Page 70 of A Violet Obsession

I’m off the sofa and through the bedroom door before my brain catches up. There’s no intruder. Just Lily—sitting bolt upright in the dark, blankets twisted around her hips, breath sawing in and out, fists white-knuckling the sheets.

“Lily.” My voice is low and steady. “It’s Finn. You’re safe. You’re at the cabin. It was just a dream.”

Her wild eyes find me. Slowly, the panic subsides. Her breathing slows, but it’s still shallow.

“Sorry,” she rasps, pressing her face into her hands. “Go back to sleep. I’m fine.”

I don’t move.

Another violent crack sounds from outside. The wind howls around the eaves. “Power’s out,” I say, finally turning to go.

“You could stay.” A beat of silence. “For warmth. It’s going to get cold without the heat, and the sofa’s too small for you, anyway.” Another pause. “I promise I won’t try to maul you again.”

This is a terrible idea. But the thought feels distant, already overruled by something deeper. The storm has cut us off from the world. It’s just the two of us with the dark pressing in.

“Scoot over,” I say.

Hera relocates to the curve of Lily’s knees with an indignant chirp when the mattress dips under my weight. Lily’s turned on her side, facing away, but I feel the heat of her immediately—soft, and so temptingly close. I lie on my back, rigid, one arm tucked behind my head. The silence stretches, broken only by the storm’s fury and the pop of the fire in the other room.

Her breathing doesn’t even out. “Talk to me,” she whispers. “Please, it will help me fall asleep.”

“About what?”

“Anything. Tell me about the army.”

“It’s not that interesting.” And most of it I’ll never tell anyone. But I start anyway—boot camp, the drill sergeant from hell, the surprising strength of homesickness. I keep my voice low, and steady, until I feel her slowly relax.

I pause in my story, realizing that at the same time I was missing sleep and my mom’s cooking, Lily was surviving hell with her uncle. The contrast sits like a boulder on my chest.

Lily’s body has softened beside me, breath deepening into true sleep at last.

I should get up. Go back to the sofa. Instead, I stay, letting her drift closer in her sleep until her head rests against my shoulder and the chunks of hair that have come loose from her braid spill across my chest.

I stay exactly where I am. I enjoy holding her too much to give it up, and I’m done pretending I feel differently.

For the first time in longer than I can remember, I fall asleep with a woman in my arms… and dream of nothing at all.

26

LILY

I wake because something is flicking me across the eyes.

Without opening them, I lift a hand to move Hera’s tail off my face, and for one blurry second, I forget where I am. Then I register the slow rise and fall of something solid and warm beneath my cheek.

Not something.

Someone.

My eyes open.

Finn’s chest fills my vision first. I blow out a breath, trying to push a mouthful of orange fur away without waking the man Hera and I have apparently both decided makes an excellent pillow. A yellow stare meets me, along with a low chirp.

Wake him and there will be consequences.

I can’t blame her. If I could invent a reason to lie on Finn all day, I’d do it, too.

And then it comes back.