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“That would be me,” Ian said with a grin. “I started it.”
He looked damned pleased with himself, too. When he glanced at me, I grinned. To be honest, they were all laughing and smiling. It had been a while. A week really, since I’d seen any of them this relaxed.
Well, okay, Coop had been pretty damn relaxed earlier in the day, but this was different.
“Fair enough.” It took them another couple of minutes to clean up. Finally, Jake crawled back into bed, and Archie smirked before the lights went out. He hadn’t left his spot, but that was more to shield me than anything.
Some of the tension bled out of my muscles, and I wasn’t sure if that was more the pillow fight or the pain meds. Either way, I relaxed. Surrounded by their scent and the soft sound of their breathing, I said, “As I was saying…”
Archie groaned. “You’re gonna incite a riot, babe.”
“Shut up, Archie,” came from the other three, and we all laughed.
“See what I put up with?” he complained, but squeezed my hand gently.
“You put up with a lot, and we’re really happy you do.”
“See, you get me. We’re connected.”
Jake snorted. “Shut up and let her finish so she’ll go to sleep.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I grinned hard enough to make my cheeks hurt. “You know what—it doesn’t matter. We can figure it out tomorrow.”
“It matters if it’s important to you, Baby Girl.”
“No, right now, it just matters that all of you are here.” Even Ian. Or maybe especially Ian. He didn’t have to be. But he was.
“No place else I’d rather be,” Jake promised.
“Ditto,” Archie said.
“Well, I’d rather be in the bed,” Coop offered. “But I’m close, so I’ll live.”
“Glad we’re here, Angel,” Ian said quietly, and that wasn’t a slip. I could call him on it. I should call him on it.
But I didn’t want to spoil the mood. Not right now.
We could figure out next week the next day. As much as I liked having them here, they had parents and homes, and I was pretty sure those people wanted them to come home sooner or later.
Tiddles made his way up the bed and curled up between Archie and me. Tabby settled half on Jake and half on me. I bet if I turned on the light, Tory would be making herself comfortable on Coop.
For a minute, my thoughts flitted to Ian. He was sleeping in the corner of my bedroom. He didn’t take the sofa and he hadn’t taken a turn in the bed, even though I had offered. So had the guys. It would be a little awkward, but we weren’t making out, we were just sleeping.
“FYI,” Archie mumbled. “Change the sheets in the morning.”
Heat whipped over my face again.
“Jeremy wants me to bring the laundry ‘round again before the week starts.”
“So why are you bringing it up now?” Ian asked, a yawn punctuating the words.
“’Cause he doesn’t want to have to make the bed,” Jake suggested, and it was my turn to yawn.
“Does Archie even knowhowto make a bed?” Coop mused.
“Yes,” Archie stated with a little vehemence. “I do. I’m pretty good at it, too.”
