Page 96 of Death Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

I changed into pajamas, brushed my teeth as if this were a normal night, then collapsed into bed.

Sleep took me faster than I expected.

It was not a gentle sleep.

It was a feverish slide into heat and sensation and unwanted longing.

Cal filled my dreams.

Not in a polite way. Not in a friendly banter way.

In a way that made my body feel too awake, too aware.

His hands. His mouth. The weight of him close enough to make my skin burn. My own ridiculous desire twisting into something bold and hungry, as if my subconscious had decided restraint was overrated.

I woke with a quick inhale, heart pounding.

My arm had landed on something warm.

Not my pillow.

Not a blanket.

A hot arm.

I froze.

My brain tried to cling to the dream. Tried to insist this was still sleep, still fantasy, still my own private humiliation.

I muttered under my breath, “It’s just a dream.”

A deep voice answered, calm and amused. “Who were you dreaming about?”

My entire body went rigid.

I turned my head slowly.

Cal lay beside me in my bed, propped slightly on one elbow, hair messy, eyes bright in the early light. He looked too real, too solid, too awake.

He smelled of cold air and smoke.

And his gaze held a level of curiosity that made my stomach drop straight through the mattress.

I stared at him, mind blank.

Then, because my life had no mercy, the egg bond tugged warmly, like it approved of this development.

I did not know whether to scream or throw a pillow at him.

CHAPTER 14

My brain tried to protect me by insisting Cal was still part of my dream.

My body disagreed.

The arm under my hand was warm and solid, and when I turned my head, he was right there. Too close. Too real. His hair was mussed as if he had been moving fast and sleeping poorly. His lavender eyes held that particular kind of alertness that did not belong to people who were simply stopping by for a friendly chat.

He looked at me with calm curiosity, as if waking up in my bed was the most normal thing in the world.