Page 31 of Chasing Forever

Tristan spoke up. “If that’s what you need to get back to sleep, kiddo, that’s what you’ll get.”

“Are you sure?” I mouthed to him. As messy as my head was when it came to my feelings for Tristan, if this was what Levi needed to feel safe again, I’d make sure he got it. Nothing else mattered to me more than him.

Tristan nodded, then reached out and took Levi from me. He stood from the bed with my nephew wrapped around him like a koala. “We’ll crash in my room tonight. I have the biggest bed. It’ll be like a sleepover.”

I made sure Levi was tucked soundly in the very middle of Tristan’s large bed, and as I went through my nightly routine to prepare to go to sleep, I tried to look at it that way, like it was just a fun sleepover.

But my stupid heart refused to get on board.

Chapter Seventeen

Merritt

Ifelt like I was walking around in a daze as I moved from room to room at Second Hope Lodge. I cleaned the guest rooms on autopilot since there was one person occupying every inch of space in my brain. He had been for weeks now, and it had only gotten more intense since waking up this morning wrapped in his arms.

After Levi’s nightmare the night before, I thought there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to get any sleep. But with Levi pressed against me and Tristan’s soothing cloves and spice scent wrapped around me, I was out almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I couldn’t remember the last time I slept so soundly, and as scared as I was to admit it to myself, I knew why—orwho—made that possible. I knew it was because he made me feel safe, made it possible for me to let go of the fear and stress so I could rest easy for the first time in years.

I don’t know how it happened, but at some point in the night, Levi and I managed to switch places, and I ended up in the middle of the bed. When I woke up, my back was pressed into Tristan’s chest. His arm was like a steel band around my waist, and our legs were tangled together.

That was the first time I’d ever slept wrapped up so securely with someone else. Warren had claimed early on that he wasn’t much of a cuddler. I’d been disappointed for a while, wanting to feel that kind of closeness with him. However, it became a relief later on, once I discovered who and what he really was. The last few years of our marriage, I’d slept every night curled up in a tight ball at the edge of the bed, as far away from Warren as I could get. I was always on guard, even in my sleep; the slightest movement from his side of the bed had me shooting awake.

I didn’t need to do that with Tristan. It was like I knew instinctively I didn’t have anything to fear, so my body relaxed in a way it hadn’t in a very long time.

I’d spent most of my day so far replaying how I’d woken up. The way his arms tightened when I shifted, like unconsciously he didn’t want to let me go, caused my belly to clench in a needy way I hadn’t felt in far too long, and when he nuzzled into my hair and inhaled deeply, letting out a rumbly moan, I had to bite my lip to keep from whimpering.

When he murmured, “Mornin’, Dandelion,” in that raspy, sleep-rough voice, I nearly spontaneously combusted. I was so screwed, because I didn’t know how the hell I was supposed to go back to sleeping in my own bed after the most perfect night’s sleep of my life, and an even better wakeup call.

My body still reacted to the memory of it, even hours later. Every time I thought back to all those hard, warm muscles, that intoxicating scent, and that more-than-impressive morning erection that had been prodding me in the back, I became hot all over.

Like I was in that very moment.

Damn it.

I’d slipped into the daydream again, and when I blinked back into reality, I was clutching the clean sheets I’d been using to make the bed in a death grip. I needed to get my shit together. I was behaving like a hormonal teenager, not a grown woman who was supposed to have more self-control than this.

I shook off the Tristan-induced daze and got back to work. I made the bed with the sheets I’d been strangling, relieved I was able to stretch out the wrinkles that had formed from my fists, and moved on to dusting. I had just started on the bathroom when I heard voices coming from outside the room I was in.

“I didn’t need you to tag along to keep an eye on me. You do realize I’m a grown-ass woman, right?”

“Who said anything about keeping an eye on you?” another woman asked. “Maybe I wanted to meet her too. Ever consider that?”

Meet who? I thought. The conversation happening in the hallway outside the room was more than a little intriguing.

“Please,” the first voice scoffed, and I imagined the woman was rolling her eyes. “I don’t buy it. You’re here to play babysitter.”

The second woman blew out a raspberry. “Len, you know I love your personal brand of sass, but you also know you can come on a little strong sometimes.”

Woman Number One—Len?—made an affronted sound. “I donotcome on a little strong. I’m just... unexpected.”

“You’re great. Honestly. And you know I love you. But the longer we stand out here arguing about this, the weirder the situation is going to seem.”

My curiosity got the best of me then, and I moved through the room, popping my head through the open doorway. “Um... hi.”

They both let out startled yelps and whipped around to face me.

“Oh my God,” the one on the left said. She was the owner of the second voice, a stunning woman with highlighted brown hair and lighter brown eyes. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she said, “We’re so sorry. We thought you were in that room over there.” She pointed to the room beside the one I was currently working in. The housekeeping cart I was using was parked between the two rooms, and I’d propped both doors open for easy access, so it was an understandable mistake.

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