Page 31 of Whispers and Wishes (Untouchable 4)

It was a dream. I knew it was a dream. Why the fuck couldn’t I wake up?

“Shh…” The soft hush of sound whispered against my ear. An arm tightened around me, and Coop’s familiar voice penetrated the endless walls.

Then Jake’s voice joined him. “Shh, we’ve got you. You’re safe.”

Relief swam up as I cracked an eyelid open. The light was on in the hall, enough for me to see Jake sitting on the bed in front of me. He was mostly dressed. With care, he brushed the hair away from my face.

“You got her?” It took me a minute to register he wasn’t talking to me.

“Yeah,” Coop said around a half-yawn. “I got her. Go do your sickeningly healthy thing.”

A soft chuckle drifted over me as my eyelids fought to lower, but I didn’t want to go back to sleep yet. Coop’s arm was warm around me with his chest pressed firmly against my back. I was lying on my left side, and there was a pillow propping up my right arm. It had been on Jake, I thought.

Maybe.

“Hey, Baby Girl,” Jake tipped his head to the side as he found my gaze with his. “Go back to sleep. It’s still early.”

“Where are you going?” It was the weekend. Why were they up early?

With a long sigh, he said, “Arch, Bubba, and I are going running.”

“Why?” The disgust must have reflected in my tone, because there were more soft huffs of laughter.

“Because they’re getting lazy,” Archie murmured. “And I haven’t gone running all week. Coop’s here, and we’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

“With donuts,” Ian tacked on.

Two hours?

I made a face. No way in hell was I leaving my warm, comfortable bed to go running, much less for two hours.

“Want to go?” Jake asked, amusement curling his lips.

“No.” I wiggled back against Coop, and he groaned into my neck. Oh. The thick erection nudging my ass had me curling my toes. Yeah, I’d stop wiggling.

“Go back to sleep, Baby Girl.” Jake chuckled, then pressed a kiss to my forehead. He rose, and then Archie was there. He had his Bluetooth earphones around his neck and his phone tucked into a Velcro armband.

Oh, he was wearing shorts and a tank just like Jake. They were gonna get hot and sweaty when they ran. I might need to get up before they got back. He brushed his lips against my forehead, and I caught a whiff of peppermint toothpaste. “See you in a little while, babe.”

I smothered another yawn, then blinked because Ian had taken Archie’s place, and he brushed the hair back from my face. “Sleep well, Angel.” He shouldn’t be calling me that.

His kiss was far briefer as he grazed his lips against my cheek, but there and gone as he straightened. And all chance of going back to sleep vanished as he left the room with the guys. I could hear the cats following them, meowing. They’d gotten used to the guys being there, too.

The crinkling of a can being opened drifted back up the hall, and Coop chuckled against my hair as he flattened his hand over my stomach. “They are so pussy whipped.”

The minute the words registered, laughter swelled through me and I cracked up. He shook with laughter.

“I heard that,” Jake yelled, and the laughter bubbled up through me faster.

“Don’t hear you denying it,” Coop answered in the same tone.

“You can’t see me, but I’m flipping you off.”

Coop’s laughter deepened, and my chest ached from the out of control giggles.

“Be good,” Archie added. “Frankie’s pussy is all taken care of.”

I sucked in a breath, then lost it laughing all over again. Masculine laughter chased Archie’s words, even as Coop clutched me to him still chuckling. The back door closed, but it did nothing to quiet our humor. Wiggling, I rolled onto my back and met Coop’s gaze. The guys had shut off the light in the hall, but it wasn’t really dark. We must be close to dawn. Coop touched my nose with a finger. The laughter surged up again, and he caught my splinted arm carefully as he hugged me.

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