He didn’t want her to wake up, and he would love nothing more than to go back to sleep and stay like that for days. Weeks.
Fuck.
He wanted this to be forever.
“Oh,” a soft gasp whispered against his chest. Blushing deeply, Lilliane lifted her head from his chest and looked down at him. Her brown eyes were still full of sleep, but her smile had all the mischief he usually did. “You make a good pillow.” She poked his side and laughed, the sound throaty after a full night’s sleep. “I actually slept! Again, I think you have magic powers.”
He chuckled. “Nope. I just kept watch.”
“But you slept, though, right?”
“Yup.” He spent a little while watching her sleep, but that was way high on the creep meter. Especially when the woman he was watching sleep had a vampire stalker. “What time is it?”
Lilliane shifted to the other side of the bed and gasped. “It’s eight! I haven’t slept this late in years! Years!”
Atlas laughed again and stretched with a big yawn. “No wonder I feel so lazy. I should’ve been at work an hour ago.”
Her eyes went round. “Shit. Is someone going to show up here to give you shit?”
“I’m the alpha. No one will show up here, but there will be a bunch of rumors about it.”
“I’m making your life a lot harder, huh?”
“Nope. Not really,” he assured her, turning to face her. “Don’t worry about it. I’m a big boy, and I can hold my own with the town.”
“You should go.”
He didn’t move. Not even when Lilliane sat up and stretched, revealing the smooth skin of her stomach as she did. He wanted to lick the skin, grip it, and mark her as his.
He huffed out a breath. Nope.
That wasn’t the right thought to be having right now. Not when they were in his bed, and he was rock hard, desperate for another shower. His water bill was going to be through the roof for all the shower jerks he was having to take.
“I’m gonna work from home today. Need to figure out some stuff.”
“Some stuff about my situation?” she asked shyly.
He knew she would hate it, but he was honest. “Yeah.”
“Then the least I could do is cook you breakfast.” She hopped out of bed and skipped to the door.
He was right behind her. “Oh, no, you don’t. I don’t trust you in the kitchen.”
She gasped, trying to be shocked, but her giggle gave her away. “It might be a good idea not to trust me.”
He stepped in front of her as he took the stairs down. She laughed behind him.
“Is breakfast gonna be something as sweet as last night’s dessert?” she asked.
“Do you want it to be?”
She gripped her hips. “Probably not. These get fuller real fast when I go overboard with carbs and sugar.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. He closed the distance between them and gripped her hips. “These are amazing. Could do with a bit more fullness. Chocolate chip pancakes it is.”
“You’re a bad influence,” she whispered as he continued to hold her.
“Yeah. I’m getting that,” he growled back. “Make the coffee?”
