Page 29 of A Christmas Mystery

Six

ISLEEP UNTIL 3:48the next morning.

Even then, as soon as I open my eyes, I feel like I could use a few more hours. I’m comfortable and cozy, warmer than usual and with an odd sense of pleasure in my chest and belly. It’s a safe feeling. Intimate.

It’s not until I lift my head and really focus around me that I realize why.

I’m still on the couch at Theo’s apartment. He’s still asleep, pressed up beside me and with his arms wrapped around my body. He feels big and warm and solid and as hot as a radiator. His breathing is slow and steady, and his heart is beating beneath my ear.

And I love it.

All of it.

I feel secure. Protected. Cared for. Treasured.

It’s no doubt a drastic misreading of the accidental situation. Despite his grumpy ways, Theo could simply be a snuggler by nature and I was a convenient body. There’s never been anything romantic or intimate between us. Until this weekend, there’s never been anything even remotely friendly.

So no matter how it feels to wake up with him holding me like this, I would be the biggest fool in the world to assume it means more.

Besides, it can’t mean more.

This is Theo. Chris’s best friend.

And that’s an emotional ick that’s impossible to overcome.

I sit up abruptly, pulling out of his arms when he instinctively tightens them. He makes a few mumbly sounds that sound disapproving.

“Too early,” he says when I continue withdrawing from his embrace.

Finally I’m sitting up on the foot of the couch, hunched over and hugging my arms to my chest because I’m suddenly cold and shaky. It was so warm cuddled up with him.

But now it’s not.

“I know,” I manage to say. “Sorry. I need to get back home.”

It takes a minute, but awareness finally penetrates the fog of sleep. He pushes himself upright and drops his legs over the edge of the couch like I did.

His hair is a mess, rumpled from sleep with pieces sticking out in all directions. He’s got stubble all over his jaw and neck, the same brownish red as his hair. His eyelids are heavy, but his vivid blue eyes are sharp. Intelligent.

“You okay?” he asks, giving me a quick, sidelong glance.

“Yeah. Just kind of out of it. I didn’t mean to sleep for so long.”

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