He nodded guilelessly and slid closer to the wall, putting the pillow on the other side of himself. “I did. Many.”
“Sorry to spoil the fun, but I’m exhausted.” I tugged the light string to plunge us into total darkness and then groped my way to the bed. When I touched hard muscle, I stopped and snatched my hands back . With a murmured apology, since I wasn’t sure where I’d just groped, I crawled onto the bed, glad it wasn’t as narrow as the bench in the prison cell or even some cots I’d slept on before.
Kolt made a rumbling noise in the back of his throat as he shifted to accommodate me. I turned onto my side but faced away from him with the pillow at my back. As I’d suspected, it was a paltry barrier. I could still feel his hard body behind me and the heat pulsing off him.
Ignore it, Skye. He’ll be asleep soon, and you can move to the floor.
Which would be much harder and colder. But much less distracting, I told myself as I lay with the big Vandar at my back and his body warming me.
He’ll fall asleep soon, I told myself as I listened to the rhythmic sounds of his breathing. Even though I was trying to stay awake, the chaos of the day had seeped into my bones. My entire body ached from the tension and stress, and despite my best efforts to stay alert, I found my muscles uncoiling.
Do not fall asleep, Skye, I scolded myself. Don’t even think about it.
I gave my head a gentle shake, but I didn’t want to move too much as Kolt’s breath was deepening. As soon as he drifted off, I could slip off the bed and onto the floor. Just a few more minutes, and he would be completelyasleep.
The moment he let out a soft snore, I slid one leg onto the floor. But before I could slide fully off the bed, Kolt huffed out a warm breath and threw an arm over me.
“Snow weasels,” I cursed under my breath as his heavy arm trapped me in place. He sighed and pulled me close to him, the thin pillow the only thing between our bodies.
Well, this was fucking great. I could either elbow him hard, wake him up, and read him the riot act, or I could wait until he relaxed his grip. I didn’t relish the idea of waking him. Part of me felt bad for the guy after everything he’d been through. He needed rest, and I seriously doubted he had any clue what he was doing in his sleep. Then again, it could be fun to give him a hard jab in the gut and watch him panic and apologize.
As I lay in his arms contemplating what to do, I realized I was comfortable. His body was the perfect warm blanket, and his steady breath was lulling. My eyelids drooped heavily, and I let them close.
Just for a few seconds, I thought. Just until he rolls over again or loosens his grip.
Anyway, was it really so bad to sleep next to him? It wasn’t as if we were doing anything but sleep. Kolt was dead to the world, and unless I fought hard, I soon would be too. Would it really be so bad to share the bed?
Suddenly, I couldn’t recall all the rational arguments I would normally have made. It wasn’t as if I’d never shared a bed with a man. I’d just never shared one with a guy who didn’t remember that he despised me.
There was a first time for everything, I thought as I drifted into sleep.
Chapter
Twenty-Five
Kolt
When I woke, it was still dark. For a moment, I didn’t remember where I was or why I was engulfed in such complete blackness. Then I felt the warm body I was curled around and felt the steady, gentle breathing.
Skye.
The female sleeping next to me was Skye, and she was human. I knew that much. Something deep in my soul told me I should be wary of humans, but I had no clue why since she’d been trustworthy and brave. I also remembered that we were hiding in a secret room in a theatre on an alien planet. I knew that we’d escaped from a Zagrath prison and that I was recoveringfrom a self-inflicted wound, but memories before that remained hazy.
Recollections of waking up to programmed ambient blue lighting teased the back of my brain, but when I tried to hold the image or remember more detail, it slipped from my grasp like sand sifting through fingers. The one thing I felt sure of was that I rarely woke up next to a human female—or any female. I felt sure that I slept alone in a bed that was considerably bigger and in a room much colder.
I shifted my body, reaching for my bandaged leg. The cloth wrapping it was dry, and the skin didn’t burn like it had the day before. Skye’s makeshift treatment must have worked because my head didn’t pound and pain didn’t lance my leg.
The slow breathing hitched, and the woman jerked awake, her movements anything but gentle.
“What the frostbitten hell?” She thrashed and then rolled onto the floor with a thud. “Son of a thaw-soft?—”
“Are you okay?” I asked, sitting up and moving to the edge of the bed she’d just vacated.
“Yes.” She sighed. “I wasn’t supposed to stay in bed all night.”
“You weren’t?”
There was rustling in the dark as she presumably got to her feet. “I planned to move to the floor once you fell asleep, but then you threw your arm over me and pinned me down.”
