Page 31 of Finally Loved

Even asleep, it penetrated Neve’s dreams and she moved restlessly.

Taking the moment of freedom, Alba pulled her arm back. They were sharing a bed, and not an especially large one, so being close together was inevitable, but Neve waking up to findAlba wrapped around her would probably be more than she was looking for, more than she would be comfortable with.

Alba’s arm was so warm from Neve’s body heat. It set something aching inside of her.

She enjoyed dating, and had done plenty of it, but it never went anywhere. A few weeks, a couple of months, nothing serious. She’d liked them all plenty, but there was always something missing. Neve’s body heat against her arm felt like it filled the gaping hole in all of her relationships. A physical intimacy that was unlike the kind she’d shared with other people.

Neve stirred before Alba could get too deep in her feelings. She was kind of grateful. Never a fun time to be had getting lost in feelings she had no time or space to be dealing with.

It was still too early, really, for either of them to be awake. Totally fine by most people’s standards—a little late even, but they’d only been asleep a few hours.

Neve rolled over, bringing their faces close together, and blinked her eyes open. She gasped, jumping away faster than Alba could consciously think to react, but her arm shot out instinctively, wrapping around Neve again to prevent her from falling out of the bed.

“Sorry,” Neve said, blushing furiously. “I just… forgot you were here, I guess.”

Alba laughed at her wince. “Nothing I love more than hearing how forgettable I am.”

She buried her face in her pillow. “I didn’t mean that.”

“I know. I’m just being difficult.”

Neve groaned, peeking back up at Alba.

“Good morning,” Alba said with a radiant grin.

“Good morning.”

She watched Neve’s eyes flick from her face to her arm, tracing it to the place where it disappeared around Neve’s back.The risk of falling had passed. The customary thing would have been to let Neve go once the risk had disappeared.

Alba laughed, pulling her arm back as if the movement hadn’t been delayed. “I guess we’re addingfalling out of bedto that list of places I might lose you.”

Neve bit her lip. “I, um, haven’t fallen out of bed for a long time.”

“But youhavefallen out of bed.”

“Uh. Yeah. Multiple times, actually.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” she mumbled. “I used to have a real problem with it. Apparently, younger me had no concept of where the bed began or ended when I was asleep.”

“Did your parents have to put pool noodles in your bed to keep you in it?”

A pained noise sounded in her throat. “That might have been a thing that happened.”

Alba giggled. “That’s adorable.” She moved closer, wrapping her arm deliberately around Neve and pulling her deeper into the bed. “Don’t worry. I can be your pool noodle for tonight.”

“I don’t think it’s night anymore,” she said, avoiding Alba’s gaze.

“It should be. I feel like I got about three hours of sleep.”

“You probably did…”

She laughed louder. “I suppose that’s true. Zainab would probably tell me I need to learn my limits.”

“But where’s the fun in that?”

Alba adjusted her head to get a clear view of Neve’s face. This woman who was so nervous and awkward, but also so very, very interesting. Funny and smart and occasionally teasing. That tantalizing glimmer in her eye when she said something she knew was a little cheeky but was unwilling to back down from it.

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