I expected to wake up in a cold sweat, buried underneath the fluffy white comforter, but something was different. There wasn’t a damp imprint of my body on the mattress. Quite the opposite, actually. I felt warm. Inexplicably so.
There was a firm weight down my back and along my waist that seemed to keep the cold of the hotel room at bay. Even with my mind barely conscious, blind pleasure filled me. I felt…safe. Not really a familiar sensation with my lifestyle.
A contented sigh slipped past my lips. I snuggled deeper into my comfortable spot, reaching over my waist to pull the covers in tighter so I could make myself a cocoon. I touched something smooth. Not the blanket. Firmer. Confused and still mostly asleep, I tried to stretch but my heels brushed against a pair of rather large bare feet. A muscular chest met my spine, melting into it perfectly. Definitely male.
Wait, what?
My eyes flew open. I sat up in my bed to find Michael lying asleep next to me with one large arm draped across my hips.
I scrambled backwards in a flustered panic, remembering it was only a Queen-sized bed seconds too late. I tumbled off the edge and hit the floor, which knocked the wind out of me. However, the enormous thud woke up the intruding archangel.
“Jor?” he croaked in his ultra-deep morning voice, peeking over the edge of the mattress.
I stood up in a flash and shrieked, “What the hell are you doing?”
He frowned. “Making sure you didn’t crack your skull?”
I ground my back teeth. “Not that, jackass. Why are you in bed with me?”
Michael raked the hair out of his face so he could see me better. “Oh. Jordan, you were tossing and turning the entire night. I couldn’t keep waking you up or you’d never get any rest—”
“—so you just thought there’s no harm in crawling in bed with me? Have you lost your mind?”
He continued looking confused. “We’ve shared a bed before. What’s the big deal?”
“What’s the big deal? You had my permission when that happened.”
“I was just trying to help.”
I pressed my fingertips against my temple. A headache was forthcoming. The hot blood rushing through me felt liable to pop out of my neck at any second. “I’m not a child. I can handle a few bad dreams by myself.”
Finally, he got irritated. “So what? We’re just going to pretend like you weren’t about to start drinking last night because the nightmare freaked you out so badly?”
“Sounds good to me.”
He shook his head. “Denial isn’t going to help you get better. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable and invaded your privacy, but I didn’t know what else to do. You were in pain.”
“Fine. Let me enlighten you. Life is pain. I’ll get over it.”
He glared at me. “So if the same thing were happening to me and I told you to just back off and forget about it, what would you say?”
That shut me up for a couple of seconds. He had a point. Sort of. Not that it mattered because he was clearly missing the big picture. “Michael, you’ve been on earth long enough to know that there are some lines you just shouldn’t cross. Last night was one of them. If you don’t see that, then we have nothing else to talk about.”
I stalked off to the bathroom, not answering when he called after me. The door slammed shut between us—louder than a gunshot. I stood in the middle of the room and wrapped my arms around myself.