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The words evaporated.
As did any of my hangups.
I just walked toward the bed and climbed under the covers.
Wells reached for something, then handed me the remote.
“You said you sleep with the TV on,” he said at my confused look.
I did.
And it meant more than it likely should have that he remembered that fact.
“Just, please, no true crime,” he asked. “Not before bed,” he added.
“No, before bed, it is all about old history documentaries,” I told him, clicking around until I found the channel. “The narrators always have those deep, smooth voices. Puts me right to sleep,” I added, handing him back the remote after turning down the volume. “I checked on the dogs. They’re more in love than ever,” I added as I fiddled with the pillows until I got them right.
I’d never been good at sleeping at places other than home. The pillows never felt right. The covers were always too much or not enough. The room temperature never suited my preferences.
Somehow, though, I managed to settle right in, watching a show about the ruins of some ancient city that had been rediscovered.
I thought that would be that.
But then Wells’s hand slid under my shoulders, curled, and pulled me over onto my side, then up onto his chest.
His arm stayed draped around me, a heavy weight across my lower back, as my face rested on his warm skin, as my body rose and fell with his breath, as I listened to the steady beat of his heart.
I never felt safer.
For the first time since the attack, I slept like a baby.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Detective Wells Vaughn
I didn’t know her schedule.
So I’d adjusted my alarm on my phone while she’d dressed after… well,after. I wanted to be up earlier to get random morning shit done in case she had to leave before I did, so I could drive her to work.
I would get right on getting a cruiser on her as soon as I got to work. But I wanted to be there for her when she went back.
But she was dead asleep when I slipped out of bed to go downstairs and let the dogs out.
Matilda eyed me as I made Boss’s breakfast, so I grabbed her food and made her some as well. The two of them ate side-by-side as I brewed the coffee. And for the first time in… ever, I reached up for two mugs.
The dogs went back outside after breakfast as I scrolled my phone for someplace with breakfast that I could get delivered.
Adding a few things to my cart, I didn’t hit order until I went back upstairs, showered, then brought a still-sleeping Mari a cup of coffee.
I sat off of her side of the bed, reaching outward to brush a strand of hair out of her face. The tickling motion had her scrunching her nose in her sleep, and I swear to hell, my heart felt like it squeezed in my chest.
“Baby,” I called, voice soft, knowing she was in a strange place, and not used to having a man waking her up. “Mari,” I tried again, but this time, I reached out, tracing my finger down her jaw, then her neck, marveling at the softness of her skin.
But then she arched her head away, inviting more of the touch, and I couldn’t seem to stop myself from giving that to her.
My fingertips danced down her throat, over the exposed skin of her chest. It wasn’t until my fingers were moving back up that her eyes slowly drifted open.
They were unfocused for a second as she took in the strange surroundings.
