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I shake my head. “No. I don’t think I noticed anything. Maybe it’s intuition.” Then I think back to what he said and frown at him. “And I wasn’t nervous and trembly.”
“You said you were?—”
“Anxious. I wasn’t trembly!”
He chuckles at that. “If you say so.”
“I do say so.”
“I thought you seemed a little shaky.”
“I was not shaky! Don’t exaggerate.”
“Understood.” His lips twitch, his eyes warm and soft. “You were a tower of strength, as you always are.”
“Thank you. That’s more like it.” I’m fighting off giggles. I stretch out my legs and feel better now than I have all evening. “Not to cast any doubt on my tower-of-strengthness, but would you mind if I stay in here for a little while? I won’t be a distraction if you want to work or do whatever.”
“Is that what you think?” He seems to be silently laughing now. His shoulders shake a couple of times.
“Yes.” I peer at him questioningly. “You think I’m going to bother you?”
“Not bother. Distract.”
“Oh.” I’m not sure what to make of his face, but my first instinct is to be slightly hurt. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have?—”
“For fuck’s sake, Louisa,” he says, reaching out to grab my arm before I can get up. “I was teasing. If it makes you feel better, you can stay in here for as long as you want. If you don’t mind, just stay on top of the covers.”
“Of course.” I beam at him since I suddenly realize he didn’t mean I would be a nuisance. He meant I might be a distraction in an entirely different way.
I’m not about to push through any of his boundaries, but I don’t mind being a distraction like that.
I reach down to the bottom of the bed to grab a soft throw blanket and use it to cover my legs. Then I unlock my phone and start scrolling through recent notifications.
When I slant a look over at Caleb, he’s still doing that silent laugh at me.
But I don’t mind it this time. It’s warm and fond and… intimate. I really like him this way.
It would be nice if he was always this way.
I shoot him a quick smile and turn back to my phone. He continues doing what he was doing on his tablet.
I assume it’s not looking at porn.
We lie together on top of his covers for a long time, until I start to get sleepy. I put down my phone. I should get up and go to bed. I feel better now. There’s no reason not to.
Instead, I close my eyes and pull the throw blanket farther up over me.
In a minute or two, I’ve fallen asleep.
* * *
It’s later that night—how much later, I’m not sure—that I wake up again.
It’s dark in the room now. Caleb is still on the bed beside me. Neither one of us are under the covers yet.
But something has definitely changed.
His body has changed.
