A knock on my door startled me.
I was on my feet in a second, flicking on a lamp. I yanked the pajama pants from my bag and stepped into them; like I’d told Summer, I didn’t sleep in jammies, but I always brought them when I was on duty overnight, just in case.
I crossed the room, and I heard the soft knock again. Then a voice: “Ronan?”
Summer.
I opened the door after a quick look through the peephole. Summer stood in the hall, alone, hugging herself and looking up at me. She was wearing one of those silk robes of hers and hotel slippers.
“Summer.” I reached for her, catching her arm and tugging her into my room. “You shouldn’t be out of your room without me.” I leaned past her, checking both ways into the silent, empty hall. Then I nudged her deeper into my room and shut the door. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” She was still hugging herself, and I could feel her unease. It prickled through me, setting off that twitch at the back of my neck. “I just… didn’t want to be alone.”
I stared at her. Her dark hair was loose, in thick waves around her face. She’d washed off all her makeup, and her naked lips looked soft. Her eyebrows pinched together, and she looked so tense, so… shaken… It unhinged me.
I fucking hated it.
I wanted to take her in my arms, but I just stood there.
“Actually…” she breathed, “I can’t fucking stand being alone right now.”
I found my voice. “Well, next time text me or call me, and I’ll come to you.”
“Okay.”
My heart twitched, like it was struggling to remember how to function, as we stood looking at each other. The spike of adrenaline, and yes, fear, when I heard her voice in the hall, was subsiding, replaced with a different discomfort.
I ran my hand through my hair and wondered how disheveled I looked.
“Shit, it’s been a bad night,” she said softly.
“Yeah.”
She gazed into my eyes, looking strong, like she always did, but also… scared. Unsure. “Can I stay here? With you?”
“Uh… yeah. Okay.”
Wrong answer.
But what was I supposed to say? No?
No, you can’t stay here with me. It’s inappropriate.
Go back to your room, scared and alone.
I put my hand out, directing her over to the little sitting area across from the bed. She took a few steps in that direction, then stopped in the middle of the room. She looked around.
She looked at the bed.
Then she turned to me, gazing up at me with her pale-blue eyes.
“I’m really tired. I haven’t been able to sleep at all. I just want to sleep, but I can’t.”
I just listened, staring at her.
“Can I sleep with you?”
I swallowed the sudden, jagged lump in my throat.
Summer laughed a little, under her breath, and groaned. “That sounded pathetic. I’m not hitting on you, I promise. I just… need to not be alone tonight.” Her eyes held mine. Hopeful.
Trusting.
Afraid.
I couldn’t find words. Heat rushed to my cock when she gave me that look, even as I told myself this wasn’t about that.
My cock didn’t seem to believe me.
“I’ll be good, I promise,” she said softly.
“Uh… yeah.” But I didn’t move. I just stood there, unable to move.
Fuck. I’d never been so lost for the right words in my life.
“I’m just… ruffled,” she said. “I’m sorry. This is weird.”
“No,” I said. “It’s fine. Come here.”
I touched her elbow, lightly, my fingers just brushing her robe. I nudged her over to the bed, averting my eyes from her body. I tried not to look at her at all as I peeled back the covers to let her in. “Uh, ladies first.”
“Okay.” She slipped off her robe and I definitely didn’t look. But I saw what she was wearing out of the corner of my eye. A little stretchy black nightgown thing, short, hugging her curves.
She climbed into the bed, and I definitely looked as she crawled across to the other side.
That ass.
Christ, she was sexy. I had this blinding vision of sliding my hands up her hips, under that short black thing, and tugging her toward my dick.
And ramming it into her while she cried out for more.
Nope. Reel it in.
I turned off the lamp. My cock was straining against my thin pajama pants, and I didn’t need her to see that. I got in next to her and drew the covers up over both us.
She cuddled in close to me, but not touching.
She let out a breath, and I could feel her relax, softening into the bed next to me. And the fact that she felt safe with me… safe enough to sleep next to me? Shit, it made me feel good.
It was almost like I had a heart after all.
I settled back onto my pillow, stiffly. My whole system was going fucking haywire, overly aware of her presence beside me. I could smell her, hear her breathing softly, and all my instincts were confused. My body was slamming with adrenaline again. Arousal.
But my mind was calm. Finally calm, for the first time all night.
I couldn’t think of anything but Summer lying next to me.
“Do you mind if I put my arm around you?” she asked softly.
“No.” I cleared my throat a little. “I don’t mind.”
Why I said that, I’d never fucking know.
Yes. Yes, I minded.
She reached over, drifting a soft hand over my stomach beneath the covers, and I tensed. It barely grazed me, that touch, and my skin broke out in goosebumps. My cock, which was already throbbing with blind hope that it was about to get action, hardened.
She draped her arm over me, pressing her cheek to my bare shoulder.
I held still. I could feel her soft hair all down my arm.
Jesus, she smelled good. Her soft skin, a hint of her soft perfume.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
I lay my hand gently on her arm against my stomach, basically to hold it still, so she didn’t stir in her sleep
