Page 86 of Demon Loved
Someone was in bed with her.
For just a second, Brianna’s brain skidded to a halt…and then memory caught up, and she recalled how she’d asked Belshegar to lie down next to her after the battle with the Collector. Although she’d realized she would probably be just as safe if he’d slept on the couch out in the living room, it still had felt better to know he would be there beside her if she awakened from a bad dream.
Or if the worst happened and the void that had trapped their enemy failed after only a few hours.
Neither of those things had happened, though. Instead, she’d slept deeply and soundly, untroubled by any nightmares or incursions of evil men from alternate dimensions. Yes, Belshegar had warned her that the Collector might not be locked away forever, but he hadn’t shown up on her doorstep last night or this morning, so she was going to take that as a win.
She shifted carefully so she could look at the clock, although she had already guessed from the quality of light streaming through the sheer curtains out in the living room that the sun must have been up for quite a while.
Sure enough, the hour was getting close to nine o’clock.
When was the last time she’d slept that late? Some of her friends were the type who seemed as though they could stay in bed all day, but she wasn’t wired like that. Normally, 7 a.m. was sleeping in for her.
Well, no one could say she hadn’t been through a lot the night before. Parts of the battle had already begun to grow hazy, as if her brain somehow understood it would be better for her sanity if she forgot those moments when she hadn’t felt quite human, but rather a conduit for energies she couldn’t begin to comprehend.
She’d survived, though…thanks in no small part to the man who slept beside her.
His eyes were closed, and his chest rose and fell with regular, deep breaths. And although he’d told her that this body needed sleep like any other regular human, she didn’t know if she’d quite believed him until this moment.
Goddess, he was gorgeous.
And strong, and kind, and….
Well, pretty much every positive adjective she could think of.
In that moment, she realized she wanted him to wake up. She wanted a whole lot of things.
But did he want them as well? Of course they’d kissed more than once, and she had to believe he’d felt something of the same need and heat she’d experienced.
And yet….
He looked human, but he wasn’t. It was very possible that he’d need a whole lot more time to grow into this new life, of being both Belshegar and Bill Garrett, the traveler who’d come to Jerome for a vacation and decided to make it his home.
That was all right, though. Brianna told herself she could wait as long as necessary.
Yeah, right.
Just watching him like this was enough to make desire stir in her. Sure, she’d been asleep for nearly ten hours and some of her muscles still felt sore, as if she’d done a whole lot more than simply stand out on the promontory and channel the Goddess only knew what kind of energies, but she couldn’t ignore the way her body craved Belshegar’s touch.
Nothing ventured, she supposed.
She shifted again, this time not being quite so careful about her movements. The bed squeaked, and immediately, his eyes opened, and he looked over at her.
However, he seemed to understand there was no emergency, that this was just a natural awakening, because he smiled and said, “Good morning. How did you sleep?”
“Like a log,” she replied. “Although I’m not sure why a log should sleep any better than anything else. How about you?”
“Surprisingly well. To be honest, I hadn’t expected to sleep this long. It is quite late, isn’t it?”
“A little before nine,” Bree told him. “But I suppose we can both be excused for sleeping in, considering everything that happened last night.”
“Yes, it was something of a confrontation.”
They both went quiet then. Brianna had a feeling he was mentally replaying the events of the night before, while she…well, she just wanted to reach over and pull him down on top of her.
Probably better to do this in baby steps, though.
She moved closer to him so she could reach over and take his hand. “We did good, didn’t we?”
