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This was as close as I’d ever get to her, and I was reluctant to pull away.

“Want to watch a movie?” she suggested, finally inching back, untwining her arms, and floating over to my living room couch as I remained idle in the center of the kitchen.

“Yeah,” I choked out, carving a hand through my hair. “All right.”

Popping in a tape, I settled beside her on the couch, leaving a gap for Ladybug to jump between us, which lessened the urge for me to scoop her into my arms and soothe her to sleep with the stroke of my hand and the beats of my heart.

She watched the movie.

I watched her.

Something startled me awake.

Glancing at the clock beside my bed, I rubbed the heels of my palms over my eyes and tried to unblur my vision as the muddled numbers came into view.

2:15.

I sighed, blinking up at the shadowy ceiling. A few drowsy seconds ticked by when I heard a noise coming from the living room. I sat up. There was a light on, and I knew I’d turned it off before hauling myself to bed three hours ago.

As my senses flickered back to life, I could also make out the telltale sounds of music seeping underneath the door, something up-tempo and far too lively to be playing at two in the morning.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, mussed both hands through my hair, and stood from the mattress. Adorned in only my sleep pants, I padded across the room and glanced down the hallway after cracking the door open.

Halley was exercising on my blue mat, wearing just a T-shirt and doing push-ups, her long hair curtaining the flush on her cheeks.

What the hell?

Frown secured, I made my way down the hall until my bare feet entered her line of sight and she halted mid-thrust.

She collapsed to her stomach, then inched up on her knees, a line of sweat curling the baby hairs that rimmed her forehead. “Shit. I woke you.”

“Yeah,” I admitted.

“Sorry. I couldn’t sleep.”

My frowned deepened as I folded my arms across my chest. “Do you always take to cardio when you can’t sleep?”

Licking a dot of sweat off her upper lip, she exhaled a winded breath. “No. I share a room with Tara, so I usually do it the old-fashioned way and stare blankly at the ceiling until sunrise.”

“Mm.” I took a small step forward, still staring down at her. “Want to train?”

Her eyes rounded at the offer. “Really?”

“We’re both awake now.”

“It’s late,” she said softly. “Or…early. I don’t even know.”

“It’s after two a.m. But time is time, and if we’re not sleeping, we might as well fill it with something productive.”

She settled into my reply like she was making herself comfortable in the breadth of each word. A flicker of consent tilted her head up farther as she faced me on the mat, her fingers curling into the blue textile laid out between my kitchen and living room, and my toes a step away from the edge.

“Okay, sure.” She swiped some hair from her eyes. “I’ll try to go easy on you since you’re all groggy and sleepy-eyed.”

I feigned offense with a stony glare, but the declaration only heightened my buzz.

Sparring with her was almost as good as sex.

Pulse-stirring, rousing, and borderline erotic.

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