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“Lachlan,” I ground out, pulling at his iron arm. “I’m serious. I can’t lose this job.”
“You’re not going to lose your job. I’ll call them tomorrow as your physician and explain that you’ll be out for a couple more days.”
“A couple?” I asked, my voice tripping up an octave.
He nestled me into the curve of his body. His face bent to drop a soft kiss on the curve of my cheekbone. “At least.”
I deflated immediately. How was I supposed to argue with him when he did things like that?
“Get some sleep, Laurel,” he said, and his fingers traced my hairline with excruciating gentleness. “Everything can wait until tomorrow.”
I glanced at him sideways, “Wait, you’re not sleeping here too, are you?”
“It’s my bed,” he said in mock outrage.
“I could move to the couch,” I offered.
“Laurel. I’m not going to molest you in your sleep. You’re exhausted. I’m exhausted. Just go to sleep, okay?”
My lids dropped heavily. “Mnh.”
He let out a breathy chuckle. “I like that sound you make.”
“Which?” I asked sleepily.
“That groggy thing you do. It drives me crazy.”
I smiled cat-like. I drove him crazy? I liked the sound of that. I was already spiraling into dreams. I didn’t know how long this fantasy in Dr. Cade’s house would last, but I wanted to savor the moments I could. I knew it couldn’t be like this forever… but I had the here and now.
That was good enough.
Nine
Laurel
My first alarm went off at one o’clock in the morning. I scrambled to find it, my head pounding with panic at the insistent, droning bell. Lachlan had it on his side charging, and he lifted his head to find it. He made a groggy sound as he turned it off, and then cast a sleepy, questioning glance at me.
Thank God he hadn’t let my phone die. That was the only thing that kept me from falling too deeply into REM sleep. The only thing that kept me from having the waking dreams. I apologized with a mumble and held out my hand for the phone. He handed it to me, made me drink some water, and we fell asleep again.
I put the phone on silent and tucked it against my breasts so the buzzing would only disturb me. Hopefully. His bed was enormous, so I scooted as far to the edge as I could and let myself fall back into the heavy void of a healing sleep. My body desperately craved the sleep, but I kept the alarms on.
Three AM.
Five AM.
Seven AM.
I finally let that one wake me up all the way and forced my eyes to crack open. There was nothing like waking up in a warm cocoon of dawn when the world had fallen into an icy stillness. I watched the snow fall in the hazy morning light, amazed at the amount we had gotten overnight. It was March. “In like a Lion,” apparently.
As I watched the charming picture of a winter Western forest through the glimmer of pristine glass, I heard the bathroom door open.
Lachlan snapped me out of my woolgathering with an electric shock. He had a towel around his waist and another over his head as he strolled out, toweling off his hair. The sharp cut of his pelvic muscles carved a hard V down to the low hem of the towel, and his chiseled torso rippled with his movements.
I gaped.
He lowered the towel from his hair, heading straight for the long dresser across the room from the bed. He paused, catching my expression. His eyes darted back and forth, “What?”
I made a high-pitched, strangled sound. Half a grin lifted his mouth.
