Chapter 14 ZACHERY GETS STEALTH CUDDLED
Chapter 14
Z ACHERY G ETS S TEALTH C UDDLED
Sleep should have been elusive. Hard bed. Scratchy sheets. Thuds and door slams and late-night laughter.
But Kelsey’s deep, even breathing was the perfect white noise. For a while, I propped myself up on my elbow, watching her slumber in the moonlight seeping through the threadbare curtains.
Then I slept.
I wake when I try to shift to a new position, but can’t. Something weighs down my legs.
The light from the window is no longer blue, but orange-gold. Dawn.
And Kelsey’s body is partially thrown over mine. The pillow barrier is behind her, and the two of us lie on one side of it.
She scaled the Walls of Jericho in her sleep.
I lie on my back, pinned by her leg and hip. Her head is tucked against my neck.
How long have we slept like this?
It takes self-control not to wrap my arm around her and draw her closer. I’m afraid to move or to touch her anyplace new, lest she wake and withdraw in embarrassment.
I breathe slowly and evenly, taking her in. Her leg is tan and toned, not that she’s exercised a day in her life. It’s the heels. She wears them always, despite the lengthy walk from the office to her car, and how she loves to spontaneously dance or twirl around a lamppost. She likes living life like it’s a musical.
This trip is no different, even though the genre has changed. Is she really going to find her great love using rom-com story beats?
She sure seems determined to try.
A lock of wheat-blond hair tickles my arm. I try to ignore it and hang on to this moment as long as possible.
But eventually my muscle twitches involuntarily, and Kelsey startles awake.
She lifts her head, disoriented, then looks up at me and groans.
And not in a good way.
“You all right?” I ask her.
“I stealth cuddled you. It’s my thing.”
“It’s all right. It’s a cute thing.”
She pulls away and rolls back over the pillow wall. “That had to be so awkward.”
I sit up and make a show of stretching with clear nonchalance. “I’m used to women being unable to resist my animal magnetism.”
The pillow smacks the side of my head before I even see it coming.
“Hey!” I snatch the pillow from her and wallop her midsection. “I’m a brutal survivalist when it comes to pillow fights.”
She dives beneath the bedspread. “I surrender!”
I drop the pillow in its place against the headboard. Our silliness has created an ache in my chest. I don’t get mornings like this. Not as a kid. My parents would have fired a nanny who let us carry on with pillows.
And it certainly would never have happened with the upwardly mobile women trying to leave a perfect impression after spending the night. I’ve caught more than one of them refreshing their makeup in the wee hours, presumably so I would think they woke up that way .
And here’s Kelsey, emerging from the covers with her hair a wild mess, her cheeks pink, the remnants of a crease from my shirt imprinted on her forehead.
And she’s perfect.
I wouldn’t change a thing.
“Do you accept my surrender?” she asks.
“I do.”
She grins. Her gray sweater is askew, revealing the tiny sleep top, pink with Care Bears dancing across the front.
And it’s thin. There’s nothing hidden, not the shape of her, not the fullness, and definitely not the taut nipples.
I look away before she catches me noticing.
Then I strategically shift a pillow over my hips.
Down, boy. Those are not for you.
“Do you have a plan for today?” I ask.
She pushes her hair out of her face and thankfully hugs a pillow to her chest. “No. I specifically set out to choose each day based on how the previous one went. There might come a time where I stay put awhile.”
Right. When she finds her great love.
“And today?”
“I’m getting the heck out of this godforsaken place.” She reaches for her phone. “Let me see what’s next.”
“I’ll take a shower while you do that.”
She nods. “I aim to only drive a few hours. I have all summer to find him.”
All summer.
I contemplate this as I head to the bathroom. Can I hang out with Kelsey for three whole months? It’s unlikely. Not just for me, but for her, too. Auditions will come up. Jester will need us.
The Demon might set up something in person with a contact of hers, and we’ll have to scramble to get back.
All the more reason for me to travel with her. I’m acutely aware that Kelsey’s salary isn’t adequate for living in LA, even in the neighborhood she found. She won’t be able to fly back on a whim.
But I can.
She’s going to need me. Not just for safety or emotional bolstering, like last night. But to keep her job.
In the shower, I try to focus on the practicalities of the situation. Hotels. Two cars. Charging stations for her.
But my thoughts creep back to this morning. Kelsey in the golden light of dawn, snuggled up against me, her breath feathering across my skin.
Thankfully, I don’t need to hide how my body is reacting in here, so I cut loose for a moment with the thoughts and let them run their course until I’m gasping, my arm propped against the shower wall.
These feelings aren’t going away anytime soon.