He stared down at me with blazing blue eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked. His voice was husky, making me shiver with delight.
"Something's beeping."
"Fuck!"
Before I could blink he was vaulting out of the bed and grabbing for his glasses. Sitting up, I watched as he rushed across the room and started tapping at his laptop. Honestly, I was surprised he didn't bring it to bed with him. I wouldn't have been shocked to see him cuddling it. He was that attached.
I pulled the covers up to my neck, hiding my stiff nipples. Between the dreams I'd been having and then waking up with him wrapped around me, I was more than a little excited. My thin shirt I slept in wasn't going to be able to hide much from him.
He was bent over the desk, giving me a good view of his cute ass in his boxer briefs. He'd gone to bed in a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt, but both were long gone. Had he taken them off in the middle of the night? He shoved his glasses up on his nose while he mumbled something at the screen. The beeping cut off and I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Everything okay?" I asked, keeping my voice low so I didn't wake the other two next door. The last thing I needed was the three of them half naked, in my room, in the middle of the night. It was a little too reminiscent of the dream I'd just been having.
"Fine. Someone tripped the alarm."
Fear skittered down my spine. "What?"
He looked over his shoulder at me. Something in my tone must have alerted him to my dismay. "Don't worry. It was an accident. I'll have to set it a bit closer to the door next time. Without having a porch, people end up leaning against walls of random houses all the time." His smile was encouraging as he tried to console me. "Not like back home at all."
His explanation was calm and soothing, so my heart started to slow. Something about the idea of being attacked in the middle of the night when we were so vulnerable just set me on edge. It hadn't occurred to me before, but really that was the optimal time for the Raleka to come for me. There wouldn't be as many people to see me being taken. No one around to hear me scream. What was it about the dark that just amplified fears?
Weaver tapped a few more buttons, then came back and climbed into bed. Neither of us was mentioning the fact that I'd woken up in his arms. He was staying on his side and being respectful, only…that wasn't what I wanted right now.
My skin was like ice from the fear and I was still nervous despite my sleepiness. It was going to be a long, sleepless night. Unless… "Weaver?"
"Hmmm?"
"Would you hold me?" My voice was small and I braced myself for rejection. He didn't seem like the kind of man who liked to be touched. I laid there in the silence, holding my breath, until he answered.
"Roll over."
I obeyed and let out a sigh of relief when his arm fell over my hips. Scooting back against his body, I let out a little hum of delight at how warm he was.
"Jesus. How are you this cold? It's like ninety degrees in here." That explained where his pajamas had gone.
Smiling, and not answering, I pressed my feet back onto his shins. I laughed when he hissed out a breath and muttered something about blocks of ice. Warming in his arms, I closed my eyes and fell back to sleep.
CHAPTER 14
Suave
Leaning against the doorway, I watched Cat and Weaver sleeping. Her face was buried in his chest, one of her shapely legs threaded between his, and his arm was holding her close. Shaking my head, I had to admire Cat's ability to get damn near anyone to open up to her. It was what made her such a good journalist.
A few years ago there'd been a woman who'd been interested in being ours. After a couple months, she'd told me and Brando that she was willing to belong to us, but Weaver was out. They weren't meshing well together. I'd told Brando I wasn't interested in anything long-term with her. Only part of that reason was Weaver. The other half was resting in his arms. At the time, I'd left Cat out of the explanation.
It wasn't easy for Weaver to get close to people. He only had a few friends from our academy days, and other than that Brando and I were it. We were his family. The poor kid had grown up in the foster system, being bounced from house to house. I imagined that was the reason he kept to himself so much.
At the academy we'd met a woman who'd clicked with Weaver right away. We were still friends with Zinnia to this day. There was a time where I thought she had a thing for him, but she'd just claimed to love him, and me, like brothers. Now our friendship was exactly like that of siblings. She was happily together with her men and having babies and we were glad she'd found such good guys to take care of her.
More and more the urge to settle down with a woman and have babies with her was growing inside of me. I'd done more than my share of partying. Drinking and fucking used to be my go to whenever I wasn't on a mission. The others never knew that they were my coping mechanism for making the biggest mistake of my life.
The booze wasn't chasing away the regret anymore, and waking up and remembering the random women only compounded the guilt and remorse. Something had to change.
"That going to be a problem for you?" Brando asked as he passed by, heading for the weapons room.
"Nope," I told him, meeting his stare and holding it.
He gave me a considering look before he nodded and continued on.