She hurried over to the freezer, and Kane thought, She said jeez.
The ice-pack was a huge improvement to his evening. After the stew, they ate ice cream and watched the news. As the fires were now a five-day-old story, Kane was thankfully not on it. Then they watched The Daily Show, which made them laugh so hard they had to rewind it a couple of times to hear everything.
Before Ellen could switch to Colbert, Kane muted the TV. “Ellen,” he said to the top of her head, which was leaning against his chest.
“What? We’re missing it.”
“They yell ‘Stephen’ for five minutes anyway. Listen.” He pushed her away from him so he could watch her. “Let me stay the night.”
She went very still, her eyes sliding away from his.
“Not like that, obviously. Look, I’m harmless. I’m out of action here. And you need to remember what it’s like to fall asleep—I mean it, don’t look at me like that—fall asleep in a man’s arms.” He moved his head so he was in her line of sight. “You need to trust me.”
She sighed, looking unconvinced. “Fall asleep.”
“Scout’s honor.”
“With you.”
“For lack of another eligible male in the room.”
She looked over to the screen that separated her bed from the living room. “There’s not much room.”
“I don’t take up much space. Just give me six square feet, I’ll be fine.”
“You’ll be sleeping standing up, then.”
She got up, went to the door, and brought his bag inside.
“I’m not saying I trust you,” she said. “But I don’t... not.”
Kane beamed at her, but suddenly the travel and the jetlag, and the physical and emotional trauma of the past few hours caught up with him, and he fell back against the cushions with a groan of relief.
She was adorable. He watched her fidget, cleaning the bedroom area that didn’t need cleaning, straightening her bedside table as if he gave a damn what angle everything was at, apologizing for not having something similar on his side of the bed, asking him if he needed a lamp or towels or water or anything else. She ran into the bathroom with her pajamas when she could have just told him to stay on the other side of the screen.
Kane stripped down to his boxers and got into bed, loving the scent of her on the cream-colored sheets, and the pure masculine pleasure of immersing himself in a woman’s world.
Ellen came out of the bathroom and froze at the sight of him. “Oh, crap,” she said, her eyes dark. “Could you please not be all... chesty and bicep-y and... hairy without warning me first?”
He laughed and flipped her sheets down. She lay down next to him on her back, just her head turned to him. Kane kissed her gently and took a hold of the hand that was closest to him. Right away his eyes drooped for real, which was a shame because he wanted to enjoy the feel of her for longer.
They stayed like that for a few seconds, or Kane may have slept a little, but then she moved forward and kissed him. “I missed you so much when you were away,” she whispered, and Kane fell in love with her so hard he couldn’t breathe for the ache.
