Page 56 of Entranced By the Basilisks

Jasper’s golden eyes glint from the bedside lamp and something about them calms the terror tightening my throat.

“Sorry I bothered you,” I say. The awkwardness finally seeps through my consciousness. My boss-slash-not-boss is sitting on my bed, checking on me.

“You didn’t bother me. I probably shouldn’t have stormed in here, but the sounds you were making—” Jasper breaks off, a pained look on his face. “I was worried.”

“My hero,” I whisper, half teasing and half-serious. I enjoy the way a blush spreads across his cheeks.

“I should let you get back to sleep,” he says, and I react too fast to think it through, catching his T-shirt to stop him from leaving.

“Can you stay?” Why did I ask that? Maybe it’s the way my body seems to relax around him. Maybe it’s the earnest way he’s here, so concerned about my well-being.

Or maybe it’s because I like him. He chases away the bad feelings dwelling in my heart.

Jasper stills at the question and now my cheeks are burning.

“Just till I fall asleep?” I ask as if I’m not a grown woman capable of turning someone to stone.

“I’ll stay.”

The relief is instant.

I scoot over and lift the covers. Jasper pauses as if trying to sense a trap and I rethink everything.We’re interested in each other right? We just agreed to start dating. We can totally lie side by side in a bed without it being weird… right?

This was silly of me. Dating starts with something more removed than sleeping in the same bed, something like a conversation.

I open my mouth to tell him he can leave if he wants—I don’t want him to be uncomfortable—but Jasper moves as if he’s made up his mind, sliding under the covers with me.

It’s awkward at first, both of us lying on our backs side by side, but my breath slows, and each blink gets longer.

“Good night, Emilia.”

“Good night,” I murmur.

* * *

I blink awake.The room is bright with morning light and I’m sprawled on my side with warmth at my back. I make a drowsy sound but freeze at the sensation of a heavy weight around my waist, a man’s arm.

Everything comes back quickly. The nightmares, Jasper waking me, him agreeing to stay until I fall asleep, and the conversation with him and Ari about trying out dating as a triad.

Oh my god, I’m cuddling with the director.

There’s a sound and my eyes snap up. Ari leans against the doorjamb with a knowing smile on his face and a mug in hand.

I go to move, and Jasper makes a sound of dismay in his sleep that makes me want to stay cuddled up to him. Ari’s eyes soften.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Ari croons.

Jasper jolts awake, but his move to release me is slow. So slow, in fact, that Ari’s eyes watch the drag of Jasper’s hand over my middle. It’s almost a caress.

“It’s not what it looks like,” I say, my neck heating.

“What it looks like is the best sort of cuddle pile and I haven’t been invited,” Ari says disparagingly.

“That’s what it is,” Jasper says before yawning. Upon waking, he lacks all his off-putting sharp edges. “I didn’t mean to get that close, my apologies.”

Ari shrugs as if he has apologized to him. “We’re still serpents of a sort. It’s hard to keep away from a heat source, especially one as lovely as you.”

Jasper rolls his eyes. “Yes, that. I’m still sorry for violating your space, Emilia. That’s not what you asked for last night.”

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