Oh, gods. Sniffling anew, she plucked a fistful of tissues from her fresh box.
“Gwen?” Quiet footsteps approached the bed. “Are you…all right?”
“I’m good.” She blotted her cheeks and spoke with all the heartfelt affection she felt for him in that moment. “That was very kind. Thank you, Hugh, and please thank Haziq too.”
“I will.” She could feel him hovering nearby, unsure what to do. “And you’re welcome. It was my pleasure.” Another long pause. “Shall we eat and watch the show together until you feel able to sleep once more?”
She smiled at him. Patted the mattress to her right. “Yes. As long as you promise to give me a chunk of any Gruyère you might have procured. Also any Stilton. And cheddar.”
Along with all the other pasteurized or hard cheeses he might have on offer, since those were the ones she could safely eat while pregnant. Not that he knew that…yet.
“Very well.” The corners of his mouth lifted. After carefully laying the tray on the bedside table, he climbed back onto the high mattress. Sat close enough for thigh-to-thigh contact once more despite the impressive width of the bed. “Let’s find out what’s happening to Mimi this season. The series may have diverged from the books, but surely no successful show would kill off its main character?”
“Tell that to Sean Bean,” she told him, her heart considerably lighter than before.
They both served themselves cheese and accompaniments on delicate porcelain plates and settled in to watch the show. The narrator began her recap of the previous season.
When Hugh stretched an arm across Gwen’s shoulders, she snuggled closer. When her belly couldn’t contain even one more morsel of cheese, he set the tray aside. And when she dozed off only halfway through the first episode, still slumped against his heat-soaked shoulder, she didn’t remember a single dream.
14
An indeterminate amount of time later, gentle hands eased Gwen down onto a pile of lavender-scented pillows, and she sighed drowsily and shifted onto her side. Then reached out, flailing until she caught one of those hot hands in hers.
“Hugh.” Muffled by a mountain of down, her sleep-slurred voice was barely audible. “Where’re you going?”
He didn’t fight her hold. “I’m letting you rest undisturbed.”
“Stay.” Her jaw cracked with an enormous yawn, and she tugged him closer to the bed. “Please. Sleep here.”
“You want…” A faint throat-clearing. “You want me to hold you?”
“Yes.” Waking more fully, she frowned as a thought occurred to her. “Unless you don’t want to. Actually, don’t worry about—”
“Shhh, Gwen.” He was already rounding the bed and returning to his side of the mattress. “It’s fine. Close your eyes again, honey.”
He lifted the covers and slipped under them, still fully clothed. Then he turned to face her, opening his arms in clear invitation. Gladly, she accepted the unspoken offer. And once she’d inched her way across the wide, plush mattress, those slim, strong arms carefully closed around her body and eased it against his.
She curled into him, content. Her head settled on his shoulder, and his chin lightly rested on her crown. Her top leg bent and draped over both of his, her toes wiggling in pleasure at the instant blast of warmth. One of his palms cupped her ample hip while the other stroked slow circles between her shoulder blades.
He was a heated blanket that hugged her back, all gentle hands, satiny skin, and firm muscle through cashmere.
When she sighed happily, his sleepy chuckle in response vibrated through her.
“Adorable,” he murmured, and she didn’t even argue. “Now go back to sleep, Gwen.”
She wanted to. She would have. Except, paradoxically, the very totality of her comfort in his embrace seemed to have left her wide-awake. Because she was more than a little freaked-out by just how good it felt. Just how much she wanted to let her hands wander. Just how crestfallen and sad she’d be to return to her own cold, lonely bed once all this hubbub ended.
Assuming she survived said hubbub, anyway.
Her eyelids popped open without her permission.
Oh, fuck. Wasshethe Sean Bean of this particular screenplay?
One does not simply walk into a wide-reaching apocalyptic conspiracy involving powerful government officials and beings that could kill youwithout thinking twice, Sean informed her, tiredly rubbing his forehead in frustration at her abject ignorance.
Well, damn. Sean Bean was right.
“You’re not sleeping,” Hugh informed her, his breath ruffling her hair.
