Dances with Monsters(49)

She bit her lip as brow furrowed. He reached out and tilted her chin up with his index finger, forcing him to look at her. He lifted his eyebrows in a silent repeat of his question, his eyes narrowing slightly to let her know he was deadly serious.

She inhaled deeply and looked him in the eye. "I promise," she breathed out, and he trusted it. He nodded in acknowledgment and as though it had a mind of his own, his hand moved to smooth her hair back away from her face. The action surprised them both and he dropped his hand. It had come so naturally to him, automatically. He hadn't even thought about it. He moved back from her slightly.

"Good," he replied, dropping his gaze back to the rug and clenching his fists together. "I just want you to know, I'm not in the habit of telling anyone what they can and can't do. But as long as we're friends I won't let you hurt yourself. Not on my watch."

He hadn't meant to speak the words as passionately as he did, but he couldn't stop thinking of the comrades that had hurt themselves on his watch. And the friends that he had lost when maybe he could have done something to prevent it. He refused to let that happen again. He bit his lip as he felt his emotions, anger and sorrow, stirring at the thought and it made his breath come faster and his heart beat harder.

He felt the couch move as Drew shifted her weight and he glanced up, registering surprise as she slowly reached out to remove the sofa cushion from between them and placed it back behind her. Her eyes, so terribly sad, met his as she leaned toward him. Automatically he shifted back, then moved under the pressure of her hand when it came to gently rest on his chest, pushing lightly, silently asking him to lean back. He complied, confused, his hands lifting into the air, not knowing what she wanted. Then, he felt her cuddle up to his side, gingerly resting one of her hands on his chest as she leaned against him. Her head came to rest on top of her hand while her other arm stretched over his torso.

For a moment he froze, unsure of what to do, and then the natural reflexive impulse he'd felt earlier kicked back in, and his hands settled against her of their own accord. One reached across his body to lightly grasp her arm that held him, while his other hand dropped to her hair lightly, twining the strands through his fingers. The gentle motion of his fingers playing in her hair made her relax noticeably; he felt the tension leak out of her as she relaxed against him. After another long moment, he realized she had fallen asleep against him, her breathing deep and even.

He didn't want to move. Ever. He managed to wedge his hand into his back pocket and pull out his phone without disturbing her. One-handed, he quickly typed a message out to Rex.

"Not coming back tonight. Lock up for me. Keys are in my top desk drawer. If you lose them I will end you."

He hit the send button and then silenced his phone, tossing it on the cushion beside him, and settled back. He adjusted himself to allow Drew to be more reclined and then reached behind his head, grabbing the soft, cream-colored throw blanket draped over the back of the couch. With minimal jostling he managed to unfold it and then draped it over her. Once it was in place, he wrapped his arms around her and closed his own eyes, letting out a deep sigh.

***

Drew's neck and shoulder hurt and she heard the incessant rumbling of what sounded like a motor boat in her ear.

She cracked one eye open and glanced around. It was morning, light coming in from the blinds, and Rocky was standing on the side of her body, nuzzling her cheek with his cold nose and nipping at her ear with his sharp teeth. Her eye fell on the digital display on her cable box. She saw it was a quarter 'til five, which was just a little bit earlier than the time she usually woke up to get to the café in the morning.

She felt the steady beat of Heath's heart below her ear, heard his deep, even breathing. She couldn't believe they'd fallen and stayed asleep here on the couch—and she couldn't believe he'd slept over all night. One of his arms was slung around her, the other one resting in his lap. She realized her throw blanket was draped around her and thought that he must have put it there.

She shooed Rocky away and tried to gently disentangle herself from Heath, but he made a quiet noise, rumbling deep in his chest, and though he was still asleep, his arms tightened around her and gathered her in close. She leaned against him, her forehead against the side of his neck, and inhaled his scent. For a moment she dozed off again, but woke fifteen minutes later to Rocky's incessant purring in her ear. He was now perched across the back of the couch with his front half draped over her shoulder. He began to lick her cheek like a dog, his rough tongue scraping almost painfully across her tender skin as he applied more pressure than was really necessary to groom a furless human.