That earned a real laugh from me. I caught myself smiling, then looked away quickly.
“I kind of like you too,” Leo said after a moment. “I’ve never met anyone like you before.”
I shifted with discomfort. My face flushed bright red. “You don’t even know me,” I muttered.
“I’m starting to,” he said, quietly this time. “And I think you’re pretty incredible so far.”
I didn’t respond to that. Couldn’t.
These men, they were getting under my skin and I hated it. It was getting harder to forget the reason I was there at all. The reason I was at risk of the king’s wrath, because they had imprisoned me in the first place.
But goddammit, none of them — except maybe Thorne — were behaving the way I expected.
They were supposed to be bad. Evil. Monsters.
Right?
Because if they weren’t...
If they weren’t the villains I needed them to be —
Then what the hell was I supposed to do?
My chest was too tight and I was just so tired. The room spun slowly with the warmth of the fire in the hearth and the soft sound of Leo’s breathing beside me.
At some point, I must have closed my eyes.
When I woke, at first I was a little confused. I couldn’t remember where I was. My eyes fluttered open, and then I felt it—the weight of someone beside me.
I froze.
I was lying on the couch. Not just lying—curled upagainst Leo. His arm was draped around me, and my head rested against his chest. The steady beat of his heart under my cheek was oddly comforting. My skin prickled in awareness.
I looked up to see him still asleep, his face relaxed, his breath steady. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that... he was holding me. My stomach flipped uneasily.
And then I felt it—a hard, unmistakable poke pressing against my lower back. I stiffened, my whole body tensing as the realization crashed into me.
Is he—?
Oh. My. Gods.
My pulse stuttered. The heat that rushed to my face was instant and furious. My brain scrambled to rationalize it—he’s asleep, it’s not on purpose, don’t overreact—but my body didn’t care. My muscles locked tight.
A voice in my head whispered,move.
Slowly, I eased out from under his arm, heart pounding loud in my ears. His grip slackened in sleep, and I slid away without waking him.
Almost.
His lashes fluttered. A slow, lazy grin curved his lips. “Morning,” he murmured, voice thick with sleep.
I stood there, awkward and flushed, not sure what to do with my hands. “Yeah. Morning,” I mumbled, clearing my throat.
His eyes didn’t leave mine. “You sleep okay?”
“I—I didn’t mean to...” I gestured vaguely toward the couch, the blanket, him. “That wasn’t... I didn’t realize I’d—” My words failed me.
Leo yawned and stretched, the hem of his shirt riding up just enough to flash a line of bare stomach. My eyes caught on the exposed skin before I could look away.
