He laughed. “Come here.”
I rolled into his side and he settled his arm around me. “This okay?”
I snuggled closer. “It’s perfect.”
One moment I was asleep, the next I was awake. I stared into the darkness, knowing it was sometime in the middle of the night. I also knew I wasn’t going back to sleep because my brain was immediately on.
At some point, we’d changed positions. He was foiled around me like a candy wrapper.
I slowly wiggled from his embrace, pausing to see if he’d wake up. He slept on.
My robe was somewhere on the floor, and I felt around in the dark for it. I found it and put it on before quietly leaving the bedroom. I closed the door behind me.
I made my way to the kitchen and turned on the electric kettle. While I waited for it to boil, I got a mug and the loose-leaf tea Bones had brought me.
There was a sleeping biker in my bed upstairs.
My house suddenly felt full.
Full of laughter.
Full of emotion.
Full of life.
I cried in the kitchen as the water came to a rolling boil.
“Hayden?”
I tensed when I heard his voice. “Sorry, did I wake you?”
“Yeah. I thought you were coming back to bed, and when you didn’t, I wondered what you’d gotten up to.”
“I didn’t even hear you,” I said.
He placed his hands on my shoulders and I let him turn me around.
Bones stared down at me, his brow furrowed. “You’re crying.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I swiped at my cheeks. “Lots of reasons.”
“Tell me.”
“It’ll sound stupid.”
“I doubt that.”
I swallowed. “Haven’t I bared my soul enough for one night?”
“Ah,” he said, pulling me toward his chest. He’d put on his boxer briefs, but he was still on display.
I pressed my cheek to his warm skin and closed my eyes, finding unexpected comfort, which only made me start crying again.
“Tell me,” he urged. “Let me make it better.”