“And you?”
“I stay up.”
“I don’t like that.”
“I wasn’t asking.”
I set the cup down. “Where do I sleep?”
He points down the hall. “First door on the right.”
I stare at him, and my chest tightens. The thought of closing a door between us makes my stomach twist. Not because I want him watching me. Because I don’t want to be alone. My voice goes smaller. “Sin?”
He pauses, gaze sharpening. “What?”
I wet my lips. My heart pounds, ridiculous and fast. “Will you… will you sleep in the room?”
His eyes narrow. “No.”
The bluntness hits like a slap, and embarrassment flares hot in my face. “Okay. Never mind.”
I turn toward the hallway anyway, shoulders tense.
“Rowan,” he says.
I stop but don’t face him. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not,” he says.
I look back.
His expression is controlled, but his eyes are intense now. Focused on me like I’m the problem he can’t solve with a weapon. “You’re scared,” he says.
I lift my chin. “No, I’m not.”
“Liar.”
I let out a shaky laugh. “Stop calling me out.”
“You’re trying to be brave,” he says. “You already are. You don’t have to prove it to me.”
My throat tightens so hard it hurts. “I don’t want to sleep alone,” I admit, and it feels like stepping off a ledge. “I keep thinking… what if someone finds us? What if I wake up and you’re not there?”
His jaw flexes. For a second, the room is too quiet. The tension between us stretches like a wire. Then he says, carefully, “If I’m in your bed, you’re going to misunderstand it.”
I swallow, heat creeping into my cheeks. “I’m not an idiot.”
His gaze drops to my mouth again, brief. Dangerous. “You’re not the only one who could misunderstand it.”
My breath catches. Because that’s not a professional thing to say. That’s a man thing to say. A man who’s trying not to want.
I take a small step closer, heart pounding. “Sin. Please.”
His eyes hold mine. I see the battle there, quiet and brutal. Duty versus desire. Control versus instinct.
Finally, he exhales slowly. “I’m not sleeping. I’m keeping watch.”
Relief hits so hard my knees feel weak. “But you’ll be there,” I whisper.
