An Intimate Charade by Yolande Kleinn

Author:Yolande Kleinn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yolande Kleinn
Published: 2020-08-31T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Addison woke, warm and slow, and even better rested than the day before.

His mind was reluctant to claw up from pleasant but insubstantial dreams. A dull ache ran the entire length of his body, and there was stiffness in his limbs. Light nudged at his closed eyelids, though not nearly the same sharp brightness that had woken him the morning before.

He shifted, a prelude to a stretch, but froze when the rest of his senses roused and caught up with his surroundings.

There were arms wrapped loosely around him, holding him close. He was pressed tightly to his captain's broad chest, curling into Odona's heat as though he had any right to be here. His head tucked beneath Odona's jaw, and steady breath feathered Addison's sleep-static hair.

A slow, even pulse beat beneath his palm where Addison's hand pressed between them. Odona's heart was positioned lower in his chest than a Human heart, but it followed a familiar rhythm.

Addison held his breath as all of this registered. He was entirely awake now, and his own pulse raced faster. His gaze darted to take in more information, even as the rest of him held perfectly still. It was obvious enough what had happened. Despite the enormous sprawl of the bed between them, they'd moved together during the night. Perfectly predictable.

Less likely was the fact that they hadn't met in the middle. They were near the edge—Odona's side of the bed—which meant Addison had encroached all the way across the mattress last night and into Odona's space. All without waking. All without noticing the strangeness of the situation.

He needed to extricate himself. Simple. He could deal with the fact that Odona might wake at the movement. It would be awkward, but nothing they couldn't set aside, maybe even laugh over when they were finally able to return to their work and their normal life.

Addison had no explanation for the way he remained exactly where he was instead. He could try to rationalize that it was still early, they'd gotten back impossibly late last night, he'd never seen Odona so exhausted. Surely it was better to let him sleep. No harm lying quiet and patient in the meantime, wondering why this inadvertent intimacy felt so damn comfortable.

The problem was, he didn't just feel comfortable: he felt good. It was far too easy to linger in the protective circle of Odona's arms.

His mind wandered in the quiet. Wakefulness brought back the surreal quality of last night's conversation, the unaccustomed candor during their ride down the mountain. Now, recovered from the physical and mental exhaustion of a draining day, Addison was appalled at himself for asking such personal questions. Odona had never been one to confide his private life, no matter how close he seemed with the Korria's small crew; but he had confided last night. A barrage of intrusive interrogations, and Odona had answered—had kept answering—painting a picture Addison had never considered before.

Sometimes he managed to forget that Odona was more than a century old. That was a lot of years—a lot of life—a lot of time to experience change and loss and more.

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