Page 61 of Wickedly Ever After
Shit.She wriggled, struggling to get out of the trench.
“Mm—Tinbit?” Hector jerked awake in a few sharp twists. He looked surprised to see her so close to him, and his arm, which had been happily engaged in petting her, froze.
“He’s with Hari,” she whispered.
“Ah,” Hector said. He regarded her for a moment, then took his hand from her back and touched the dried-up corner of his mouth and a patch of sticky beard. “Well, it was cold last night. Tinbit probably wanted to be sure Hari stayed warm.”
“It’s still cold.”
With a grunt, Hector shifted to get out of the trench, but he didn’t throw the covers off. Instead, he pushed them gently around her while he got out of bed, with a soft creaking and snapping of joints. He shuffled across the room and picked up the fireplace poker. He stirred the coals, squatted slowly, and fed the fire a few pine sticks and bits of cedar wood. A warm resinous smell filled the room. He added a handful of sweetgrass to the salamander’s pot, quietly asking if they would like a pine knot as well, and handed it to them. The happy feeling shuddered over Ida again as Hector, shivering, returned to the bed and eased back in, careful to keep his icy feet off her.
“I don’t mind,” she said generously, setting her feet on top of his. “You should wear wool socks like me.”
He settled on his back until the bed forced him next to her again. “Be warm soon.”
“Hector? Put your arms around me. I’m cold.”
He obliged and shivered against her as she snuggled next tohim.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had anyone in my bed,” she said, speaking quietly so the salamander would not hear.
“That surprises me.”
“Way to call me unprofessional.” She snorted.
“I didn’t mean it like that! You were a very attractive woman—I mean, you are a very attractive woman, and I—”
She giggled. How on earth did he deal with dragons if he always spoke his mind without considering how it might sound? And why did she suddenly find that charming? She patted his cheek. “And you’re an attractive man. I’ve no doubt you’ve had a paramour or two in your centuries.”
Hector twisted a fold of her nightdress between his fingers. “I never…I never took one,” he said. “I considered it when I was younger. But I didn’t think I could keep an emotional distance.”
“You didn’t destroy your heart soon enough,” she said.
His mouth twisted in a thoughtful expression. “I did it when it seemed right to me, as I’m sure you did with yours.”
She pressed her ear against his utterly silent chest. “Yes, of course I did,” she said quietly. “But there are still times when, if I’m honest, it might be nice to wake up with someone who mattered, to share the warmth and then a good breakfast.”
“You should get a dog,” he said.
She laughed outright. “You are lying in bed with a very attractive woman who says she finds you pleasant to wake up with, and you tell her to get a dog.”
He blinked, and the gray fringe brought out the intensity of his green eyes in the shadows of the covers. “I’d be frankly envious of that dog.”
She touched his cheek gently. “Would you?”
“We should get up. I need to order breakfast—it won’t be good, I’m afraid—and get my coachman out of his coffin box to harness the horses.” But he didn’t move.
Neither did she. The room was still and quiet, and he was so warm and comforting. His throat bobbed as he swallowed. His hand trembled as he touched her breast.
“Ida?” Her whispered name was soft and gentle on his lips.
She gulped. “Hector?” All she had to do was guide his fingers over her nipples. She wanted to. The dream throbbed in her mind, and the cleft in the bed was deep enough that should he take her quietly from the top, no one would even see the covers move.
A snap of a pine knot breaking, and the fire crackled.
“You’re right. We’d better get up.” She shoved his hand away, crawled out of bed, and fled to the bathroom.
***
