She squeezed herself tighter to me, her fingers brushing against my chest, tracing an absentminded line along my ribs.
I’d forgotten how good a simple touch like that could feel. Making a slow, steady heat pulse through me.
“This is nice,” she murmured softly.
Her voice was sleepy. Content.
“Yeah,” I said, my voice lower than usual.“It is.”
She tilted her face up, her eyes meeting mine in the dim light of the room.
For a moment, neither of us moved. We just studied each other in the darkness.
Then she shifted a little closer under the covers. Close enough that I could feel the soft brush of her camisole against my chest.
She felt warm. Soft. Like she had been made to fit perfectly against me.
For two years I hadn’t known if I’d ever feel comfortable lying this close to another woman again.
But right now… lying here with Nora in my arms… it just felt right.
Like somehow it had only been a matter of time before we ended up here.
“I’m really glad you were there last night,” she whispered after a moment, her breath warm on my neck.“When the fire started.”
“I’m really glad I was there, too.”
Glad that I’d followed my drunken impulse to check in on her.
“You’ve always made me feel so safe,” she said softly, her fingers tracing lightly along my chest.
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Because in a world where men didn’t always treat women the way they should, it had always mattered to me to be the opposite of that. Even though I was taller, stronger, and carried a certain amount of power and influence because of what I did, I never wanted anyone to feel threatened by it.
Nora let out a small sigh and seemed to settle deeper against me.
Without thinking, I sighed, too.
She felt so nice.
Her hand drifted across my stomach until she found mine, threading her fingers through it. Then she lifted our joined hands and pressed a soft kiss to the back of mine.
“You deserve to have someone show you how wonderful you are,” she murmured.
“And what exactly do you mean by that?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” She laughed lightly, her fingers running a line down my chest.“I just think after our dance tonight, you probably deserve to experience a little more romance in your life.”
“I do?” I arched an eyebrow.
“Yes,” she said simply.
“And who do you think should be helping me with that romance?” I asked, enjoying the direction this conversation seemed to be going.
She shrugged lightly against me.“I guess someone you’d want something like that from.”
“Ah yes,” I said thoughtfully. Then, unwilling to let her off the hook quite that easily, I added,“Anyone specific you have in mind?”