Roommates Box Set #4-6

18. Raphael

18

RAPHAEL

Sliding into my own bed felt surreal when there was a woman in it. It felt extra weird that she slept on the opposite side than I normally did. While I slept on the side nearer the door, so that I could easily attend to the twins when they were younger, she slept on the side by the window so that she could swing her cast up. It was like we’d planned it somehow.

After I got in, I pulled the covers up over both of us and lay on my side so I could see her. She started to turn to me, but then stopped and cussed under her breath.

“What?”

“I hate lying on my back. I’m normally a side sleeper.”

“Me too.” As I faced her, I could feel the heat from her skin. It hadn’t been quite light enough to see what she was wearing, but I suspected it was one of the new dresses that she’d gotten. They worked well for someone with a full leg cast, and I believed she’d been using them as both a dress and a nightgown and then getting the kids to throw them in the hamper when they needed it. It was clever, but I had to admit I missed helping her get dressed. “Can’t you sleep on your side with the bad leg on top?”

Belatedly, the phrase on top sounded dirty to me, especially since I was under the covers with a beautiful young woman for the first time in a very long time.

“I’ve tried,” she said. “But the heaviness of the cast throws me off balance. As soon as I start to drift off, I lose my balance and start to roll forward or backwards. That makes me wake up feeling like I’m about to fall off a cliff or something.”

I’d had dreams that ended with that feeling—it wasn’t fun. “Can you sleep on your stomach?”

“No, I’ve never been able to do that. And that position somehow puts more pressure on the cast than being on my back. I’m not sure of the physics of it, but it is what it is.”

My heart went out to her. She’d been through so much, and everything was harder when you couldn’t sleep. I wanted to take her hand, like I had that day after our exercise session, but in the dark, I couldn’t be quite sure what I’d be grabbing. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

She angled her head toward me, and I caught the scent of citrus from her shampoo. “Could we talk a bit until I get sleepy?”

That made me chuckle. “Are you saying I’m boring?”

“It might help me sleep if you were,” she said solemnly before giggling.

I grinned. It was nice, talking with someone in the dark. Feeling the heat from their body. Noticing the way the covers shifted when they moved. “Why don’t you tell me about your job? That should be boring enough. Not everyone has two cool jobs like me.”

She chuckled lightly, but then stilled. “I’m not sure I know enough to talk about it.”

“You’ll catch up.”

“I’m not sure. Sometimes, I sit in on video meetings, and each time, I’m less certain of what’s going on than the last. It’s like they’re all going forward and I’m standing still.” She was silent for a few beats. “I guess I literally am.”

“Well, then, it’ll be like you’re new when you go back there. You were new on your first day and that wasn’t so bad, was it?” I winced after I said it, hoping she wouldn’t dwell on the part where she’d ended up in the hospital at the end of that day.

“True, but I wasn’t the only newbie. There were five of us, and now the others will seem like seasoned pros by the time I get back.”

“You’ll only be a month or two behind.” I didn’t want to downplay her concern, but I hated the idea that her amazingly selfless act had hurt her career.

“I know, but I’ll be the only one starting out at the beginning again.”

“True.” Damn it, I wished there was something I could do. “Can I hold your hand?”

Alyssa seemed surprised, but then she nodded, sliding her hand across the mattress. “You really take the concept of consent seriously.”

That made me chuckle. “I had to ask so that I would know where to find it.” My fingers grasped hers, and somehow, it felt right.

Alyssa was silent for a while, her hand firmly in mine. I wondered if she was finally getting sleepy, but when she spoke, her voice was strong and alert. “It’s not just falling behind,” she said. “I mean, it’s not just about not knowing what’s going on at work. It also feels like the other four are friends now, and I’m the odd woman out.”

“I’m sorry, cher.” I cradled her hand in both of mine and tried to convey my empathy.

“They go to bars after work and eat lunch together. And during the video chats, there are inside jokes and nicknames and references that I’ve missed out on.” She hesitated. “I guess that sounds dumb, like a high schooler left out of the in-group.”

“It doesn’t sound dumb at all. It sounds like a very normal reaction.”

Alyssa sighed. “They’re taking a trip, the four of them. A long weekend in New Orleans.”

“For Mardi Gras?”

“No, now. That’s not for a while, right?” I nodded. “They’re just going to check out the music scene and eat in the amazing restaurants. I’ve always wanted to go there.”

“You will when you’ve healed.” I couldn’t help leaning over and aiming a kiss at her forehead. The window provided enough light for that, though I ended up kissing her hair as much as her smooth skin. Something needed to be done about this situation, but for right now, all I wanted to do was to make her smile. “The wait will give you time to build up your tolerance for spicy foods.”

She let out a breath that might’ve been a partial laugh. “Is that what you’ve been doing? Training my palate?”

“Maybe. Do you think you can try sleeping now?”

“Maybe.” But she didn’t sound very confident.

“I have an idea, something we can try that might help… but you’d have to trust me.”

“Yes.”

That gave me pause. “Yes, we should try?”

“Yes, I trust you. And also, yes, I’d like to try.”

“All right, stay there.”

She chuckled softly. “I never realized how often people said that until I got in a situation where I didn’t have much choice.”

“Good point.” I got out of bed and circled around to her side. “Can you scoot toward the middle?”

She did so with small, careful movements, and I adjusted her pillows until they were under her head. Then I reached over her to grab mine. “Let me know if I hurt you, okay?”

“Okay.”

I climbed in next to her as gently as I could. “Roll forward onto your side, cher.”

She did so, even as she protested. “I told you, the cast throws off my balance and I end up rolling forward or backwards.”

“What you need is a seatbelt.” I settled on my side and scooted forward until her back was pressed up against my chest. “Or it might be more accurate to call me a big spoon.”

Her body relaxed against mine and I snaked my arm around her waist. Now I could better smell the fresh scent of her hair. It made me think of open fields and citrus orchards.

“This is nice,” she said, finally starting to sound sleepy.

“Do you feel secure? Like you’re not going to roll away?” She really couldn’t, not with me right behind her and my arm around her waist, but I wanted to make sure.

“Yeah, I do. The cast is still heavy on my other leg, but it’s better than before.”

I thought for a moment and then grabbed an extra pillow. “Put this between your legs.”

As she did that, her ass pressed back against me, and it took real effort to focus on her comfort instead of the blood rushing to my cock.

“That’s perfect,” she said, fatigue in her voice. “I feel all snug… as a bug… in a rug filled with puppies.”

Alyssa wasn’t making all that much sense, but that was a good sign. She needed the rest. As I held her, her breathing slowed and her muscles relaxed.

My own muscles were nothing of the sort. One of my arms was pinned between us, so I eased it up and inched it under her pillow so that I could stretch it out. The other remained around her waist. One result of that was that her sweet ass was pressed up against my groin, so like I said, my body definitely wasn’t relaxed. But that was a small price to pay for being able to help her get the rest she needed.

Finally, about twenty minutes later, I buried my nose in her soft hair and began to drift off. The last thought I was conscious of was how damn good she felt in my arms.