“You can take your pants off,” I offered, seizing the opportunity.
He moved a bit, and then those bare, warm legs were tangled with mine while our sides pressed together.
“Thanks for earlier,” I murmured to him, as sleep began to take over.
“Right back at you,” he murmured back, his leg brushing mine a bit. It didn’t give me goosebumps, but it made me feel warm and calm.
We wokeup in a sweaty tangle, as expected. After so much time dealing with the climax’s shit, it was heavenly to wake up feeling calm and at peace instead of horny and uncomfortable.
Zed dragged me into his arms, and I relaxed against him for a few minutes, my eyes closed.
Waking up with someone was nice, I decided. Really nice.
His hands teased my hair and hip, and we were both quiet as we cuddled. It wasn’t awkward like it had been when we tried the night before; it was just comfortable.
“You asked me if I was going to hit you last night,” he murmured to me.
My comfort fled all at once, and I didn’t respond.
“I assume that has to do with the past you don’t want to talk about?”
My stomach clenched tightly.
“You don’t need to respond, but I did want to clear the air.” His voice was soft and unassuming.
I was still tense, though.
“I won’t ever ask you to tell me something you’re not comfortable talking about. If you don’t want to give me details, then don’t. That doesn’t offend me in any way. But if I ever do something or say something to trigger that fear, or those memories, please tell me so I can stop immediately, and so I’ll know not to do it again. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt you, June.”
His fingers were still in my hair and on my hip, his words soft. Our eyes didn’t meet, but I knew he meant the words.
I didn’t know whether he would be able to prevent himself from lashing out in fury when the emotion inevitably hit, but I did believe that he didn’t want to hurt me. At least for the moment.
“Okay,” I whispered.
“Okay, you’ll tell me?” he asked, just to be sure.
“Okay, I’ll tell you if you do something that triggers me. My fear isn’t going anywhere in the near future, though. It’s instinct.”
Zed’s head moved slightly as he nodded. “Thank you.”
My eyes squeezed shut.
Now he was thanking me for agreeing to tell him if he was ever scaring me, or making me think he would hurt me?
He was really fighting hard to convince me that he was as good of a guy as he seemed like. Only time would tell if that was really the case, though. I sure as hell wouldn’t be getting married in a couple of months, like Del had.
We stayed in bed a bit longer before my phone dinged somewhere in my room. I’d left it there when I went down for cake, and hadn’t brought it into Zed’s room with me after I showered.
“I forgot to wash your laundry,” he murmured to me. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine. You loaned me comfier clothes,” I mumbled back.
A thought crossed my mind, and I sat up quickly. "It's probably Del—she got induced last night.”
Detangling my legs from Zed took a minute, and then I was stumbling across the hall, rushing to my phone.
Grabbing it off the nightstand, I dropped to my ass on the edge of the mattress as I opened up the text from Rocco.