Speaking up hadn’t killed her. Almost, but not quite. Not with Thomas’s quiet support.
With him by her side, everything seemed easier. Everything.
Even falling just a tiny bit in love.
SIX
The next morning, Thomas slept longer than Callie.
This was an unfortunate development.
He was coming to consciousness beside the hottest woman who’d ever existed. They were alone, in bed together, and nestled in what appeared to be a suite for honeymooners.
Worst of all, a sneaky squint through his eyelids established that she was awake and reading in bed, propped up against the quilted headboard. And from the look she was giving him right now, it appeared she’d caught his attempt at discreet observation.
He was screwed, and not in the way he’d have preferred.
“I know you’re not asleep anymore,” she said, closing the cover of her e-reader.
She’d opened one of the curtains partway while he’d been dozing, so even a squint revealed all the wonderful details. Her sweet face was still rosy with sleep, her dark hair rumpled and gleaming with fiery highlights in the morning sun. Her pale-pink nightgown flowed around her body in a way that hinted at the braless bounty beneath.
She was a ripe goddess who’d deigned to dally with mortals.
So he couldn’t help but smile at her, even as he kept his eyelids mostly shut. “I might be. Perhaps I’m an inveterate sleep-squinter and sleep-talker. You can’t be certain after only two nights.”
She raised those thick, dark brows. “Are you a sleep-squinter? Or a sleep-talker?”
“No.” His back cracked a bit as he stretched. “But I appreciate your asking.”
A giggle escaped her in a little puff of breath, and he laughed with her as he sat up. And against his better judgment, he didn’t spring out of bed and race to the bathroom, locking himself safely away from temptation. Instead, he too settled against the headboard, shifting until they were sitting thigh-to-thigh.
He stifled a yawn. “Have you been up long?”
When she twisted to face him, the neckline of her nightgown gaped a bit, exposing the top curve of her left breast. His yawn nearly turned into a groan of need.
“About an hour.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe I collapsed into bed so early.”
He could, given her restless sleep the previous two nights. During their dinner at the island’s steakhouse, her eyelids had been drooping, and at one point she’d nearly dropped face-first into her citrus-curd pavlova.
As soon as they’d arrived back at their room, she’d stumbled to the bathroom, washed up, and essentially collapsed onto the mattress. By the time he’d emerged from his own bedtime routine, she’d been out for the night.
He considered that a blessing. She’d needed rest, and he’d needed to avoid spending time in bed with Callie while they were both conscious.
But he still wanted to find out whether she regularly had trouble sleeping. Whether, given the opportunity and the right circumstances, he could relieve that restlessness in time-honored fashion.
And during the course of yet another long, sleepless night of his own, he’d had the chance to formulate other questions too. Important ones.
Do you ever feel anxious at work?
If so, she hadn’t shown it. Then again, he’d watched her seem comfortable and confident during that lengthy tour of Parrot Cay and on the ferry to Renaissance Island, only to discover she’d been worrying the entire time about a panoply of issues. He now knew she was able to hide her emotional distress well. So well, he didn’t know whether to applaud or grieve that she’d clearly had so much practice.
What went wrong a couple of months after you started working at the CMRL? Were you stressed because of problems with Andre, or did something else happen?
Only upon Callie’s arrival had he truly felt attached to any of his colleagues. But even that tie had become thin and frayed, for whatever reason.
A reason he still didn’t understand. A reason he needed to understand.
But those questions would have to wait, because he and Callie had more urgent matters to address. Preferably before the luscious pressure of her body against his scuttled his resolve for good.
