Page 8 of Mistletoe Mischief

In her half-awake state, she knew this would lead to issues later, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. As his warmth and protection seeped into her, some of the never-ending tension of always being on guard—and lonely—drifted away.

* * *

Roger woke warm and content, and surprisingly free of anxiety. There was a heavy weight across his chest. Blinking awake, he tilted his head to look down.

A curly mop of black hair tickled his nose, and a long, sleek arm draped across his chest.

Cassandra.

His good arm cradled her against his chest and his fingers rested against the soft skin of her neck. Oh, hell. What had they done?

As he became more aware, he realized they hadn’t done anything. He still wore his jeans and shirt. Although he thought he felt a soft hand beneath the edge of the shirt.

He let his fingers play over the soft skin of her neck. They’d laid like this for a long time, he could tell. His hips were sore from not moving and his right arm was itchy from wearing the prosthetic all night.

The discomfort was minor, though, considering he’d slept for the past several hours. Once she’d pulled him into the bed with her, they’d both fallen asleep quickly.

That was very strange for him. He worked the graveyard shift at Lost and Found, so when he did get time off, he tried to stay up through the night then sleep during the day, just like his regular schedule. Last night had been an aberration, though, for several reasons.

In his wildest imaginings, he never would have expected to fall asleep on her couch.

Then when the demons had come, she’d roused him. Her brother had dealt with similar issues, so she’d known what to do.

Taking him to bed and wrapping him in her arms had probably not been her original plan.

Cassandra shifted, her left hand gliding over the skin of his stomach. Roger tensed, wondering if there was a way to get out of the situation without embarrassing them both.

As soon as he’d realized who he cuddled in his arms, his body had gotten interested. And now, with her fingers playing against the sensitive skin of his abs, he was becoming more interested.

He shifted a tiny bit to let her know he was awake.

“Don’t leave yet. I just want to lie here and enjoy this,” she murmured.

“I’m fine with that. I just wanted to be sure you were awake.”

“I am.”

He wiggled a little, shifting positions with his hips. Not to draw attention to them, but to ease some of the tiredness.

She sighed and began to ease away, but he tightened his arm around her. “Don’t move. I just had to shift my hips a bit. I don’t think we’ve moved all night.”

She eased back down against him, nodding slightly against his chest. “My body is aching too, but I hate to move. This has been so perfect. We both slept forhourswithout any dreams.”

For another few minutes they just lay there, watching the light brighten outside her apartment window. He could still see snow falling outside the gauzy curtains.

“What do you dream about, Cassandra?”

“My brother,” she said immediately. “We did everything together, because our mother was usually gone. We relied on each other for everything. Even when they put us in the home after our mother died, we would sneak out of the segregated dorms to be with each other. When I turned eighteen and was graduated out of the home, it was the loneliest I’ve ever been in my life. I made some bad decisions and met some very bad men.”

Roger didn’t know if he wanted details or not. “There are a lot of them out there. I will say that. And to a young girl with no direction…”

“Yes,” she sighed. “I was on a very bad path until I realized I needed to be ready for Andre when he got out of the home. I needed to be the rock for him that I hadn’t had. That made me start thinking, planning. Within a couple weeks I had started a job and was looking for an apartment. About six months after that I petitioned the state to be Andre’s guardian. It took months, but they approved me and when he was almost sixteen Andre came to live with me. It was one of the most joyous times I can ever remember, us being together again. We didn’t have a lot of furniture or anything at first, so we would camp out on the floor.”

“I’m glad you had that time with him.”

She nodded against him. “Me too,” she whispered.

Neither moved, as if they knew the tenuous wisps of dreams lost would fade away.

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