Page 26 of Landing Her Eagle
I laugh softly. “No, I’m good. I’ll take off my shirt and leave my shorts on, okay?”
She nods.
“Daphne.” I wait for her eyes to meet mine across the bed. “We’re just sleeping. It’s okay. We can cuddle. I’d love to hold you throughout the night, but nothing more is going to happen until you’re ready for it. Until we’re both ready for it. And we’re not ready yet. We have forever. There’s no rush.”
The smile she gives me is shy but glorious. I want her to always give me that smile in our bedroom.
I open my mouth to tell her I love her but close it quickly. Too soon. Still too soon. How long will I have to swallow how I feel, silence it?
“Is something wrong?” she asks, climbing into the bed.
“No. Nothing.” I follow her lead, and thankfully find something to distract her. And me.
“You’re using the blue cartoon moose sheets I bought you last Christmas. I never thought
I’d have the chance to sleep on them.” I turn off the lamp on my side of the queen-size bed, enjoying the softness of the flannel sheets against my skin.
Daphne turns off her lamp, and we lie side by side on our backs in the dark. Her giggles fill the room, and my deep chuckle joins in. I reach over and clasp her hand.
“Why is this so awkward?” she asks. “We’ve slept together before.”
I scoot toward her as she’s scooting toward me. We meet in the middle, our bodies instinctively knowing how best to cuddle together. I grab her hand and lift it to my lips to press a gentle kiss to her palm, then I lower it to rest over my heart, my hand covering hers. We lie like this for a few minutes when I feel her wiggle a bit.
“What do I do with my other arm?” Her question breaks the silence. She moves, trying to figure out what to do. I love her awkward self. Our life will never be boring. “I like the way we’re cuddling, but I don’t know what to do with this arm. None of my romance novels ever mention what to do with the bottom arm. Do they pretend it doesn’t exist, or does everyone else know what to do with it but me?”
I can’t help it. I laugh. She’s adorable. “Do whatever you want with your arm. You could lay more on your stomach and have it stretched out on the other side or lay more on your back so it’s not under you. Tuck it up under your cheek. We could spoon.”
She’s tensing. This is upsetting her. She hates it when she doesn’t know what to do. Uncertainty makes her nervous. I stop laughing. It’s not funny if she’s stressed.
“You could lie however you usually do. We don’t have to cuddle. I know you need to get up for work in the morning. Do whatever you need to do so you can sleep.” I hope she doesn’t take that last option. I want to hold her.
Daph gets up from the bed, does a full-body shimmy that causes her breasts to jiggle—I’m a fan of that move—and resumes her spot under the covers. She lies on her side against me, but this time her lower arm is bent with her hand under her chin, so her arm isn’t trapped between us. She rests her head against my chest again, and lays her hand over my heart.
I cover her hand with mine and kiss the crown of her head. “All good now?”
Her contented sigh blows across my chest, causing goosebumps to rise along my skin.
“All good. Goodnight.” She presses a kiss to my chest.
“Goodnight, sweetheart.”
Holding Daphne like this is something I’ve dreamed of but didn’t dare think about too much. I didn’t think it would happen, but here we are. I can sense when she’s drifted off to sleep—her whole body relaxes, and her breathing deepens. She’ll deny it with her last breath, but she snores slightly. It’s adorable. I enjoy the luxury of being here and holding her until I drift off to sleep myself.
19
DAPHNE
I reachtoward the nightstand to silence the trilling of my phone’s alarm. Morning has come way too soon. It’s not fair. Logan is the big spoon to my little spoon. Waking with him warm against my back, his arm snug around my waist and his morning hardness snug against my rear, is as wonderful as I always imagined it to be. Okay, the hard-on against my butt is a bit more than I expected… Wowsers… Focus, Daphne. I want to wake up every morning in Logan’s arms. How am I going to sleep alone again when he leaves next week?
“Hmm…Good morning, baby.” Logan’s arm tightens around me, and he places a soft kiss on the back of my neck. I shiver deliciously, my heart speeding up at his gentle touch. I turn around to face him. We stare at each other and burst out laughing. Oh, my goodness, the morning breath we have! We roll to our backs and hold hands as our laughter subsides.
“Daphne.” Logan turns his head to smile at me. “I love waking up next to you, but you need a breath mint.”
“Ineed a breath mint?” I glance over at him. His morning stubble is so sexy. “Dude, you have Chernobyl breath yourself. You’re going to save me time getting ready. You just need to breathe on me, and my hair will curl.”
The bed bounces from his renewed laughter. “So, what you’re saying is if we want to have morning cuddles, we need to keep TicTacs on our nightstands?” Logan’s deep chuckles are such a wonderful soundtrack to my morning. I’m used to waking up alone in the silence. I turn on the TV to have noise and the illusion of company while I get ready for work. Having someone here with me, not being alone, is wonderful. I don’t think I realized how lonely I’ve been until I had Logan here again. He’s only been here two days, and already I can’t imagine coming home to an empty house after work and starting my day in silence. I’m going to have to prepare myself for his departure.
“Hey, what are you thinking? You got serious over there.” Logan rolls to his side and brushes my hair off my face. He must be able to see inside my head because his face loses its earlier mirth, and his forest-green gaze seems to darken. “Daph, stop. You’re thinking about me leaving next week.” He takes a deep breath. “Baby, it will be okay. Don’t ruin the time we have together now, stressing over the time we’ll be apart.”
