Page 208 of In Somnis

“I did not.”

“You absolutely did.”

“I was emotionally compromised.”

“You were still half asleep.”

“Still counts.”

His mouth twitches again. Then he adds, quieter this time, “You were crying. I’m sorry for making you cry. I have issues.”

“Oh, you don’t say.”

He huffs. “I think you saw my issues, and somehow that pushed me straight into my other issue, which is a deadline I can’t fulfill for my next book.”

“There’s a deadline?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t know that. Okay. I’m sorry I’ve been keeping you from your part of the deal.” I chew my lip. “I’m going to figure out how to be less of a scaredy-cat. Maybe I could dream up some headphones? Or I could watch a cooking show. Headphones in, a TV stand, you stand with your back to me, and I just⁠—”

“Hey.” He cuts me off.

I look up. Something in his expression has shifted, the dry layer of him gone.

“You’re apologizing to me and trying to figure out how to help me after what I did.”

“We have a deal, don’t we?”

“Yeah.” His eyes drop to my mouth and stay there a beat too long before coming back up. “The deal.”

“Is that why you’re still here too?”

“You asked me to stay.” He shrugs one shoulder, as if it’s no big deal, like he hasn’t been sitting here for three hours in the dark. “I figured you deserved a better wake-up than round two of screaming.”

My heart does something inconvenient.

“Sweetheart.” His voice is rough.

“Yeah?”

“You’re still stealing my oxygen.”

“Do you want it back?”

His hand at my back shifts, his thumb brushing once against the waistband of my pajama pants before he catches himself. Like he almost forgot where we are.

“Eventually,” he murmurs, but still, neither of us moves.

I register that he’s holding my e-reader in his other hand. “What are you doing with that?”

“You were unconscious on top of me. I had limited entertainment options.”

“That’s mine!” I reach for it.

“Greedy girl.” He holds it out of reach, eyebrows lifting, but then something shifts. The words land between us and sit there. I watch the exact moment he realizes what he just said, because it’s the same moment I do.

My face goes hot.