He looked down at her and noticed the deep hue of fear ringing her irises. It was receding, but the evidence of her mounting terror was still visible. What a cad he’d been, thinking only of himself and leaving her all alone to face something that obviously caused her distress.
Guilt weighed heavy and unpleasant in the pit of his stomach. “I’m sorry.” Maybe it was her own bravery at admitting a fear only accepted among children still sporting a one-digit age or maybe he wanted to make her feel better in any way that he could, but he found his own confession slipping forth. “I don’t like storms either.”
Like a bully cornering its victims, lightning flashed in a blinding streak, thunder laughing with the force of a villain. Hayley and Levi both flinched, their hold on each other tightening.
“You don’t happen to have a weighted blanket, do you?” Hayley asked through shallow breaths. “I learned a long time ago that it helps with my anxiety any time a storm blows through.”
Trinity had suggested the same thing to him, but he hadn’t bothered to follow through on her recommendation. Now he wished he had. “No, sorry.”
The sky above them roared like a lion on the prowl in the savannah. Levi’s body tensed, but at least he’d been able to keep himself from jumping or clapping his hands over his ears.
Hayley pulled back enough to study him. Her lips quirked to the side, but then she blinked. “I think I have an idea, if you want to try it.”
What did he have to lose? His pride was already shattered. “Sure.”
She took his hand and led him to his bed. “Lie down on your back.”
“Excuse me?” Levi gaped at her, not sure he’d heard her right.
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, Mr. Redding. I’m not attempting to steal your virtue. This isn’t the Regency period. If it were, you’d already have to marry me to save my reputation.”
He’d never expected to smile during a storm, but he found his lips tilting up. “Should I be worried about your brother challenging me to a duel for your honor?”
Hayley snorted. “Hardly.”
He eyed her, then the mattress. “I think the rules of post-feminism construct say you’re going to owe me at least a dinner after getting me in bed with you.”
She laughed, her face losing some of the strain it had been holding. “Deal.”
Boom!
Hayley let out a mewling noise that belonged more to one of the kittens in the laundry room than a grown woman. The time for joking had passed. He didn’t know what she had planned, but Levi was willing to do anything if it would wash away the panic starting to rise in her eyes.
He propped a couple of pillows up against the headboard and stretched out on the mattress. “Now what?”
She placed a knee on the bed. “Now I’m going to be your weighted blanket.”
“I don’t think—”
But Hayley didn’t wait to hear what he thought. She draped herself over him like a human blanket. The top of her head nestled under his chin against his chest. He sucked in a breath and held it, afraid to move. Her chest expanded against his stomach as she breathed, her legs moving until they found a comfortable position on top of his.
The weight of her pressed him firmly into the mattress, compressing against him in a solid mass unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. Honestly, it should’ve been too much. An invasion into his personal space that his body should’ve instantly objected to with alarm bells ringing and defensive measures rising.
But the weight of her, the feel of her, the shape of her ... everything about her wasn’t too much. It was just right. It—she—was what he’d needed. What he’d always needed.
“Your pulse is racing,” Hayley murmured, her head to the side so that her ear lay right over where his heart pumped inhis chest. “Is this not helping? Should I get up?” She moved her hands to the mattress to push herself up.
Levi banded his arms around her back, hugging her to him and trapping her where she was. “My pulse isn’t racing because of the weather,” he whispered, hoping she’d understand the deeper meaning behind his words.
“Oh,” she said, then curled her arms loosely against his sides, all poise to retreat gone.
He hugged her just a bit tighter. “Is this helping you?”
“Yes. I feel safe here in your arms. And I like to listen to your heartbeat and feel your chest rise and fall. The steady rhythm is comforting, and I can focus on it instead of what’s happening outside.”
As if someone had taken a knife and sliced open the cloud above them, rain pelted the roof, pouring down in sheets. Hayley tightened her arms against his sides, and Levi tightened his hold on her in return.
He licked his dry lips. He was in uncharted territory and didn’t quite know how to proceed. A great conversationalist he was not, but he wanted to make the effort. Both for her benefit as well as his own. “Do you want to talk about it?”
