Page 102 of The Heart Breaker

She twists in my hold and narrows her eyes. “What are you doing?”

I tug off her boots, dropping them to the floor. She watches me the whole time, even as I hook my fingers into the waistband of her shorts and drag them down her legs, tugging her shirt off next.

I toss them toward the chair in the corner, then stand and pull my T-shirt over my head.

Her eyes follow the movement, heavy with sleep and… Christ. She looks way too good on my bed.

Like she belongs here.

I grab one of my shirts from the drawer and hold it out. “Arms up.”

She pushes herself upright and lifts her arms. I pull the shirt down over her head, lingering on the sight of her in my shirt.

I tug my jeans off and climb into bed beside her. My body’s exhausted from standing for hours, but that usually doesn’t mean much. Usually, I end up flat on my back, staring into the dark wishing I could just fall asleep.

Aurora rolls into me and tucks herself against my side, her cheek warm against my chest. My whole body goes still for asecond, but I let my shoulders drop and put an arm around her, tugging her closer to me.

It takes me a couple of seconds to realize we’re cuddling.

We’re actually fucking cuddling.

Never cuddled a girl before.

Kinda like it.

She’s so warm and soft against me, and every now and then, she makes these little sleepy sounds against me that make me smile, and my eyes flutter closed.

And for the first time in a long fucking time, I don’t have to fight for sleep.

It just comes.

28

COLE

It’s 2:45 a.m., and I’m still awake.

The room is quiet except for the maddening ticking sound of my alarm clock. I scrub a hand down my face and stare at the ceiling, because I’m used to this.

Or I was.

Until last week.

One minute I was listening to her breathe, and the next I was waking up to light pushing through the blinds and feeling… rested.

It wasn’t until I looked down and found Aurora still curled into my side that I realized I had finally gotten real sleep.

I remember lying there staring at the ceiling, her still tucked against me, my arm half dead under her, and feeling panic hit my chest.

This is bad, my brain said.This is really fucking bad.

I don’t do that. I don’t fall asleep that easily. I don’t let myself relax like that. I don’t trust people enough for my body to just… shut down beside them.

It scared the absolute shit out of me.

So I did what I’m best at.

I shut down.