“You may be in my bed, but that does not mean I intend to push you into something you are not ready for,” he said softly.
And that…
That wasn’t what I had expected.
The tension in my shoulders eased, if only slightly, the words settling somewhere deeper than I was entirely comfortable with.
“I was ready to sleep on the couch,” I pointed out, though there was way less bite to it now.
“Yes, I know,” he agreed easily, and his arm shifted slightly around me, drawing me just a fraction closer. The movementwas subtle enough that it felt completely natural. As if we had spent years sharing a bed, not minutes.
“But your body was not,” he continued, his voice dipping lower, brushing near my ear.
“And unless I am mistaken… you are considerably warmer now than you were curled up like some small, stubborn creature in the cold.” I made a small sound of protest; something caught between a scoff and mild outrage.
“I was not…”
“Mm,” he hummed softly, clearly unconvinced. I huffed, though the fight in it felt weaker now, dulled by the very inconvenient truth of what he was saying.
“…fine, I will admit it… You’re… slightly warmer,” I conceded after a moment, far more reluctantly than I would have liked. A quiet chuckle rumbled through him, the sound low and annoyingly pleased.
“Only slightly warmer?” he teased, and I shifted slightly, attempting to create even the smallest amount of space, though it didn’t get me very far.
“Well, you’re definitely not snuggly… what do you do, snort protein powder before eating the can?” I mocked, making him laugh.
“Is there any part of you that isn’t packed with muscle?” I asked, making him rumble his reply closer to my ear,
“All the better to hold you with my dear.”Then, as if to prove his point, his arm tightened, pulling me even closer.
“Besides, I was under the impression that you quite enjoyed my muscles.” I let out a strangled sound that was anything but dignified,
“Erh… no.” He huffed a small laugh at my reply, before granting me with one of his own,
“Strange,” he replied, his lips close enough that I could feel the ghost of his breath near my skin.
“You didn’t seem particularly opposed to staring at them earlier.” My breath caught as heat rose to my cheeks.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I said quickly, far too quickly. But as usual he called my bluff, first by running his nose up my neck before whispering in my ear,
“Liar,”
And the worst part was… I felt my lips twitch. Just slightly. Because he wasn’t wrong. Hell, the image was so ingrained in my brain I could have painted every line, curve, bulge, and dip of the many contours of his torso and back. Of course, I wasn’t foolish enough to admit it.
Which is no doubt why silence settled between us after that. Not the uncomfortable kind, but thick enough that it allowed my thoughts to drift. It also meant that my body was gradually beginning to give in to the warmth surrounding me. To the steady presence of him and to the way his breathing seemed to fall into an easy rhythm against my back.
“So…” I said after a moment, the word quieter now, almost hesitant.
“You’re really not expecting anything?”
There was a pause. Longer this time.
“Is that why you were so reluctant to sleep in the same room?” he asked instead, his tone thoughtful rather than mocking. I shifted slightly, my shoulders lifting in the smallest shrug.
“I’ve just… never been very good at this sort of thing,” I admitted shamefully.
“At what sort of thing?” he asked as if not understanding what I was trying to say. I hesitated, then exhaled softly.
“Being…intimate,”I confessed, the word feeling heavier than it should have and far too exposed. But his arm tightened just slightly around me again, not in restraint, but something closer to reassurance.
