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To her surprise, Dexter's face suddenly went irate as he snatched his hand back. “Wherb youb learb dab?”
“Pardon?” Shaken, both by his unexpected withdrawal as well as her unexpected arousal, she could only blankly stare at him.
He cursed again, jumping to his feet.
“Dexter, what is it? What's wrong?” Color flooded her face. “If you didn't like that, I can stop.”
Pivoting in fury he glared at her. “Bibn't wike it? Whab hob-bobbed—”
“Dexter I can't understand--”
Like a mad man he reached for her. “How many otter men?”
This she got the gist of. Her eyes grew in horror. “There are no otter-other men. How dare you? I'm about to give myself to you and the first thing you do is insult me. You were right all along, you are a cold cad.”
She jumped to her feet and would have spun around, when he unexpectedly reached out and grabbed her upper arms, pulling her painfully into his embrace. Without a moment’s pause, his cold cynical mouth came crashing down on hers. But it only lasted a brief moment as a sharp reminder had him crying out in pain, pulling away with a hand to his injured mouth.
Tears stung his eyes and Laura couldn't help but feel pity. “Are you all right?”
When he didn't respond, she added in a low voice, “You deserved that.”
His head snapped up and she could tell from his expression that he would have liked nothing better than to throttle her.
Unexpectedly, she smiled. “Next time you kiss me, you might want to make sure you don't have a cut lip.”
“Therb won't be a neb time,” he snarled through sore lips.
She turned away and shrugged. “Makes no difference to me.”
“Huh!” he barked behind her mockingly, but which Laura decided to ignore.
“I'm going to bed, on the couch over there. I want you sleeping on the pull-out.”
He mumbled something but didn't bother to argue.
Leaving him with the chore of untangling the bed from the sofa, she went silently to the washroom where she undressed, washed up and changed into a warm pair of flannel pajamas. Giving her long brown hair one last gleaming brush, she quietly tiptoed back to the living room.
In the entrance, she came to an abrupt halt. It was obvious Dexter had not heard her return for she was certain he would never had allowed Laura a glimpse of his nearly naked form. He moved about preparing for bed wearing only a pair of white boxers. She swallowed hard, watching in awe as the muscles flexed in his rather large biceps. Her hungry eyes devoured the sight of his rather broad chest and down his chiseled torso. Her fingers ached to reach out and touch the toughened skin as it rippled across his sinewy strength.
Too soon he moved and slipped beneath the covers, shutting out the sight of his wonderfully sculpted body from view. Taking a deep breath, she advanced into the room acting as if she had not glimpsed his gorgeous nakedness. Keeping her gaze averted, she dare not look in his direction in fear the arousal was still evident in her eyes.
“Thab loobs cozy.” He jibed as she crossed the room.
Impulsively, she snapped back. “Well it's certainly warmer than going naked.”
Immediately she felt the hot flood of embarrassment stain her cheeks without needing to see the small smirk on his face, which she was certain he wore.
Placing his hands behind his head and with a lethargic gaze, he watched as she self-consciously unfolded a blanket and tossed it, and herself, onto the couch.
Glancing briefly in his direction before tossing her back to him, she said, “Goodnight.”
She didn't think he was going to respond when it remained silent from his end of the room. Then his muffled response came from those frozen injured lips. “Goobnight.”
Laying there silently for what seemed like hours, but could have only been minutes, she listened for sounds coming from the opposite end of the room. It remained silent. She felt frustrated and increasingly uncomfortable with an urge to turn around. Though having Dexter realize her discomfort, was out of the question. She would rather suffer in silence if it meant remaining in that position all night. After a while, however, she began to relax and even punched her makeshift pillow into a more comfortable cushion. It seemed to have the desired effect for shortly afterwards she drifted into a restless sleep.
* * *
The fire had slowly burned itself out and left the room dim when Laura awoke with a thud. Blinking her eyes open, she found herself face down on the floor, minus her blanket. Pulling herself back on her heels she looked over at the now expired flames in the fireplace and shivered. The power obviously had not yet kicked in, leaving the room feeling well below fifteen degrees Celsius. Dragging the blanket over her shoulders, she quietly tiptoed over to the dying coals. A quick glance in Dexter's direction discovered him still sound asleep.
