Chapter 12
JORDAN
Dani was beside her berth. The lights were off, but the strip of corridor light under the door cut a pale band across the floor, and Jordan could see her clearly enough. She wasn't wearing anything, just standing there as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Sorry," she whispered. "I can't sleep. I didn't mean to wake you."
"You didn't." Jordan pushed up against the bulkhead and Dani pointed to her berth.
"Can I get in with you? Just for a bit."
This was the kind of thing that only happened in Jordan's fantasies, and it felt surreal, but she lifted the covers anyway.
Dani slid in beside her, aligning her body with hers. She was warm and soft and feminine under Jordan's palm as her hand found her hip. Jordan didn't question what was happening. She draped her arm over Dani and drew her closer, and Dani breathed out against the hollow of her throat.
Her breath on Jordan's skin was doing something to her that she couldn't stop. There was a low pull starting under her ribs, spreading down between her thighs. Dani's hand found the small of her back and her grip on her tightened.
And then Dani tilted her face up and kissed her, like she'd been planning this all along. Her mouth opened against Jordan's, and her hand slid into her hair. Jordan kissed her back hard and moaned as she rolled on top of her, pinning her to the mattress.
Jordan's hand moved up to the curve where her ribs flared into her chest. Dani's breast filled her palm and she arched up against her and her mouth opened wider against Jordan's.
And something was happening to Jordan that shouldn't be happening yet.
A wave in her belly, sharp and immediate, her muscles tightening of their own accord.
They'd barely touched and yet it was there, breaking over her before she could stop it, her whole body shuddering against Dani's.
She came awake with a strangled cry and sat up.
For a beat she didn't know where she was. The cabin. Her berth. The duvet shoved down around her hips and her heart hammering and the rest—the involuntary clench of her muscles, the slow pulse already starting to fade—was unmistakable. She had just had an orgasm in her sleep.
The pull-out bed creaked.
"Jordan?"
No. Please, no.
The mattress dipped as Dani sat down on the edge of her berth. An arm settled across Jordan's shoulders.
"Hey. Hey, are you okay?"
Jordan couldn't speak. If she opened her mouth, she'd give herself away. She kept her eyes closed and tried to slow her breathing. In through the nose. Hold. Out through the mouth.
"Jordan," Dani whispered. "It's okay. You had a nightmare. You're awake now."
A nightmare. Sure. Jordan opened her eyes and turned on the bedside lamp.
Dani's face was creased with concern as she took her hand. "You're okay."
A quiet laugh escaped Jordan. "Yeah." Her voice came out rough and she cleared her throat. "Yeah. Sorry I woke you."
"Don't apologize." Dani's thumb had started moving in small, absent strokes against her shoulder. Jordan wasn't sure she knew she was doing it but she was extremely aware she was doing it. "Do you remember what it was about?"
"No." A clean lie. "I don't remember."
Dani nodded, and Jordan could see her face working through it.
A career in the Navy, a woman waking up gasping in the dark—she was filling in the blanks the way anyone would.
Combat, probably. Friends lost. The truth was that Jordan had had a quiet career—peacetime, mostly logistics and training.
She'd never deployed into anything that left a mark.
"Can I get you anything?" Dani asked. "Water? Or—you can read for a bit. I always find that helps after a bad one. Breaks the loop, so you don't drop straight back into the same dream."
"I'm okay. Really. Thank you."
Dani didn't move and her arm stayed around her shoulders. "You're shaking," she said.
Jordan looked down at her hands. Yes, they were shaking and so was the rest of her. She closed her fingers into fists.
"It's just adrenaline," she said.
"Yeah, that takes a while to come down." Dani shifted a little closer. "Look—I don't want to overstep. But if you wanted, I could just—I could sleep on this side of the bed. Sometimes it helps to have someone close after a nightmare."
Jordan wanted to laugh because the thought of letting Dani Ellis climb into her bed, three minutes after coming awake from a dream of doing exactly that, was absurd.
"I'm okay," she said again. The dream hadn't faded the way dreams were supposed to.
Her body still wanted her here, and there was no version of this where she made the smart choice, so she added, "But you're welcome to sleep here if you'd like to. "
Dani looked surprised and Jordan's heart continued to hammer hard while she considered this. She probably thought Jordan was upset and it wasn't fair that she was taking advantage, but Jordan didn't care. Not right now.
"Are you sure?" Dani asked.
Jordan nodded. There was no way she'd be able to sleep but she craved Dani’s nearness now that she'd had a taste of her, even if it was just in a dream.
Dani lifted the edge of the duvet and slid under it. As Jordan reached over and clicked off the lamp, she wondered if Dani felt as self-conscious as she did.
The dark settled between them, and Dani shifted to find a position. Neither of them had thought this through. Dani finally moved closer and rolled onto her side, her back to Jordan, close enough that Jordan could feel her warmth.
Jordan made a split decision and draped her arm over Dani's waist.
A quiet moan escaped Dani and then she went rigid for a beat. She was holding her breath. Her ribs were tight under Jordan's arm, her whole body still. When she finally exhaled, it came out unsteady, and what followed was a quick, shallow rhythm.
"Is this okay?" Jordan whispered, because the last thing she wanted was for Dani to feel uncomfortable.
"Mm-hm." Dani's fingers found hers and pressed her hand more firmly against her, holding it there.
Although Jordan was far from relaxed, it felt good to hold her.
Dani smelled amazing and Jordan was so turned on she could barely think.
She wanted to slide her hand up under her tank top, to find her bare skin, her breasts.
To press her mouth to the back of her neck and find out what sound she made when it was real.
She wanted to fuck her so badly it hurt, and by now she was pretty sure Dani wanted that too.
Behave, she told herself. Whatever this was, it was already more than she should have allowed. Don't make it worse.