"No argument here."
For a moment, we just exist in the silence. Her breathing. The distant hum of the compound's security system. The rustle of expensive sheets.
Then Kristen sighs and sits up, swinging her legs over the edge of the mattress.
My hand shoots out before my brain catches up, fingers wrapping around her wrist. "Stay."
She turns, and in the half-dark, I catch the curve of her smile. "Relax, Sartori. I was just going to grab a sweater or something."
I frown. "Why?"
"Because apparently you won't let us sleep with me being naked." She gestures vaguely at herself, at me, at the rumpled evidence of what we've been doing instead of resting. "Every time I close my eyes, you start... looking at me. And then the looking turns into touching. And then?—"
"I get it."
"Do you? Because my body needs recovery time, Nico. I'm not a machine."
Could've fooled me, I think, remembering the sounds she made an hour ago. The way she arched into my mouth like she'd been starving for it.
Kristen must read something in my expression because she laughs and tries to stand again. "See? That face. That's exactly what I'm talking about. Sweater. Now."
"Hell no."
She blinks. "Excuse me?"
"You're not wearing clothes in my bed."
"That's... incredibly presumptuous of you."
"It's my bed."
"And I'm the one in it."
"Exactly." I tug her wrist gently, pulling her back toward me. She doesn't resist, which tells me everything I need to know. "No clothes. I'll behave."
Kristen raises one eyebrow, skepticism written across every line of her face. "You'll behave?"
"I promise."
"You promise," she repeats flatly. "Nico Sartori, who has grabbed me approximately seventeen times in the last three hours, is going to keep his hands to himself."
"Seventeen is a slight exaggeration."
"Is it?"
I consider. "Fine. Fifteen."
She laughs again.
"Come here." I pull her down beside me, arranging her body against mine with her back pressed to my front. Skin to skin. Warmth bleeding between us. "See? Behaving."
"Your hand is on my hip."
"That's just... positioning."
"Your other hand is?—"
"Also positioning." I spread my palm flat against her stomach, holding her steady. "This is practical. Efficient. Keeps you from rolling away."
