Page 55 of Duty Preserved

Sarah’s hand dropped from her face. She looked at me, and for a second, she was mortified. Then she saw me laughing, and it broke loose in her too. She started laughing as well, but with her mouth covered by her hands like she was still nervous about whether it was appropriate for her to find it amusing.

“She labeled it,” Sarah managed. “She put arrows.”

“She did. I saw.”

“I’m going to kill her. I’m going to drive back to Ol Pejeta and kill her with my bare hands.”

“She is certainly imaginative.”

She fell sideways onto the bed, laughing into the pillow. Her damp hair spread across the white cover. Her face was flushed, her guard completely down for the first time all night. That was the version of her that was going to be a problem for me.

Fuck…now I was hard.

From a woman laughing into a hotel pillow without trying to be anything other than herself. Sarah, wrecked by her own best friend’s stick-figure pornography, and my body had decided that was the hottest thing it had seen in years.

I didn’t tell her. I shifted my weight and kept my expression level, letting the moment pass without anyone knowing except me.

Damn near everything about this woman turned me on. Whatever she thought I wanted, she was already it. And I didn’t want a single thing about her to be different.

She sat up eventually, wiping her eyes. “I should apologize for her.”

“You already did. Twice.”

“Third time’s the charm.”

“Sarah, you don’t need to keep apologizing for your best friend.”

She went quiet. Picked at the pillowcase again. “She doesn’t have a social filter.”

“I know.”

I stood up and pulled back the covers on the far side of the bed. “Get some sleep. You’ve had a day. I’ll take the floor.”

“Donovan.”

“I’ve slept on concrete in a hundred-and-twenty-degree heat with my body armor as a pillow. A hotel floor with carpet is an upgrade.”

“Get in the bed. Please.”

How was I supposed to tell this woman no when she said please?

I got in on my side.

The bed was a double, which meant there was approximately eighteen inches of neutral territory between us. I stayed on my side. She stayed on hers. I could hear her breathing in the dark after I reached over and turned off the lamp.

We lay there. The air conditioner hummed. I could feel the warmth of her mere inches away, the mattress dipping slightly under both of us, and I kept my hands to myself and my breathing even.

“I’m sorry Alyson is making it seem like I’m just here to jump your bones.” Her voice was low, half into the pillow.

“I wouldn’t have complained.”

The silence after that was long. I didn’t explain it. Didn’t soften it. Let it sit there and be what it was.

She didn’t say anything else. After a while, her breathing evened out and slowed, and I listened to it until I was sure she was asleep.

Then I closed my eyes and let myself go under.

I awoke to fingers on my arm.