Page 74 of Hold the Line

For once, I woke before my alarm, and as soon as I opened my eyes, I knew why. Sound asleep beside me was my gorgeous boyfriend. Flat on his back, one arm slung over his forehead, the other stretched over my side of the bed, his hand splayed on my hip. From the looks of the smooth blankets atop him, he’d barely moved all night.

Joy bubbled up from my belly, and I had to bite down on my lip to stop myself from laughing. I couldn’t remember ever smiling this big before ten a.m. In fact, I could almost guarantee I hadn’t. Me and morningsreallydidn’t mix.

Last night was…well, the best of my life. It didn’t matter that Deacon was inexperienced. Our connection was so deep it would have been good no matter what. But it was so much more than orgasms and pleasure—and there had been a lot of that.

It felt like the beginning of something huge, like the embarkation of a journey that would change everything. And I adored that he hadn’t hidden how special it had been for him too.“Perfect,”I’d said, and he’d agreed. The truth was, there weren’t words to describe what being with Deacon had been like, so perfect would have to do.

I wished I could have stayed in bed all day, and I was even more loath to disturb Deacon, but life was life, and we both had to get a move on.

“Deacon,” I called, stroking the back of his hand. “It’s time to wake up, honey.”

His entire body jerked at once, knifing upright. Head swiveling, he looked around the room with wild, bleary eyes. Fists at his sides, his chest heaved as he sucked in great gusts of air.

“Deacon.” I sat up but kept space between us, sensing he needed it. “You’re in my room. You slept here all night.”

He twisted to face me, and the pillow crease on his cheek would have been sweet if he didn’t seem so panicked.

“What time is it?” he rasped.

“Early. Just past five.”

He blinked hard and scrubbed his face with his hand. “I slept for six hours straight? How the hell…I didn’t wake up once. I’ve never…Phoebe, Ineversleep like that.”

It broke my heart to see him so confused about getting good sleep—a basic human need. It made me wonder what his nights were normally like and how he managed a labor-intensive job on broken sleep.

I put my hand on his rigid shoulder. “A lot went down last night.”

“Yeah, it did, and you were right there with me.” He sighed, opening his arms, and I crawled right into them, curling into his chest. He wrapped me up, burying his nose in my hair. “I slept, sugar. How’d that happen?”

“I hope that means you feel safe with me.”

“I do. There’s no doubt about that.” He pulled back, his brow furrowing. “I can’t guarantee it’ll happen like that again.”

“We’ll take it as it comes. I’m not going to worry about it.” I pressed my palm to his scruffy cheek. “Though I do like waking up to you. I’m not a morning person, but today, I’m wide awake and almost cheerful.”

His chuckle was scratchy and low. “Almost?”

“Almost.” I nuzzled into his neck, letting my eyes fall closed. “I really hate mornings.”

“How in the hell did you become a baker, baby?”

“That’s one of the mysteries of the universe.” I smiled against his warm, smooth skin. “Do we have to get up?”

“We do,” he agreed, making no move to let me go. He trailed his fingers along my nightie, toying with the thin straps on my shoulders. “You really wear this kind of thing every night?”

“I suppose you’ll have to come back tonight and see for yourself.”

“As much as I like you in this, I was always gonna come back. Doesn’t matter what you have on.” He dropped his hand to give my butt a firm pat. “Now we have our day planned out—get up, or we’ll both be late.”

Hailey showed up right on time for her shift that afternoon. She barely looked at me as she zoomed in, heading straight for the back to drop her stuff.

Camille raised her eyebrows. “What was that about?”

I lifted a shoulder. “Teenage things, I’m sure. Mind if I go have a chat with her?”

She glanced around at the quiet shop. Charlie was pecking away at his laptop, but the rest of the tables were empty for now. “Sure. I’ll give you a holler if we get a rush.”

Wiping my hands on my apron, I headed into the kitchen, finding Hailey by my desk, riffling through her backpack. At the sound of my approach, her head shot up, and her eyes rounded.

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