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No sane person wanted to get embroiled in the Panopoulos family.
11
KAIRO JONES
Kairo rubbedone eye with the heel of his palm and stumbled to his bedroom door. He couldn’t decide if he’d heard a mouse knock or if it was simply the house settling. He’d been tossing and turning for the past two hours. Sleep should have been easy to find after the ridiculously long, eventful day, but instead his brain was full of Isidore.
When he heard the ultra-soft knock the first time, he thought he’d finally drifted off and dreamed it. The second time was not a dream.
The only problem was that he couldn’t imagine any of his friends making such a tiny noise. They were loud and intrusive. That left only Isidore and Athena.
Pulling open his door, he was greeted with the adorable sight of a slightly rumpled Isidore standing in the hall lit by only a nightlight plugged in near the baseboard. He was in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt borrowed from West since they were of similar height and build.
He was definitely getting Isidore some of his own clothes tomorrow, even if he needed to leave the house to get them himself.
“What’s up?” Kairo whispered. Charlie and Will also had a bedroom on this floor, while Ed, West, Alexei, and Soren were crammed into two smaller rooms on the first floor.
Isidore shot him a weak, nervous smile, looking as if he were preparing to bolt back to the room he was sharing with Athena. “Sorry. Did I wake you? I wanted to ask a favor.”
“No. I was awake. What’s up?”
“Can I sleep with you?”
Kairo’s brain became static. There wasn’t a single thought as he stared at the man other than the fact that he’d been wrong earlier. He was asleep and this was the best dream ever. If someone woke him up right now, he was going to murder them.
Isidore’s face turned bright red and he waved both hands at Kairo. “No! I didn’t mean it like that. I—”
Grabbing one of Isidore’s wrists, he jerked the man into the room, shut the door behind him, and flipped on the overhead light. His voice was growing louder in his panic, and Kairo did not want them to suddenly have an audience. When he turned back to Isidore, it was to find him standing in the middle of the room with his hands covering his face.
Very carefully, he wrapped his fingers around those beautiful wrists and forced him to lower his hands so he could gaze into those wide gray eyes. Earlier in the evening, he’d showered and shaved off the growth of beard that had circled his lips and lined his jaw. It was as if the man had taken another five years off his appearance, making him seem even softer and sweeter.
“Talk to me. What’s wrong?” Kairo urged.
“I can’t sleep. I think I became accustomed to the sound of you breathing. It helped me sleep for the past few nights,” Isidore blurted out.
“But Athena is in there with you, right?”
Isidore tore his eyes away from Kairo and attempted to pull his wrists free, but Kairo only tightened his grip, not letting the man escape him. “Yes,” Isidore whispered. “It’s…it’s just not the same. I had a lot of trouble sleeping after I was kidnapped, and it didn’t get better when they grabbed Athena. But…but when you showed up, I could sleep. I would lie in bed and listen to your breathing, and I told myself that it was better because you were there now.”
“Look at me, please.” Kairo shifted and tilted his head until he was finally in Isidore’s line of sight. He appeared so painfully embarrassed, but he had nothing to be embarrassed about. He’d suffered a horrific event and it was going to take some time to get over it, probably with the much-needed help of a therapist. “You know everyone in the house will protect you and Athena. Between all of us, we have decades of experience. We’re not going to let anything happen to you.”
“I know that. Logically, I know that. But when I close my eyes, I can’t hear you anymore, so I can’t relax. I’m sorry. If I could just lie on the floor for a few hours, I’ll sneak out before morning. No one will know. I promise, tomorrow night I’ll sleep in my bed.” The words were out of Isidore in a rush, and each one broke Kairo’s heart. That he really thought Kairo would say no was unfathomable. He had just wanted to make sure that he understood he was protected.
Releasing one of his wrists, Kairo cupped his cheek with his right hand, his thumb caressing his high cheekbone. “You can sleep in here with me for as long as you’d like. In the bed. There’s no fucking way I’m letting you sleep on the floor.”
“Are you sure?” Fear and despair instantly gave way to hope, and Kairo loved that he could do that for Isidore.
“Of course. But I’ve got only a full-sized bed in here. It’s going to be a little cramped.” Kairo reluctantly dropped his hand from Isidore’s cheek and turned toward the small bed in question. It had been fine for just him, but Isidore had at least four inches in height on him and it was all in his legs.
“Don’t worry. I won’t take up much room at all. I can sleep right on the edge.”
Not giving Kairo a chance to argue or change his mind, Isidore hurried to the far side of the bed and slipped under the covers. He lay on his side with the thin blanket pulled up over his shoulder while his head rested on the farthest corner of the pillow. While he was giving Kairo ample room, he couldn’t possibly be comfortable like that.
Sighing to himself, Kairo turned and flipped off the light before joining him in the bed. His heart thudded hard and every instinct demanded that he roll over toward Isidore, wrap an arm around his waist, and pull him into a tight embrace while pressing kisses to each knob of his spine.
But he needed to behave himself. They hadn’t talked about the kiss yet—what it meant or if there were going to be more. Right now, it was late, and they were exhausted. Kairo needed to behave himself.
Even if he wasn’t getting any snuggle time with the sexy man, he had to admit it felt pretty good to be his security blanket after everything he’d been through. That despite being in a house filled with ex-military, ex-CIA, and one psycho assassin, he was the person Isidore felt safest and most at ease with.
