That deterred him for but a moment.“There’s the floor,” he pointed out.“That won’t tilt.”
And before she knew what was happening, he was lowering her to it.
Slightly skeptical, she let herself sink to the polished wood.And when he came down beside her, she turned to face him and let him kiss her senseless.
Well, not quite senseless.
Before long she sensed her hip was hurting.A lot.The floor was hard, her thin chemise was useless as padding, and they didn’t have so much as a blanket.
Her shoulder was hurting, too.And the side of her knee.And her elbow.
With no pillow, her neck was bent awkwardly and beginning to ache.
She’d been right to be skeptical, damn it.Reluctantly, she broke the kiss.
“I’m too old for this,” she grumbled, pulling away and pushing herself to a sitting position.“I give up.”Both figuratively and literally, she threw up her hands.“I officially give up.”
Trick’s only response was a groan.He rolled onto his back and flung an arm over his eyes.Then he just lay there, still and silent.
She wouldn’t let her gaze move down his body.She wouldn’t.Instead, with more difficulty than she wanted to admit—even to herself—she raised her uncooperative forty-three-year-old bones and went to the wardrobe.
They remained silent while she changed into her thickest nightgown.Silent while she grabbed his robe and tossed it on top of him.Silent while she snatched up a candle and headed out of the chamber.
Silent while he followed her downstairs and into their sons’ room.
Silent while she tried and failed to wake Cas, then woke Pol and helped him stumble sleepily into his brother’s bed.
She and Trick crawled into the vacated bed, she in her nightgown, he in his robe.She blew out the candle.The single bed was narrow, and they didn’t fit well lying flat, so she turned on her side and snuggled into him.He snaked an arm over her, pulling her even closer.
She listened to the twins’ breathing, which synchronized as they settled back into sound sleep.Consciously relaxing, she breathed along with them.
In…out.
In…out.
Just as she was about to nod off, Trick broke the silence with a whisper.“This bed is much softer than the floor, is it not?”
Disappointed, defeated, and drained, she could muster only a vague noise of agreement.
He squeezed her tighter.“Feels good.”
“Hmm,” she murmured sleepily.
His fingers slipped out from under her and grabbed a handful of her nightgown.He began bunching it, pulling it up.
Horrified, she flipped to face him—never mind that she couldn’t see him in the dark.“What on earth,” she whispered fiercely, “do you think you are doing?”
“Are you serious?”he whispered in a cadence that suggested she must be addlepated.“What we’ve been trying to do for three days straight.”
“Are you insane?”she returned.“We’ve got two thirteen-year-olds five feet from us!”
“They’re sleeping.”
“You think that will last?”
“It’s pitch black in here.They won’t see anything.”
“I suppose you think they won’t hear anything as well?”Somehow she managed to whisper a snort.“I thought I’d made it clear I’ve given up.I’m going to sleep.I suggest you do the same.”
