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“What are you doing out here?”
I could tell she wasn’t fully awake when she mumbled, “Mattress sucks. Shhh. Sleeping.”
Fuck. I hadn’t stopped to think about the fact the mattress she was sleeping on was about a million years old. I was pretty sure it was the one I’d gotten right after graduation from the academy more than a decade ago, and the damn thing hadn’t been comfortable when it was new. The only reason I still had it was because I rarely had guests over, so I’d forgotten all about it. If I babysat for my sister, the kids and I usually built a fort and camped out in the living room, so Lyric was the first to sleep on that bed in years.
She started letting out those tiny little snores that I somehow found cute and endearing, and right then and there, I made a decision. Without giving myself a chance to think it over, I leaned over, sliding an arm beneath Lyric’s shoulders and her knees and scooped her right up.
She jolted away, letting out a sharp squeal as she latched her arms around my neck. “What the hell are you doing?” she yelped.
“Taking you to bed so we can both get some sleep,” I grunted.
She yawned so big her jaw cracked. “No offense, Holt, but the bed in the guest room sucks.”
“Yeah, but the one in my room doesn’t.”
Her whole body went stiff in my arms, but I couldn’t bring myself to give a shit.
“Holt, put me down,” she said, her expression serious while her eyes swam with panic.
“I will, just as soon as we’re in my room.”
“I can’t sleep in your bed!”
Churro lifted her head from her place at the foot of the mattress, but must not have cared too much what I was doing, because a second later, she let it drop back down and went right on back to snoozing.
“Can and will, and that’s all I’m saying about it. It’s late, and we both need fucking sleep.” I stepped across the threshold and kicked the bedroom door shut behind me so she couldn’t make a break for it. I rounded the bed on the opposite side of where I slept and dropped her with a plop. “Now go to sleep.”
She threw the hair back from her face and sat up. “Where are you going to sleep?”
I jabbed a finger at my side of the bed. “Right there.”
Lyric’s spine went ramrod straight as her eyes bulged out. “Like hell! I’m not sharing a bed with you!”
I crossed my arms over my chest and didn’t bother to hide my smirk when I caught her eyes taking me in. I slept in nothing but a pair of boxer briefs, and when I went out for a glass of scotch a few minutes ago, I hadn’t bothered with sweats. And the woman currently in my bed, couldn’t seem to get her fill.
“Last I checked, we’re both adults here. I don’t know about you, but I’m mature enough to handle sharing a bed with someone.” I arched a brow to add emphasis to my challenge, and just as I suspected, she fell for it.
“I’m mature!” she argued.
“Great. Then go to sleep.” I rounded the bed and climbed in.
“What on earth is that thing?”
I looked over my shoulder to where Lyric was pointing and felt my jaw began to tick. “It’s a ramp,” I admitted grudgingly. “Churro was having trouble getting up onto the bed by herself.”
I slid fully into the bed and turned just in time to see Lyric curl her lips between her teeth to hide a smile. “You made a doggy ramp for your puppy so she could sleep with you?”
Damn it all to hell. Between Lyric and Alexis, I was never going to live that ramp down. If Churro didn’t need it so badly, I’d have taken it out back and set it on fire.
I let out a growl and flipped off my bedside lamp before ordering, “Go to sleep, Lyric.”
I rolled, putting my back to her and giving her room so she wouldn’t feel crowded or uncomfortable. Then I waited, holding my breath until I felt the mattress move beneath her as she settled into my bed. A minute later, the snoring returned, and I closed my eyes.
Surprisingly enough, I didn’t have any trouble falling right to sleep with Lyric’s scent filling my room.
ChapterNineteen
LYRIC
