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I slip my hand free from the sheets and reach out toward him. “I always want you to stay.”
He nods, his mouth set in an uncharacteristic straight line. “Alright sweetheart. I’ll stay. Let me take care of the bathroom first.”
I shake my head, my damp hair dragging against the pillow. “It’ll keep. Just get in.”
26
EVANGELINE
I wake up slowly, blinking a few times to figure out where I am. It takes me a few moments to realize that I’m in my bedroom at Magnolia Lane, with a furnace of a man wrapped around me. The towel has fallen off my hair, and my bathrobe ties have loosened, exposing the upper swells of my breasts.
I wiggle a little bit, a half-hearted attempt to get a little space between me and the space heater behind me. But it’s a little hard to do when Nova is spooning me. Leg wedged between both of mine, hand under my arm and palm splayed over my heart.
I shift again, twisting a little bit to the side and like I planned it, my breast falls directly into his palm. I swallow the gasp at the sensation of the pads of his calloused fingertips grazing my nipple.
“Stop moving, sweetheart. We’re sleeping,” Nova mumbles from behind me, his voice all raspy with sleep.
I glance around the room, trying to discern how long I was asleep. I feel rested, if not a little groggy, but I don’t have any concept of day or time.
I try to roll over to face him, but he tightens his hold on me with a grunt. I swallow down the laugh. He buries his head in the space between my neck and shoulder.
“What if I have to go to the bathroom?”
I feel his lips curl up against my skin. “Do you?”
I shift my legs a little, sending the fabric sliding off of my thigh. “Well, no.”
“Then there ya go,” he mumbles, scooting impossibly closer to me.
“How long have I been sleeping?” The gentle whoosh of the air conditioning kicking in through the vents fills the room. I’ve always found that noise to be soothing.
“Not long enough,” he says with a grunt.
I chuckle, tracing my fingertip along the length of his forearm, swirling over his tattoos.
“I don’t want to sleep anymore, Nova.”
“No?”
I shake my head, my hair dragging across the satin pillowcases. “No, I woke up with something else in mind.” The last wisps of a dream lie just out of my reach, but I still have the feeling. A newfound gratitude.
The world seems brighter, like a veil has been lifted, and now I can truly see. The feeling is like standing outside, the sun beating against your skin and the grass soft on your feet. It’s the life-affirming feeling of contentment and pure appreciation.
And it makes me feel bold.
“You hungry, sweetheart? I’ll go grab you something to eat, but you have to stay in bed. That’s the agreement we made, remember?”
I roll my eyes at his highhandedness. I made a couple of comments about being tired earlier, and he acts like I’m on bed rest. It didn’t help that Bane and Silas backed him up during our little debrief.
I tsk a little bit and shuffle my ass closer to him. “Well, what if I told you I had something else in mind? Something that doesn’t require me leaving this bed.”
He hums under his breath, his fingers tracing small circles around my nipple. “I’m listening.”
“What if I told you that I woke up this morning?—”
“It’s ten p.m.” he interrupts with a laugh.
I tsk, this impatient noise from the back of my throat. “Do you want to mess around, or do you want to talk about semantics?”
