Page 65 of Moody as a Minotaur

When the call disconnected, I glanced at Parker. He was doing something with the gun again. When he was finished, he looked at me.

“Do you want to go down and check things out?”

I shook my head.

“Okay. Van will take care of everything, I’m sure. Let’s hit the hay.”

I frowned. “Hit the hay? Why? Because I’m a minotaur?”

Parker grinned. “It’s a saying, but now that you mention it, I’m going to have to search for some more.”

I rolled my eyes and stood up. My knees complained at having been in a crouched position for so long. I groaned.

Before leaving the kitchen, I checked the access panelin the pantry. Nothing had changed. I knew it hadn’t, but I’d needed to check, anyway. I did the same with the main stairs.

Then I was standing in the living room again. Parker was settling into his makeshift bed on my sofa. It felt like a fluke that I’d still been awake earlier. If I’d been sleeping, would I have heard them? What if they returned? If they got up the stairs before I woke, they’d find Parker first.

I couldn’t let that happen.

“Uh… Parker?”

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“I… uh…” My words faltered as his gaze caught on mine. I swallowed. “I’d, uh, like you to sleep in the bed. With me.” Did that sound too forward? “Or I could sleep on the sofa, and you could sleep in the bed.”

His eyebrows rose. “Why?”

“For your protection.”

Parker’s gaze darted to the stairway, and I knew he understood. Sure, he’d been the one with the gun. He was the one who had to talk me down from another panic attack. But… I couldn’t shake the discomfort I felt at having him over there.

“Please.”

He studied me for a minute. “Okay.”

He scooped his gun from the coffee table and sauntered over to the side of the bed I hadn’t slept on earlier. He set his gun on the bedside table. He pulled back the blanket, then paused to look at me. I hadn’t moved.

“You coming?”

What a word. It conjured all kinds of things, none of which Parker meant in this moment. This was such a spectacularly bad idea, but what other choice was there?

I nodded and returned to where I’d been trying to sleep earlier. Parker smiled at me as he slipped between the sheets beside me. I turned so I faced away from him. Seeing him right there. In my bed. Would have been too much temptation.

“Come here,” he whispered.

He slid across the bed until he was pressed up against me. My heart was thundering again. But this time, it wasn’t from fear. Or at least not the same kind of fear. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed his face against my back.

Parker Girard was spooning me.

It was ridiculous. I was the bigger guy. I should be spooning him. But I couldn’t make myself change position. I liked having his arms wrapped around me.

“Good night, Levi,” he said for the second time that night.

“Yeah, good night,” I croaked out.

23

LET’S NOT MAKE THIS AWKWARD…