Chapter 16
16
JONATHAN
I drift awake warm and content. My cheek is cushioned on something soft, there’s a weight over my middle. Where am I?
I open my eyes and find my pillow is a person. My pillow is Adam . I’m nestled against his side, my head on his shoulder, his arm around me.
I gasp and sit up, dislodging Ben who was spread on his back behind me. He makes a sleepy noise and rolls over. Thank everything that is holy that I was the first to wake, that no one saw that.
My heart is beating rapidly. We were snuggling . I was snuggled in Adam’s arms. When did that happen? How did that happen?
Please let him not know.
Please let no one else know. Oh god, if Geoff knows…
Adam stirs and blinks awake. He shields his eyes from the sunlight that’s falling over his face. The sunlight that must have woken me. His brow furrows as his sleepy gaze falls on me. “Belle? Alright?”
His voice is thick with sleep. The sound of it makes my stomach go tight. I run a hand through my hair, which is probably a disaster. My heart’s aflutter. I don’t know what to do with myself. I rub absently at my hip which is protesting the night spent on the floor.
When I fail to answer, he sits and scrubs at his face with his hands. “Suppose I should go check the damage. See if I can fix the power.”
“Can I come?” Mal asks.
Mal. Awake. He’s watching us from a little nest of blankets on Ben’s other side. How long has he been awake? Could he have seen The Snuggling? Oh god.
“I wanna see what got hit,” Mal says.
It’s so rare that he expresses an interest in something and here he is volunteering to spend time with The Beast. I put my own concerns aside and force a smile. “I think that’s an excellent idea. If Adam doesn’t mind?”
Geoff chuckles. His eyes are still closed and he says sleepily. “Adam. Gets me every time.”
Adam, for his part, is looking between me and Mal like I’ve just asked him to walk across hot coals.
“Adam, weren’t you just saying that you wanted to spend more time with the children?” I prompt.
He swallows and nods. Not quite the enthusiastic assent I was hoping for. But it’s not a no, which is a gigantic victory in my books.