Page 58 of Gifts

“Good luck.”

I finish flipping out the lights and make sure her doors are locked before I glance at her couch where she laid out a pillow and blanket for me.

I don’t give it a second thought and turn for her stairs. Taking them two at a time, I check on Emma to make sure she’s asleep before heading straight for Keelie’s room.

She’s rolled and is lying on her stitched-up shoulder. I reach over my head and rip off my long sleeve tee before taking off my socks and jeans. Walking around to the other side of her bed, I pull the covers out from under her and climb in.

When I roll her to me, her eyes blink open in the dark and she squints, taking in my bare chest.

“Don’t worry,” I assure her. “I’m not sneaking into your bed naked, but I am sneaking in.”

“You can’t be in here.” Her voice is husky with sleep and she tries to push up onto her elbow to reason with me. “The kids.”

“I’ll wake up early and leave,” I promise, pulling her to me so she’s lying on her good shoulder.

She shakes her head. “But I’m not used to sleeping with anyone.”

I settle us in her bed with my thigh between her legs. Despite her words, her actions don’t tell me to get the fuck out. By sliding her leg up the outside of my thigh, she’s inviting me to stay.

“I’m not either,” I mutter.

Burrowing her face into her soft pillow next to me, she runs her hands down my chest. “But I won’t be able to sleep.”

I dip my hand up the back of my shirt she’s wearing and feel bare skin. I tuck my hand into the top her panties again and enjoy her ass under my palm. “Then we’ll stay awake together.”

She yawns into my neck. “You need to go to the sofa.”

I put my lips to her forehead and whisper, “Okay.”

She presses into me. “Okay.”

I say nothing and long moments pass when she mumbles against my skin, “I don’t like crying.”

I start to stroke her back again and don’t miss a beat. “I don’t like you crying, either.”

She groans. “Stop it with the right answers. I can’t take it anymore.”

“Maybe you should stop it with the talking and go to sleep then,” I offer.

Her body slumps into mine, another contradiction of her words. “I can’t sleep like this. I’ll get hot and sweaty.”

I put my lips to her ear. “If you think that, then you don’t know hot and sweaty. I’ll show it to you another night, preferably when you haven’t been shot at and just gotten stitches. I’ll give hot and sweaty a new meaning.”

She tips her head back, looks into my eyes, and I feel my name across my own face in her breath. “Asa.”

I lean in to kiss her before saying, “Feels fucking good to kiss you somewhere besides your pantry.”

And for the first time since she left me at the high school this afternoon, those perfect pink lips spread into the smallest of smiles.

It might be small, but I’ll take it.

“Been a long day, baby. Go to sleep.”

Without a word, she exhales and settles.

She might not know it, but I’m not moving to the couch. It’ll be tricky with four kids around, but I’m in her bed.

No fucking way am I leaving now.

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