“Which side?” Cash asked and as she was studiously regarding the bed at the same time trying to ignore her thoughts and feelings, she didn’t know what he was talking about.
Her eyes shifted to him.
It was a mistake.
He was too gorgeous for his own good (and hers).
“Pardon?” she enquired.
“Which side of the bed?” he asked and she started yet again.
She slept on the left with Ben. She’d taken to sleeping in the middle without him.
“The middle,” she blurted.
Another mistake. This made him smile.
He had a great smile.
Oh dear Lord, she thought.
He twisted his torso and placed the BlackBerry on the bedside table then strolled to her.
He got up close and his chin tipped down to look at her.
“Relax, darling,” his burr was a soft rumble, “I don’t bite.”
In desperation Abby tried to be flip. “That’s a relief.”
“Though, I don’t mind if you do,” he continued and she could do nothing but swallow.
He saw her nervous reaction and it made him grin.
Then he walked passed her to the bathroom.
She scrambled to the bed, getting in on the left side. She pulled the covers high and curled into herself, making her body as diminutive as she possibly could.
She didn’t know if she could do this. In fact, she was pretty certain she couldn’t. In fact, she was extremely certain she was giving it all away by acting like a frightened virgin.
She couldn’t give it all away. She’d dug this hole for herself, now she had to live in it until the time when she could dig her way back out.
She forced herself to relax, uncurl and assume a sleeping position that normal people might use, on her side, hands tucked under her face, knees crooked.
Minutes later, he came out of the bathroom.
She didn’t watch as he turned out the light and got into bed.
But her body was tense as he turned to her. She felt his hand come to rest on her hip and his mouth went to her ear.
“Good night, Abby,” he said softly.
“Good night,” she replied chirpily.
She could swear she heard him chuckle.
Normally this might annoy her. At the time, she was too flipped out to let it register.
He kept his hand where it was but settled behind her. She could feel his body, though he kept his distance.
She waited.
He didn’t move and he didn’t try anything.
She waited more.
He stayed where he was and she felt his hand get heavier as his breathing got steadier. Moments later, his hand slid away as he fell to his back.
She waited more, hoping he’d start snoring which would give her a valid reason to find somewhere else to sleep.
He didn’t.
Eventually her body relaxed and shortly after she fell asleep.
Now this.
How she’d snuggled into him, she had no idea. But she had to move and fast.
Carefully she rolled to her back. Unfortunately, Cash rolled with her.
His body was pressed to her side much like hers was to him moments before (except, of course, the head to the shoulder bit), and she felt his hand come to rest on her belly.
His voice was husky when she heard him ask quietly, “Abby, are you awake?”
She decided immediately to feign sleep.
Cash was not deceived.
“Abby,” he called.
“Mm,” she mumbled, hoping he would think she was mostly asleep.
Cash was still not deceived.
His hand slid across her belly to curl around the top of her hip and she felt his face in her neck before he murmured, “Darling, I know you’re awake.”
There was, she had to admit, something about him calling her “darling” that she liked way too damned much.
However, when he said it into her neck while they were in bed, she liked it a whole lot better which made it worse.
A lot worse.
“Not entirely,” she muttered her lie.
She was completely awake and totally panicked.
She felt his body laugh even though she didn’t hear it. His face came out of her neck and his fingers put pressure on her hip to roll her to her side and into him.
She lifted her hands and pressed them against his chest as his face went to the other side of her neck.
“Let’s see,” his voice rumbled against her skin, “you sleep like a dead weight pressed into me all night and all of a sudden your body jerks and freezes and you pull away. I’m thinking you’re pretty fucking awake.”
Abby was stunned and not about the fact that he knew she was lying. “I slept like that all night?”
“You rolled into me five minutes after you drifted off and stayed there.”
Abby was even more stunned. She was certain he fell asleep before her.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
His face went away and although she couldn’t see him she felt his eyes on her.
“Sorry about what?” he asked.
“Sorry if I bothered you while you were sleeping,” she told him. “And sorry if I woke you up.”
His mouth came to hers and he murmured, “Don’t be. I’m not.”
Then he brushed his lips against hers softly and after his mouth trailed down her cheek to her ear.
It occurred to Abby at that moment that something was not quite right.
Then she felt his tongue touch the skin under her ear.
Her belly dipped.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her voice breathy, her hands putting light pressure on his chest.
“Tasting you,” he whispered in her ear and she felt a happy tingle slide from her ear downward.
Her hands on his chest pressed harder. “Um, Cash, we have a deal,” she reminded him.
“Yes,” he murmured his mouth moving to trail along her jaw, “we do.”
She found breathing was becoming difficult. “Cash, stop it.”
“No,” was his surprising and terrifying answer.
She’d been correct, something was definitely not right.
“Cash!” she gave him a shove and his body stayed where it was but his head came up.
“Abby,” he returned patiently, his mouth had gone away but his face was close and his hand at her hip had somewhere along the line become an arm wrapped tightly around her waist.
“Are you reneging on the deal?” she asked, her voice sharp.
“No.”
She pushed at his chest again. “What do call this?”
At her push, his arm got tighter and his other hand forced itself under her, travelling up her back to sift into her hair and cup the back of her head.
What Cash said next made all the breath force itself rather painfully out of Abby’s lungs.
“I agreed not to fuck you until we went to the castle. I didn’t agree not to do anything else.”
Abby thought immediately this was not a fortuitous turn of events.
“Well I didn’t agree to anything else,” she retorted angrily.
Anger, she hoped, would hide her fear.
“You didn’t stipulate against it either,” he replied.
This was true.
“Then I do now,” she told him.
His fingers twisted in her hair.
This was not painful. It was gentle and highly effective as it caused a pleasurable tremor to slide from her scalp all the way through her body.
“Abby,” he said softly, “so far I’ve paid nineteen thousand nine hundred and ninety nine pounds to spend approximately eleven hours with you, the majority of that sleeping. Do you honestly believe I’d pay that much to take you out to dinner and chat with you in my kitchen?”
She had to agree that sounded absurd.
Then again, everything about this situation was absurd.
“I’m not comfortable with this,” she declared even though she wasn’t entirely certain what “this” was. She was, however, relatively certain she was uncomfortable with it.