She wrapped her arm around him and took a moment to look at his face –reallylook at it, from close up. She wanted to memorize all of it – every line and curve, every eyelash, every tiny freckle.
Asleep, he looked more relaxed than she’d ever seen him. The perpetual hint of a scowl between his eyebrows was completely smoothed out, his face a blank canvas for what she hoped would be laughter lines in the years to come, rather than frown lines.
In the years to come.
They hadn’t had a chance to talk properly after coming down from the gorge – she had been so cold and out of it that she barely remembered anything that had happened after Ethan had summoned the water that had carried them to safety.
Well, relative safety, anyway…
She had the vaguest memories of being flown back to Kira’s wonderfully heated cabin, being stripped of her wet clothes and wrapped in a toasty warm blanket and given a cup of sweet hot chocolate. There may have been a check-up from a doctor at some point as well, but she was fuzzy on the details.
She knew that after a while, though, she’d been driven home in Kira’s car, giving Kira murmured answers to the questions she was asking her to keep her awake until she was satisfied Chloe was safe from succumbing to hypothermia.
And after that, mostly there was just the bliss of being fast asleep, warm and safe with the man she loved.
Possibly quite a bit of time asleep, now that she came to think about it. She wasravenous.
But still, not quite so ravenous that she was willing to get up just yet.
Chloe pulled herself in closer to Ethan, enjoying the feel of him, the smell of him.
She noted with both gratitude and dismay that he had apparently managed to source a t-shirt and some shorts from somewhere – while she appreciated that he had been gentleman enough to not jump into bed naked with her, she certainly wouldn’t have objected!
Oh, well,she thought.It could be worse – he could still be wearing the suit. I think I’d have to draw the line at that. It’s just nice to know that heisactually physically capable of wearing regular clothes.
It seemed that someone had also dressed her in her pajamas as well, and Chloe was certainly glad of that.
She lay there contentedly for who knew how long, curled up against him, just enjoying being in his presence.
In the end, though, afterwaytoo much time spent listening to the slow beat of Ethan’s heart, Chloe’s stomach won out.
She wiggled her way back out from under his arm again, marveling at how deeply asleep he was.
Looking around the room, she noticed the bright sunbeams creeping around the edges of the curtains.
Just how longwasI asleep for, anyway?
Chloe reached over to check her phone, and…
Ah.
She’d been asleep for the better part of twenty-four hours, apparently. No wonder she was starving!
And no wonder Ethan was asleep. Chloe knew he’d never admit it, but she was pretty sure that he’d stayed up all night watching her until he was satisfied that she was safe and well.
With one last fond glance over her shoulder, Chloe stumbled out to the kitchen. All things considered, she felt remarkablywell – no lingering feeling of cold, no aches and pains, no exhaustion. Just a little bit of remaining tiredness that she was sure would be gone by tomorrow.
Food would definitely help, she knew. Rifling through the mess of a kitchen, she managed to find eggs, bread, and coffee. Nothing gourmet, and certainly nothing remotely as good as everything else that was apparently available in this town, but she was more than happy to take it.
Frying up every last egg she had, she hummed a jaunty little tune. Things were certainly looking up – and they’d already been pretty good to begin with!
Placing the simple but generous breakfast plates onto a tray, she turned around – and almost jumped out of her skin at Ethan leaning against the kitchen doorway, his shorts and t-shirt rumpled, his hair as mussed as hair that short could possibly be.
On anyone else it would’ve looked normal, but seeing Ethan in such a state felt positivelyscandalous. Had anyone else even ever seen himnotlooking like he’d just stepped out of a fancy suit catalog?
At least he looked perfectly fit and well – certainly not like someone who had jumped off a cliff yesterday.
I suppose shifters really are built different! And how…
