Matty smiled despite herself. “Seriously?”
She tried again, gentler this time, brushing her fingers over Sloan’s upper arm. Sloan shifted a fraction, her brow tightening for a second before it smoothed again, but that was all. Up close, Matty could now see the exhaustion, plain as anything. It wasn’t just ordinary tiredness, but bone-deep weariness—the kind that sat in the face even in sleep.
And just like that, the last of Matty’s disbelief gave way to understanding.
Of course Sloan was exhausted.
Her whole life seemed to be one long act of endurance: Work. Gloria. The constant vigilance of being needed by everyone and properly held by no one. Even tonight, after all that charged looking and teasing and want, Sloan had still been running on whatever scraps she had left.
Matty’s chest tightened.
She sat beside her for a moment, looking down at her, desire still there but changed, softened at the edges by something warmer; something that asked for less and noticed more.
“All right,” she murmured.
She reached over and switched off the lamp, then paused, letting her eyes adjust to the dark. After a second, she eased herself properly onto the bed, careful not to jostle Sloan too much. If Sloan woke, she woke. If not, Matty wasn’t going to drag her back out of sleep just to satisfy her own frustration.
She pulled the duvet up around them both and lay there in the quiet, listening to Sloan breathe.
It wasn’t what she’d expected. Not even close.
But when Sloan shifted in her sleep a minute later and drifted almost instinctively towards her warmth, Matty felt something inside her give all the same.
Maybe this was intimacy, too.
Just not the version she’d imagined.
Chapter forty-six
Matty woke to find Sloan still asleep and frowned. Something didn’t feel right.
She felt as though she’d slept properly—the kind of sleep that came after seven or eight solid hours. But that couldn’t be right if Sloan was still out cold beside her.
She sat up and took in the fact it was light outside—proper daylight and bright sunlight.
A clock sat on Sloan’s bedside table, just out of view unless Matty leaned over her. The movement jostled the bed and Sloan murmured, “One more minute.”
Matty giggled. “You’re lucky you got so many minutes.”
Sloan stirred, smiling as she heard Matty’s voice, then her eyes opened wide, sudden horror at the realisation. “Oh, God, I fell asleep?”
“That you did.” Matty smiled, forgetting about the time for a moment.
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
“Oh, I tried, but you were dead to the world, and honestly, you needed it.”
“I’m sorry, that wasn’t...” Sloan paused as Matty slid her naked thigh over Sloan’s legs, pressing in close enough to make the apology falter, “my plan.”
“No? What was the plan?” Matty asked, her voice softer now as she settled against Sloan’s hip.
“Much more like this.” Sloan grinned and drew her closer, her mouth finding Matty’s in a kiss that was slow for all of a second before it deepened.
Below the covers, her hand moved and landed on Matty’s thigh, her palm warm and possessive as it slid higher, over her hip and around to capture a nipple.
“God, yes,” Matty mumbled as her hips rocked. “I need you so badly.” She wrapped her hand around Sloan’s, and without another word, she pushed it back lower, raising her leg to make room.
Sloan’s fingers slid easily between slick folds, and when they pressed against Matty’s clit for the first time, it drew a sound from her throat so helpless and lovely, Sloan felt it low in her own body.
