He searched my soul with that slow kiss. What he found, I couldn’t say, but what he gave me in return was everything, and something peaceful settled inside me.
I kissed him back, my tongue sweeping gently over his, letting my body press against him enough to resist how perfectly we fit together.
Perfect. There was that word again. On my own, it was a world away from how I felt. With him, it played on repeat in my head, punctuating every heated brush of lips until he pulled away with a low laugh.
“We’re not supposed to be doing that.”
I laughed too. “Maybe we need to do it a little. Take the edge off so we don’t explode.”
“Ivy will expect me to kiss you. She’s used to everyone else being surgically attached to each other.”
We’d had some semblance of this conversation before, and I still felt the same. “Whatever you need.”
“You keep saying that. But what about you? What doyouneed, Folk?”
I needed him to be safe. I needed to know I could spend the night in his bed without spontaneously combusting. But most of all, I needed him to say my name like that every day for the rest of my life. “It’s been a long day.” I stole one more kiss. “I probably need to sleep.”
Decoy was still holding my face. He swiped his thumbs over my cheekbones, then let me go. “Get comfortable. I’ll be back in a sec.”
He left the room.
I stared at the bed. Sleeping so close to a friend wasn’t a new experience for me, but it had been more than a decade since I’d shared a bed with someone Iwanted. Since the soft breaths and body heat of another human had lit up every sense.
Breathing the same air as Decoy was enough to leave me dizzy, and his kiss just about killed me.
At this point, would I even survive a night with him?
You’re thinking too much.
Yup. Thanks, Rocco. And it was an unfamiliar problem. For so long, my purpose on this planet had been to simplydo. Follow orders. Follow logic. Follow the tides of the sea.
This felt different.
I sat on the bed, listening to mybrothermove around his house, turning lights off, brushing his teeth.
Checking on his daughter.
The thought of Ivy calmed me. I pictured the way Decoy sometimes scooped her up and held her close, hiding his face in her long hair, buying himself a moment for no other reason than he needed one before she was snatched away from him again.
That’s why you’re here.
The sparks dancing in my blood cooled and I took a deep breath. Decoy’s bed had a grey summer duvet over a cool white sheet. I slid under the covers and laid my head on a pillow that smelled like him just as he flicked off the landing light and slipped back into the room.
Darkness cloaked us, but the glow from the street lamps outside meant I could still see his masculine features.
I shifted onto my side, facing him as he got into the bed.
Intohisbed. The urge to kiss him was still there, but responsibility had tempered it.
Just.
Didn’t stop me reaching out to rub my thumb over his lips.
Or getting blinded by his rueful half-smile. “Sorry if I’m making this weird. I’ve never had anyone in this bed.”
“How long have you lived here?”
“A year or so.”
