was as if someone had cinched a strap across his midsection and winched it tight
He’d woken up a thousand times in worse places.Sand.Metal.Concrete.A helicopter floor that smelled of fear and diesel.He’d never woken up like this, with a woman he was dangerously attracted to breathing quietly within arm’s reach.It tugged at something he’d spent years barricading behind titanium doors.
Don’t get attached.Don’t get stupid.
But she’d reached for him in her sleep.She’d asked him to stay close.And he’d said yes faster than he’d reached for a weapon.
Kayne scrubbed a hand down his face.“Pull yourself together, Serruto,” he muttered.“You are not fourteen.Get a grip.”
But then she made another sound, this one low and very close to a contented hum, and he felt his dignity exit the building without so much as a “see ya.”He wanted to kiss her more than he wanted his next breath.
Chloe blinked awake.When her eyes found him, her expression softened with unguarded relief.
“Hey,” she whispered.
That voice.That face.That bedhead.
Yep.He was absolutely, one hundred percent screwed.
“Hey,cher.”His voice came out rougher than intended, as if he’d gargled gravel.“You sleep okay?”
She nodded, sitting up and tugging the blanket around her shoulders until she resembled a sleepy burrito.“Better than I expected after, well, everything.”
He saw when the memory of the car hit her, and his body tensed automatically, ready for a fight with demons.“No dreams?”
“Not after you talked me down.”She offered a tiny, real smile.“You were really good at that.”
“Yeah, well.”He rubbed the back of his neck, trying for casual.“You didn’t exactly give me a choice.Couldn’t listen to you breathing all shaky like that.”
“You heard me?”
“I hear everything.”He winked to hide the truth.“SEAL superpower.”
