Page 29 of Keep Me Safe
“No, thank you.”
“Something to drink?”
He didn’t wait for my answer. His fingers uncurled from mine slowly, as if reluctant to release me, and he strode to the bar, bent, and opened the mini fridge. I’d expected him to go for wine, but when he straightened, there was an elegant glass bottle of water in his hand.
He twisted off the cap and set his questioning gaze on me.
“Yes,” I said.
He’d just finished pouring our glasses when there was a short knock on the door, and it swung open. The man who’d let us in through the back entrance appeared, delivered our bags, and set Shawn’s car key on the side table.“Brauchen Sie noch etwas, Herr Dunn?”
“Nien,” Shawn said. “Danke.”
The man nodded and exited.
I took the glass when Shawn handed it to me and gulped the water down. Not just because I was thirsty, but because I felt out of sorts and didn’t know what else to do. My gaze drifted to the king-sized bed, and he didn’t miss the way I eyed it with longing.
“Let’s get some sleep,” he said. “We can sort through everything tomorrow.”
My eyes were burning and heavy as I changed in the bathroom, slipping into an old t-shirt and pair of shorts I wouldn’t have worn around anyone else if I’d had my choice. But I didn’t. When I came out, I tossed my clothes into a heap on my open suitcase, turned my focus to the bed, and my heart skipped.
While I’d been gone, he’d gotten undressed and under the covers. He sat back against the tufted headboard, shirtless and lit by only a single sconce on the wall over his nightstand.
On any other day I would have said the bed looked inviting, but tonight it was downright irresistible, and I refused to consider how much the man there had to do with its appeal. He watched me wordlessly as I slipped under the covers, pulling them up to my chin.
“This probably wasn’t what you had in mind,” I tried to make it sound teasing, “when you said you wanted to sleep with me.”
His smile was soft, and warm, and dear God, he looked so handsome it stole my breath. “No,” he admitted. “But you won’t hear any complaints from me.”
“Okay. Well, goodnight, Shawn.”
“Gute Nacht, Kara.”
I turned under the covers, curled up in the big bed away from him.
There was a click, and the room plunged into darkness, and the bed shifted subtly as he moved to lie down and get comfortable. For a long time, the only sound was his quiet, steady breathing, and my hurried heartbeat that thudded in my ears.
I’d told him to stay on his side of the bed, and now I was filled with regret. I didn’t know how to ask for what I wanted. What I needed. It was so lonely with him so far away. What if I asked him to hold me and he misinterpreted it as a request for sex?
“Fuck it,” he whispered, like he’d struggled with this decision.
He slid across the sheets, his warm body pressing against mine and his heavy arm draped over me. Air left me in a burst, which he might have thought was shock, but it was relief. I grabbed his hand and pulled it closer, tighter, fitting myself into his embrace.
The steady, constant beat of his heart lulled me safely to sleep.
A phone buzzed somewhere, rattling on a hard surface. I lifted my head and glared across the way to his phone on the nightstand. I wanted to go back to sleep. I wanted to yank the covers over my head like a child to avoid the day.
I couldn’t do that. There was a man in bed with me for the first time in forever. Shawn’s toned arm was around me, and we were face to face.
“Your mobile’s ringing,” I said.
“I can hear it.”
But he didn’t move. Yesterday, I’d tried to imagine what he would look like when he’d been woken from sleep, but—God. I hadn’t even come close. His sleepy gaze was unassuming and sexy, and he was so close I could almost kiss him.
Doing that would be reckless. I looked down at his arm and back to his face. This version of Shawn, sweet and caring, wasthe most dangerous of them all. I had absolutely no defense against it.
The phone continued buzzing until it rolled over to voicemail. The whole time his eyes studied me.
