Page 163 of The King's Man
His voice grew dark and husky, and he took longer pauses between thoughts, until he was quiet for so long I thought he’d fallen asleep.
I waited a short time, sitting next to the fire and just breathing because my heart still wanted to beat too quickly. Then I stripped down to my shirt and underthings, and climbed into the hammock with him.
To my surprise, he opened his arm when he saw me coming, and smiled when I curled up at his side.
Pulling me into his side he sighed happily. “That’s better,” he mumbled.
I smiled. “I like this side of you,” I murmured into his chest.
“What side?”
“I don’t know… tired? Soft? Not deflecting everything with flirtation.”
He jerked his head up, mock alarm on his face. “You don’t want me toflirt?”
I rolled my eyes and snuggled back into his shoulder when he relaxed. “No, of course not. I just… I don’t want you fightingorflirting when something is serious.”
“Well, I’ll try, but you’re asking a lot. It’s practically instinct at this point.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“You’re hurting me, Dee,” he said quietly—a shadow in his voice. “I thought you knew me better than that.” I pushed up onto my elbow, ready to reassure him—only to find his overly-sad expression. When our eyes caught, he gave a melodramatic sigh, then pretended to wipe a tear.
I slapped his chest. “God, you’re insufferable.”
He grinned. “Aw, Dee, I don’t want to make yousuffer.”
“Too late,” I teased, then put my hand flat on the side of his ribs. Thoughtlessly I ran my finger along that ripple of muscle that ran to his back, but the moment I touched that taut skin, he flinched and thengiggled.
He clapped a hand over his mouth and froze.
I pushed back up on my elbow, gaping at him, delighted. “Jann… are you…ticklish?”
“No. Absolutely not, I’m—ahahhhhaaa!”
I’d wiggled my fingertips along the underside of his ribs and he danced like a worm on a hot plate.
“You are!” What afantasticdiscovery.
“Dee, I will remind you that we aremates.Allies. In thistogether.There is no excuse for torment—”
“You mean me making you giggle like a girl?” I asked quietly as poked him in the ribs again. He snorted, swallowed a strangled giggle as he whipped to his side, teeth clenched, and grabbed for my hands.
There was a short but powerful moment of wrestling as he grabbed for my wrists and I fought to stay out of his grip, but by the end I was the one giggling and weak, with both my wrists clamped in one of his.
“You can’t sleep like this,” I said slyly. “At some point you’ll have to let me go.”
“I’m not above using restraints,” he muttered.
I raised my brows. “Neither am I.”
Jann’s head snapped to the side, his eyes wide, but as he opened his mouth to say something, there was a high, shrill whistle off among the trees and we both startled.
All signs of weariness fell from Jann like dust from an opened book. He leaped out of the hammock to land on the ground next to it, half-crouched, arms back to grab for me and the hammock and keep me behind him as he scanned the trees left and right.
‘Don’t move. I don’t know if it’s an ally or—’
“Jannus the Fuckling. I thought you were dead!”
