Page 86 of Reflections of Peonies
I’d raised my finger to protest before I realized he was right. Why hadn’t I thought of this?
Damen did have many guest rooms that’d become available over the last few days.
“Well, of course she’s sleeping in a guest room!” Bryce crossed his arms, leaning back in his seat. “There’s an empty one near me. Besides, it’ll make me feel better if she’s nearby. It’ll be less dangerous.”
“Who cares how you feel?” Damen frowned. “What do you think will get to her in my home?”
Bryce raised his chin and gave the other man a pointed look. “It’s not awhat. It’swho.Whopresent in this room is likely to act on impulsive, improper behaviors?”
“You had better not be referring to me,” Damen growled.
“Have you lost your mind?” Finn was also glaring at Damen. “She can’t sleep with any of you. Figure out something else!”
My skin flushed—who were they to tell me what I could and couldn’t do?
“I don’t need anything else,” I said. “I’m sleeping with Miles.” Miles hadn’t responded. Instead, he continued to stare at me, red-faced. It was the look of staunch horror on his expression that caused my anxiety to fade completely.
He was scared of me.
Mentally rolling my eyes, I crossed the room and grabbed his arm. “Come on.”
“You’re serious?” Miles squeaked. “Butwhy?”
“Because I’m tired,” I said, tugging him to his feet. “Let’s go.”
14
I shouldn’t have worriedabout sleeping with Miles. Outside of not having an aggressive bone in his body, there was no doubt he was trying to disgust me.
Miles had been a bundle of nerves when we went to his room, flustering about as he kicked piles of dirty clothes under his bed. There was a musty scent in the air and a pile of dishes and cups shoved into a corner on an ink-stained desk.
I was almost entirely sure that something was living deep within the cluttered corners.
He’d changed his sheets while I watched, but sleeping above loads of man sweat made me almost reconsider Damen’s previous offer.
“Sorry,” Miles said, fluttering while he led me to a seat on a corner of his mattress. “I’ll clean soon, I promise.”
“Okay,” I told him. Now, I felt even worse about following Julian’s plan. It hadn’t been very nice of me to put him on the spot. “I can sleep downstairs if you’d want.”
He glanced at me, mid-process of relocating a terrarium, and I flushed, adding, “I didn’t mean to intrude.”
“Ah,” he replied, then placed the giant, round bowl on his desk. He snatched a few leaves of withering lettuce from a paper plate and tossed them on the floor before returning to me. He stood over me and grabbed my hands. “You’re always welcome to stay with me.”
I bit my lip, and he cocked his head. “What’s wrong?”
“I—” I began, hoping that he couldn’t feel my hands shaking. “I’m a little bit nervous.”
“About?” he asked.
“The—the last few nights have been an exception,” I whispered. “But I haven’t slept with someone in a long time.”
The light expression faded from his eyes, and he furrowed his brow. “You know it’s just sleeping,” he told me. “I would never expect anything else.”
“I know,” I whispered.
He studied me a minute longer, then pulled me to my feet. “We’ll get you set up in a guest room.”
“No!” I twisted my wrist in his hold and grabbed his sleeve. “This was my idea!” And it had been—it wasn’t his fault that Julian and Damen misinterpreted my words. I never would have offered to sleep with one of them otherwise, but now that we were at this point, I wanted to move forward.
