Page 103 of Even Vampires Bleed
I feel a bit like a sadist in this instant.
He doesn’t scream, but after that little jump, his body stays frozen.
So, I press again. I do it with my thumb this time and make his muscle roll under my finger.
He groans.
“Are you going to bolt away this time?” I ask him as I keep massaging the back of his neck.
He doesn’t answer, completely lost to the press of my finger on his skin.
I stop.
Now I have his attention.
“Don’t lie to me,” I tell him as I force his face in my direction. “Are you in pain?”
I see a multitude of emotions on his face before he groans.
“I’m not sleeping in the bed with you, firefly.”
“Don’t say it like that. I don’t bite,” I say to him before realizing what I just said.
Léandre looks at me with a knowing smile.
“Are you sure?” he asks in a teasing tone that seems to awaken my body.
No, no, no, traitorous body. Calm down. Nothing is happening. We’re not drinking from the handsome bird.
“It’s an expression and you know it,” I grumble to myself before perking up. “We can just throw pillows between the two of us. It’ll be like sleeping in two single beds next to each other and we won’t risk touching each other during the night.”
He doesn’t seem convinced by my speech.
“I’ll turn my back to you, and I won’t move. You won’t even know I’m here,” I add.
I’m not sure this last part is true, though. Because with how tangled in my sheets these past few days were when I woke up—and the state I was in—I doubt I would stay right where I fell asleep over the night.
But I won’t tell him that.
Because I don’t plan to stay in that bed.
I plan to let him fall asleep in the bed—because he definitely needs it—and when he’s sound asleep, I’ll sneak out and sleep on the couch myself.
It can’t be that hard. And I’m much smaller than he is. I won’t have to bend as much as he needs to.
Yeah, I’m giving him the bed, but since he’s so stubborn, I need to be sneaky.
If it were anyone else, I might not have done that, but it’s Léandre. In the middle of the night, while half asleep, I might get confused, thinking he’s my Léandre, and make my latest dreams come true.
And I’d wake up to a horrified Léandre.
I can’t have that.
So, I have a plan. I’ll let him fall asleep and sneak out—period.
It’s foolproof, right?
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