You can read almost popped out of my mouth, but I shut it in time.
“Yes.” I snatched it out of his hand. “Thank you.”
“Read.” He snuggled back in, curling around me tighter. “Like voice.”
To read shifter romance to the daemon or not to read shifter romance to the daemon.
Ha.
Like I entertained that notion for a hot second. I did not want Asa to know what I read before bed. There was nothing wrong with reading romance. No matter how spicy. There was nothing wrong with loving to read romance. Even if it scorched off your eyebrows. But people tended to judge you for it. Harshly. And I was doing my best not to hex people for being stupid. Not that I expected Asa to judge me for my taste in books. I just…didn’t want him thinking I was fetishizing shifters. Even if he technically wasn’t one?
I also might be worried after Meg’s throwaway comment about horn licking that the daemon might get, well, invested in the storyline? No matter what Clay said, I couldn’t view Asa and the daemon as one person. I responded to them differently, as if they were individuals, and they each reacted to me in their own distinct ways.
“You know what?” I faked a stretch. “That spell really took it out of me.” I yawned. “I think I’ll sleep too.”
“With me?” His delight lit up his face. “I make room.”
The daemon’s version of making room for me was to scoot to the edge of the mattress, which might have worked had he not taken up the whole thing in the first place. Even on his side, I had maybe a foot of space to wedge myself into if I wanted to make good on my lie.
Reading the situation, he shoved up on his elbow. “I sleep on floor.”
“No.” I pushed him down and wiggled in. “You sleep here.”
Careful not to invade my personal space more than necessary, he kept his hands to himself and his body on his half of an invisible line he seemed to have drawn across the mattress. I didn’t have to wait long to experience the door phenomenon up close and personal as the whole bed shook with his deep snores. It made slinking onto the floor simple, and I stood over the daemon with a fond smile. He was cute with his feet hanging off the end of the bed, one horn stabbing his—well, my—pillow, and his lips motorboating.
Unwilling to leave his side, I took my book and curled up with it in the corner of the room. I didn’t have a chair, but the mountain of blankets made a comfy sitting area. I snuggled in, cracked my book, and read.
* * *
A text chimeon my phone woke me, and I jolted awake in bed, confused how I got there.
“Everything okay?” Asa’s soft voice made me bounce on the squishy mattress. “Rue?”
“Just disoriented.” I wiped a hand over my face. “This is not where I fell asleep.”
“You were on the floor when I woke.” He sat in my book nook. “It couldn’t have been comfortable.”
“You were shot. Multiple times. You’re the one who needed to be comfortable. I was too wired to sleep. That’s why I gave your daemon the bed. He was tired and…” I wasn’t sure how much he recalled, but the least I could do was tell him. “I found him asleep outside my door. I couldn’t leave him out there.”
“Him?” A hint of a smile shadowed his mouth. “Or me?”
A flush exploded up the back of my neck into my already red face. “Both?”
The faintest glimmer of pleasure sparked across his features before he dipped his chin.
“I apologize for interrupting your rest.” He toyed with the blankets. “I didn’t mean to come to you.”
“You took bullets for me. You can pajama party with me any time.”
“I’ll remember that.” He peeked up at me through his lashes. “Do you need privacy?”
“We’ve already slept together,” I joked, then bit the inside of my cheek. “You meant my phone.”
His soft chuckles spread through me, erasing the worst of my embarrassment.
“You’re fine,” I assured him. “Aside from you and Clay, I only get messages from the girls. And Colby.”
Sad how I didn’t have to break a sweat to make my social life sound pathetic. I was lucky to have Camber and Arden. It was hard to make friends when so much of my life was a lie. Mentoring went over easier. It was a classic case of do as I say, not as I do. I pretended with the girls a lot too. I stuck to script for years.