Her breaths are light and warm against my chest. She's still asleep. Actually asleep. Not the tense, ready-to-bolt sleep I've seen from her before. This is different. It’s relaxed. Trusting.
I'm so fucked.
The morning light cuts through the blinds. I should get up. I've got a session at the gym with Cillian and Gavin in a couple hours.
But when she makes a small sound in her sleep and burrows closer, I decide the world can wait.
I don't know how long I lie here. It’s long enough that Reaper gets impatient and huffs from his spot by the door. Long enough that my arm goes numb under her head and I couldn’t care less.
Instead, I use the time to replay what ignited between us lastnight… the way she looked, the way she felt, the way she tasted. My cock jumps at the salacious memories of her fully giving herself to me, of becoming so vulnerable when I know how much she hates any loss of control.
Eventually, she stirs and blinks up at me with those dark eyes, still cloudy with sleep. I watch her brain boot up in real time, the flicker of confusion in those chocolate brown pools. A dark pink flush creeps up the sides of her neck when the realization bubbles up in her consciousness.
“Morning,” I say before she can overthink it.
“Morning.” Her voice is raspy. Sexy as hell.
Shockingly, she doesn't pull away. That feels like a win.
“How'd you sleep?” I ask.
“Like the dead.” She stretches against me, her body warm and soft. “I never sleep like that.”
“Must be the company.”
Her lips quirk. “Or the exhaustion from the hellish week I had.”
“Ouch. So I had nothing to do with it? I’d have liked to exhaust you like that.”
The grin stretches across her face. “I think your ego will survive.”
“Barely.” I brush the hair out of her face. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving.”
Neither of us moves. We just stare at each other, almost holding our breath to avoid cracking the moment open. She absently traces a pattern on my chest, like she doesn't realize she's doing it.
“So, last night,” she starts to say.
And here it comes. The morning-after conversation. The one where she rebuilds all the walls I spent weeks trying to break down.
“Was incredible,” I say. “Yeah. I know.”
She bites down on her lower lip. “I was going to say intense.”
I wink at her. “That, too.”
“And unexpected.”
“Was it?” I run my hand down her bare arm and she shivers against me. “Because I've been thinking about it since we met.”
Her cheeks flood with red. “You have not.”
“Yeah. I have. You can ask Cillian. He's been giving me shit about it for weeks.”
“Your brother knows you've been thinking about sleeping with me?”
“He could figure it out. We’re pretty close, you know, other than Ronan.” I roll my eyes. “They know me well. It's annoying as hell.” I pause. “They're going to be insufferable when I see them today.”
