I thrashed and shouted, fighting them off, but more just kept coming. No matter how many times I stabbed, no matter how much blood flowed, another figure leapt at me, breaking everything I was.
But then City was there, her voice in my ear, her smell in my nostrils. I gripped cloth, feeling soft woman under it, and I burrowed close, seeking her warmth and safety.
“It’s okay,” she murmured, stroking my scalp. “It’s just a bad dream.”
I sank into the comfort, lax and cozy, murmuring “City,” before everything went black and I didn’t dream again for the rest of the night.
When I woke, my face was buried between two breasts. One of my thighs was thrown over a lush hip and my bare leg tangled with more bare legs. The scent of Felicity and the warmth of her palm on the back of my head, cradling me to her chest, had my morning wood turning into something more like morning steel. My hand rested at the hem of her nightdress, and the urge to gather it up, then roll completely on top of her before plunging into her warmth was strong.
So I jerked upright, gasping in a breath, hoping it would bring reason and sanity to my brain. She stirred as I scrambled to the opposite side of the mattress.
After briefly opening her eyes, the blue in them extra bright this morning, and then closing them again before yawning and stretching, she mumbled, “’Morning.”
“’Morning,” I repeated, not sure why I was being so pleasant with her. I should be pissed; she was in my bed...without my permission. But I still wanted to climb on top of her and fuck her like crazy, so yeah...I couldn’t summon even an ounce of outraged anger. Instead I said, “You’re in my bed.”
“Yeah.” She started to sit upright too and the sheet slid down to her lap, revealing her conservative nightshirt that still didn’t hide the sway of her braless breasts underneath. When her red bedhead hair tumbled over her shoulders, I almost lost it. Swear to God, I never wanted anyone as much as I wanted her right then. And there’d been many times six years ago when she’d tempted me to the brink.
“You had a nightmare,” she explained.
I shook my head. “You shouldn’t have come in here. I thrash a lot when I’m dreaming. I could’ve accidentally hit you.”
She only smiled. “But you didn’t.”
I opened my mouth to argue that it was too risky when she added, “Eva said Julian and Skylar would crawl into bed with you every night, and you never accidentally hit either of them.”
I clenched my teeth, silently cursing Pick’s gossipy woman. “Thus the reason I moved out of there so quickly. Just because I hadn’t hurt them yet, didn’t mean I wouldn’t eventually.”
“Is that why you agreed to move in with me?” she asked, cocking her head thoughtfully to the side. “To protect the babies.”
I was actually more concerned with protecting her. But if she wanted to assume that was the case, I’d let her. “Don’t ever come in here in the middle of the night again. It’s not safe for you. I’m not some ten-year-old boy dreaming about his mommy. I don’t need you to give me a lucky rabbit foot, monster repellant, or any kind of security object. I can take care of myself.”
“Oh? Is that why you calmed down last night as soon I came into the room and touched you, why you immediately curled into me and clutched me like I was your own personal teddy bear? Is that why you whispered my name before falling back into a deep sleep? Because you don’t need me? Because you can take care of yourself?”
Gritting my teeth, I clutched my head, not sure how to handle this woman. I kept pushing her away at every turn. Why wasn’t she getting the hint? “I...am...dangerous now. Christ, woman. How many times do I have to tell you to keep your distance?”