Page 46 of Liars

Regardless of the annoying movement, I didn’t want to wake up and snuggled deeper into the soft support underneath me.

The bed was so warm and smelled so good like the ocean and the woods had collided, where the salty breeze mingled with lush greenery cedar, a scent I found so damn comforting.

A throat cleared. “Kaylor,” someone with a familiar voice coaxed.

God, why does he have to invade my dreams? Isn’t it enough that I think about him when I’m awake?

“Wake up, little raven.”

Kreed.

The shaking happened again, but I was slightly more aware of my entire body being jostled.

What the hell?

“Kreed,” I whispered, his name breathy and nearly silent on my lips.

“What did I tell you would happen if you said my name like that?”

I was suddenly wide-awake, my eyes flying open, half afraid he might kiss me. As my vision focused, I realized the “earthquake” wasn’t the couch at all—it was Kreed.

He sat underneath me, his arms wrapped around my waist as I lay draped awkwardly across his lap. His hand rested on my back, his fingers tapping absently against the fabric of my shirt as if trying to calm me—or himself.

Why am I in his lap? Why is he holding me?

Is that…?

No, that can’t be what I think it is, pressing against my ass.

Holy. Shit. He’s hard. Like really hard.

“What—” My voice cracked, and I pushed against his chest to sit up. “What the hell are you doing?”

He groaned as my backside unintentionally rubbed against him. “You were crying in your sleep,” he said gruffly.

I stared at him. I should definitely get off his lap.Right?Yet I didn’t move.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

It was difficult to get a coherent thought into my brain. “And you thought it would be a good idea to pull me into your lap?”

He wore gray sweats that left nothing to the imagination and a white T-shirt. “Don’t flatter yourself, little raven. That was all you.Youcrawled into my lap. I just stopped you from falling on your ass.Again.”

I frowned, swiping at my wet cheeks, confused to find tears streaking my face. I’d been crying in my sleep, another recent development from trauma. The realization that he’d seen me like that, vulnerable and broken, was almost worse than the nightmares themselves. It made me beyond bitchy. “Why are you always fishing for gratitude?”

Kreed raised an eyebrow, his expression unrepenting. “Is being the damsel in distress your style? How do I know the whole thing wasn’t a bit? Who cries in their sleep? Maybe you were trying to get close to me. You wouldn’t be the first girl to try something so low.”

I blinked, unable to believe the number of insults he dished out at me in one go. I didn’t even know which to address first. But if I was going to think clearly, I needed space.

A lot of it.

Like I needed to be in a completely different room where his scent couldn’t assault my common sense.

I scrambled off him, sinking into the rumpled couch. “You caught me,” I shot back, my hands going up in the air like I was a criminal under arrest. “I planned this whole elaborate scheme just so I could wind up on top of you with your dick poking me.” My voice dripped with sarcasm.

Kreed lifted his brows. “Poking?”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, it was.”

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