So much for his speech.
He snapped off the bedside light, pulled the duvet back and climbed in, trying not to wake her. She was looking forward to a lie in and he wasn’t about to maul her in her sleep. Her eyes flickered and she rolled over to him, hooking a leg around his and an arm across his waist, cheek against his chest.
Well, there were worse ways to sleep than with the woman you loved sprawled across you.
It was heaven. It was hell.
Christ, her feet were cold though.
He was awake before her because, quite frankly, he was uncomfortable. Laurel must have been desperately tired, because she hadn’t moved all night and he didn’t want to disturb her. If she needed the sleep, she needed the sleep.
Alex better not show his face this morning, or, if he did, he’d better be so bloody apologetic that Nate might find it appropriate not to cut him out of his life forever. Because last night he had been a complete and utter wanker, and Lucia hadn’t been much better either.
Laurel stirred against his chest and rubbed a hand across her eyes.
‘Oh,’ she said, her throat rusty with sleep. She shot upright, unwinding herself from him and shuffled back to her side of the bed, taking all the warmth with her.
‘Nate, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realise I had actually limpeted myself to you.’ She put her face in her hands. ‘I’m so embarrassed.’
His shirt collar crumpled around her neck, her hair gloriously messy around her face.
‘Don’t worry about it, Laurel,’ he said. Nate sat up, scooting backwards so he was resting against the headboard, adjusting his morning glory so he hoped it wasn’t evident, and crossed his ankles.
‘I suppose we should get ready,’ she said.
Before she could turn to swing her legs out of the bed, he caught her warm hand in his.
‘Laurel,’ he said, but his voice came out a whisper. He cleared his throat. ‘Laurel, I need to talk to you.’
‘Okay,’ she shifted on the bed to give him her full attention. He looked down to his hand holding hers. This had been so much easier when he was thinking about it in the bathroom last night.
‘I’m a stupid, stupid man, Laurel. I didn’t see it, I didn’t see—’
‘Uncle Nate, Uncle Nate! Laurel!’
What the hell was that little cock blocker doing? He loved Benji, but not right now, no please, not right now.
‘Uncle NATE, Mummy said I could jump on you at ten o’clock, and it’s ten o’clock in three, two, one.’
Laurel laughed and pulled her hand away from his as the door burst open and Benji hurled himself at the bed. He managed to cup his crown jewels as the entire weight of an eight-year-old boy landed on his stomach.
‘Morning Benji,’ he groaned. ‘How are you so heavy?’
‘It’s because I eat all of my vegetables,’ Benji said proudly. ‘It’s ten o’clock and mummy said I could come and get you because Bessie the Cow had a baby last night, and I want to go and see it, but mummy said that I had to wait for you, Laurel.’
Nate couldn’t bring himself to be mad with Benji, because he was so excited.
‘Laurel, why are you wearing one of Uncle Nate’s shirts? Don’t you have any pyjamas?’
She laughed.
‘I know Bessie the Cow had a calf last night, because me and Uncle Nate helped her. It was super late, so I was wearing my pyjamas and they got really dirty.’
‘You helped?’ Benji looked at her wide-eyed. ‘And you helped too?’
‘I did,’ Nate said, shuffling to get more comfortable. ‘But Laurel did most of the work.’
‘Can we go and see her, can we go and see? I want to see the baby cow,’ Benji said, bouncing.
