The Puppet Assassin [TTR sequel]

The Puppet Assassin - Ch 26 [sleeping with the wolf]

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I drifted between sleeping and awake, my head feeling slightly stuffy, as it did whenever I slept past dawn. I wasn’t used to sleeping while the sun was up in the sky. In fact, the day must be a warm one because it felt hot under the covers when, usually, at the time I woke up, I would feel the chill of a winter morning. I flexed my back and jolted awake, completely startled, when my mattress didn’t give beneath me. My eyes snapped open and I took in the pale olive skin of the chest that I was lying on top of. My heart felt like it was jumping out from behind my ribcage.

I now sensed the heaviness and warmth of an arm draped lazily over my back and felt the rise and fall as he breathed slowly. Larkin. This didn’t seem real. I didn’t move an inch. Bollocks. I was lying on Larkin’s chest… his very firm chest.

I lifted my head, moving very slowly to avoid waking him – what a disaster that would be – and looked over to the side of the bed where I had been lying. Then I realised that we were lying in the middle. I’d love to know how I got on top of him when I know with absolute certainty that I don’t move an inch when I sleep. My hand twitched on his shoulder. I had to get off him, I had to get out of the bed, without waking him up. I felt myself blush when I imagined him opening his eyes, smiling lazily and tightening his grip on me… and then… Damn! I seriously had to get off him.

One of my legs was splayed across his quads while the other rested half on his leg and half off. I shifted upwards, taking my time, so that I’d have room to lift my leg over him. I kept my pressure light on my hands, scared the slightest flinch would make him stir awake. But he continued to breathe deeply, contentedly. I watched his face for a moment. I rarely saw him with his eyes shut, mainly only for the millisecond in which he blinked, but now I could take a full inspection without being embarrassed by those teasing eyes.

He actually had long eyelashes. I’d never really taken notice of them, never had the courage to look in his eyes for long, and they made him seem a little less intense… a little feminine, even. I smiled at my thoughts and then winced. If he ever heard me say that to him, he’d probably turn into that… wolf again, like he had that time he’d healed me in the kitchen, like he’d have to prove his masculinity.

He took a deep breath and my gaze was drawn down to his parted lips. My chest felt very warm all of a sudden. Those lips were very smooth, and very coaxing. I remembered their feel very clearly and my own lips began to throb lightly. What if I moved upwards and just touched my mouth to his? Would he wake up? Would he dream? Or perhaps he’d just snore in my face. My arms began to tremble, but it wasn’t due to exertion. I needed to get off this bed.

I slipped my straight leg off him onto the mattress at his side while my splayed leg lifted my weight up. I then pulled that leg upwards, removing its weight from his quad and raising it until I knew I could move it over his body without touching him. I was thrown off balance, however, when he took another deep breath and shifted slightly, moving his body to the side a little which meant he was turned into me. I let out a whooshing breath as I felt it. Oh boy… oh my gosh. Shit. Well, now I understood while they called it morning wood. I dropped my raised, trembling knee, which meant I pressed closer against him. My breaths were suddenly a lot shorter and faster and my heart all but galloped right out of me. Well.

Well, that – that’s big… I couldn’t think of anything else. I mean, I could feel it right through the sweats he was wearing and still… Oh boy. I made myself concentrate on what was right in front of my face, his chest. The skin, lighter than the pigment of his arms, legs and face, made the light and shadow of his muscle shaped chest a lot easier to see. My vision moved up to his broad shoulders and I saw the tan line that marked where his training uniform must end. It wasn’t completely defined, not starkly obvious but it was like the tan of his arm slowly faded until it reached the soft, olive colour of his natural skin. And – and it was relatively bare, as in, no gross amounts of chest hair. I’d seen the men train without tops and I’d seen some who’d had a carpet of hair. Some had had just a little vee that trailed down to – down to where their pants began and –

Larkin’s breath hitched and then he took a deep breath in and pushed a little against me. The feel of – of it was like being splashed with scalding water. Oh damn, Dizelde! What are you doing? You’re supposed to be getting off! I lifted my leg again, pleased when it held firm and shifted my hips slightly to support myself as I shifted the leg over to my side. I had to push into him a little, to keep my balance, and I had to bite my lip, hard, to not make any noise. I finally got my leg over and rested it down on top of my other leg. My lower half was no longer touching him and I only felt the, uh, wood on my hip, and only slightly. But somehow, the lighter touch, made it feel a little bit… erotic.

Now came the hard part. I had to move from under his arm and take my weight completely off him. I doubted he slept heavily and the fact that I’d gotten halfway, while relieving, did surprise me. Unless he was pretending…

I looked up at his face, taking in its relaxed features, his contented expression. If he was awake, he was a damn good actor. I lifted my chest up slowly and moved downwards but I couldn’t help brushing along his skin, I couldn’t lift myself up high enough to avoid the touch. I nearly dropped down onto him heavily when a short, satisfied sound came out of his mouth. I looked up quickly but his eyes were closed and the heavy breathing was continuing. Still asleep. I couldn’t stop the smile spreading. He was dreaming.

I slid down a little more and turned a little so that his hand shifted on my back, moving back towards his side. As it reached my hip, I helped it to the mattress with a light grip on his wrist, keeping my eyes on his face. I felt excited. Somehow this was more adrenalin spiking than breaking any lock or alarm had been. I was so close to moving off him. I pulled my arm off his shoulder and lifted it, bringing it beside me on the mattress. Now I just had to get the rest of my chest, shoulders and the other arm off of him. This part would be the easiest!

“Dizelde.”

I froze but didn’t panic. I couldn’t believe how much passion and longing he’d infused into my name, that one word. It was almost like a groan of want. He must be having a… pleasant dream. I checked his face, wondering if he was smiling in his sleep, and felt my body go limp as the flash of blue drew me to his open eyes. He didn’t look like he’d just woken up from sleep, dazed and cloudy. His eyes were sharp and very, very focused.

“Shit!” I instantly pushed myself off him, moving faster than I’d ever moved, and tried to get my limbs to work so that I could at least crawl off the bed.

But he was still faster, even as he was still getting his bearings after waking up. In one swift move, he’d pinned me to the mattress and now I felt that… oh damn, that – that bough pressing into my abdomen. I could barely breathe.

He bared his teeth. I couldn’t even call it a grin, not in the position I was in right now.

“Didn’t pick you to be the swearing type, even in the morning, goldilocks.” He shifted his weight onto one arm and moved some of my flyaway hair of my forehead. I wondered if he could feel my struggle to stay very, very still.

“Don’t have much to say? Christ, you woke me up in a way I definitely didn’t expect. I bet you took ages just to get in the position I discovered you in, huh? All that work and I woke up just in time to catch you.” His eyes were warm, their colour a bottle blue, like his iris was built up of mosaicked blue lapis lazuli. “I suppose unlucky for you but one hell of an enjoyable wake up call for me.”

His free hand moved down to my waist and he took a light grip on it, his thumb brushing gently back and forth over my stomach. It was turning me into a hot, melted mass of flesh and bone. His head came down and I could only sigh when his lips touched the curve of my neck. They moved down to my shoulder, to where the collar of my top began, and then up to where my pulse was thrumming in my neck. His grip suddenly got very tight and he growled into my neck. I could feel the vibrations of it on my skin.

Suddenly he shoved himself off me and got off the bed. He faced the door and paused. I felt suddenly cold but pushed myself up a little. I was about to say something but he spoke before I could.

“I’ll wait,” he said, his voice halfway between strained and husky. “But, please puppet… don’t make me wait long.” He ran a hand through his hair and I stared at his shoulder blades and back muscles as they rippled and shifted with the movement. “I’m going to have a shower,” he grunted and left.

I sat there for a very long moment, contemplating the fact that, whilst he’d been at my throat, I’d wanted much, much more. And I wondered what he would’ve done if I’d gotten a word in before he’d left and told him that he didn’t have to wait any longer. Now, as I cooled down, the thought made me oh-so-nervous. But I still didn’t change my mind.