Page 28 of Outlaws’ Runaway
He points at the big bed. It looks really inviting, but then I look at him, look at the couch and then back at him. “You're joking, right? I might have to bend my knees, but you'd have to fold in half. It makes sense that I take it.” I even start moving that way, but he grabs my shoulders and turns me around, guiding me right back into the bedroom.
“Don’t fucking argue. Bathroom's in there.” He nods at the only door. “Shower's good, and there's more hot water than you could use up in a day. I don’t fold shit, but the towels in the left basket are clean.”
I yawn again, my eyes starting to droop. The industrial looking clock over the door says it's past midnight. No wonder I'm beat, and it was a pretty crazy day. So you know what? I'm not going to fight him for it. “Fine. If you want to curl up on the stupid couch, I'm not going to stop you. Just remember, I offered.”
“Get in there so I can take my turn.”
I strip and turn on the water before something occurs to me. I poke my head out the door. “Hey Poe? Can I borrow a shirt or something to sleep in? I think Crank has my backpack.”
His grin is pure cocky amusement. “Absolutely.” He pulls a long, rolling container out from under the bed and fishes out a black shirt before walking over and holding it out just far enough away that I have to reach a little bit.
I snatch it from his fingers and slam the bathroom door. When I finally crawl into the bed, I can hear him in the shower so I don’t have to hide the way I hold the sheets to my nose and inhale the faint scent of Poe clinging to them. It’s not unpleasant. Kind of the opposite, actually.
There’s plenty of room for two in the bed.
If I invited him to share, I bet he would, but as soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m gone.
15
PAIGE
I wakeup with a terrified shriek, popping up like a jack-in-the-box, my fists clutching the sheets.
I blink my eyes, trying to understand where I am and why I'm so afraid. And then it comes back to me. Poe's room, Poe's bed, and I'm safe. Just dreaming. Just like last night, my heart is pounding and there’s a sheen of sweat on my skin, but this time it’s for an entirely different reason. The images blur even as I try to remember what was happening in my dream, but I can still smell the smoke and hear screaming.
I draw a deep breath and close my eyes, still sitting up, just trying to center myself. To make my heart slow down. To stop shivering.
“Paige?” Poe asks in a sleepy voice.
He's standing at the end of the bed in nothing but a pair of boxers. If my head wasn’t still full of horror, I think I’d appreciate the view a lot more. Even now, I’m not immune to the way the moonlight plays on his inked skin.
“Did I wake you up? I’m sorry.”
“Dreams? You've been whimpering for a while. Was about to come in anyway to check when you screamed.”
“Yeah, it’s fine. I'll be okay.” Eventually. “Could you—Never mind.”
“What?”
What do I have to lose? “Could you stay with me? Like you did last night?”
“Sure, honey.” His voice is low and gravely from sleep, but his eyes are alert and I’m sure he can see the shivers that I can’t quite stop, no matter how hard I rub my arms to make the chills go away.
I raise the corner of the covers and he slides in next to me. “I’m being a baby about this, aren’t I?”
His face is shadowed, but I can almost feel the way his gaze slides over me, from my messy hair, to the way the neck of his borrowed shirt hangs loose, and to where my braless breasts are pushing out against the soft fabric. “There’s nothing babyish about you.”
A shiver races through me, making my spine tingle.
“You know, I know a lot of good ways of getting to sleep.”
There’s no way to misinterpret what he means. “That sounds like asking for trouble.”
“Sometimes a little trouble's fun, and I think you agree. Otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten yourself into this mess.”
“Hey!”
He tugs me down into the bed with him, wrapping a strong arm around me and pulling me in until my head is resting on his chest, rising and falling in time with his deep breaths. He's warm, and safe. Being so close lulls my own body into following the same rhythm, and I feel myself relaxing. I throw a leg over his thigh and sigh.