Page 33 of Piece Us Together

I swear I can feel his entire body melt against me, even his breathing slowing. He doesn’t answer other than a soft humming sound. I chuckle, pressing a kiss to his hair. Then I look up to catch Hunter about to leave.

“Hey.” I reach a hand out, my chest squeezing tight at the thought I might not be able to get him to stop. “Wait.”

He pauses at the door, his hand on the light switch. His smile is sad, his gaze flickering like he can’t keep it on us for more than a few seconds at a time. “There are more blankets in the closet if you need them. The basket still has snacks and drinks. I’m the first door up the stairs if you need me for any reason, okay?”

“But…” I look at Nolan, already asleep in my arms, then back at Hunter. “But you need something too, don’t you?”

“I’ll be okay.”

“Will you?” I ask, cocking my brow the same way he did when he asked me that earlier. I remember the research I did before.Aftercare wasn’t just for the sub. Doms can struggle without it too. “Do you need something else? He’ll never forgive himself if he went to sleep and you got upset or whatever. Drop—that’s what it’s called. Doms drop, right? How do we stop that for you?”

He attempts a smirk, but it falters. All of his usual confidence is gone right now. It makes me itch with worry.Is he dropping already? Or is he just tired?

“If you don’t mind, I could use it, yes.” He scrubs a hand across his jaw. “I can sit in the chair. Just seeing him be okay for a while will be enough to settle me. Then I can go to my room.”

I should argue. It’s the right thing to do. After the night he gave Nolan, after everything he’s done for the both of us, he’s earned a night in our bed. Just one night. It wouldn’t mean anything. Hell, it’d maybe even help Nolan, waking up to both of us.

But I can’t stop seeing the way he looked at me, eyes intense, lips curled into a sexy fucking smirk.So fucking good for me, as if I’d fucking done it for him. As if I belong to him. As if it’s the weight of my world he’s lifting too, not just Nolan’s.

I can’t stop feeling the burn in my chest. I can’t stop feeling off-kilter. Feeling floaty. Feeling fucked in the head.

I can’t have this man in my bed.

I just—can’t.

“Grab a blanket,” I mumble, gesturing a hand toward the chair he mentioned. “In case you fall asleep.”

It’s all I can give him.

“Thank you.” He gives me the saddest goddamn smile I’ve ever seen.

I close my eyes so I don’t have to see it.

I wake with a jolt when a hand squeezes my shoulder, just barely stopping my fist before it swings. An apology is already on my lips before I register that it wasn’t Nolan who tried to wake me—which makes sense, he knows by now that I should be woken from afar.

It’s Hunter.

“I’m sorry,” he says before I can. “I shouldn’t have touched you.”

“It’s not you.” I sit up, running a hand through my mess of hair. My heart is having a hard time calming down despite the realization that there’s no danger.Or maybe there is.“Not a good idea for anyone to touch me like that when I’m sleeping, for future reference.”

“Noted.” The scent of coffee fills my nose as he offers a steaming mug to me. I take it, not looking at his face. My “thank you” is mumbled. He doesn’t acknowledge it. “Nolan is making us breakfast. I told him I’d wake you.”

I keep my eyes on the liquid that’s probably too hot to try and drink. “Is he okay?”

“Yes. A little anxious, I think. He’s ready to talk about where we go from here, but nervous to do so.”

“Okay.”

“I’m going to offer him the chance to kneel while we eat, if that’s alright with you. It may help calm his mind.”

It probably will. I wish I understood that. I wish I could give him that.

I wish I could have something like that for myself.

“Okay.” I try to look at him. I can’t.Why? What does this man have that makes me like this? How do I get it to fucking stop?“I wanted to say—you did good last night. You were good with him. Whatever it is he’s been looking for, the thing I couldn’t give him—I saw it last night, the moment you gave him it. That peace or whatever. I wanted to thank you for that.”

The words are rehearsed, a small speech I prepared as I drifted to sleep last night, but they still come out shaky.