Page 113 of Ask Your Mom If I'm Real

After finding her still fever-free and sleeping peacefully, I went to the kitchen and started some coffee.

After using the bathroom, I grabbed a glass of coffee and headed back to the bed where I would read until someone woke up to entertain me.

I was about four chapters in, and seriously getting into the dragon riders, when the woman who had her face plastered to my hip stirred.

I looked at my watch and found it was barely six in the morning.

An early riser, like me.

She blinked open her eyes and stared at my hip for a long moment before she turned over onto her back and said, “Hey.”

She was too fucking sweet.

“Morning,” I replied. “Merry Christmas.”

She smiled a soft smile that went straight to my heart and said, “I slept through my alarms.”

“She’s fine,” I assured her. “And I turned them off. You seriously needed some sleep.”

She stretched, and my t-shirt shifted as her body bowed.

I resisted the urge to reach for her and said, “I’m honestly kind of surprised that Anleigh isn’t up yet.”

“She won’t be,” she admitted. “She sleeps late. If you let her.”

All kinds of thoughts poured through my mind at that.

The things I could do to her before her daughter woke…

She must’ve been thinking the same thing, too, because her cheeks flushed a bright red, and she glanced back down at my hip.

I ran a finger down the side of her cheek and said, “Sleep okay?”

She sat up and twisted so that her hip was to my hip, only her torso was facing me instead as she said, “I’ve slept better today than I’ve ever slept.”

That had my heart really fucking happy.

I liked that she felt safe with me.

I liked that she slept better with me.

I liked a lot of stuff right now that was on the verge of over the top.

My eyes trailed down her face, to her hair that was surprisingly still very much in place, then to her sleepy eyes and her soft lips.

“Good,” I said.

She looked deep into my eyes, and the way she was looking at me made my heart start to pound.

“What?” I asked.

“I don’t want you to think that I feel obligated in some way,” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my belly filling with nerves.

“I mean.” She scooted closer. “I’ve wanted to kiss you since I fell into your arms.”

I moved closer to her, lips tingling. “Yeah?”

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