Shift Happens (Providence Family Ties 2)

“Men don’t have that excuse.” When she shook her head and shrugged, I asked, “Are you a cuddler or a spacer?”

Looking confused, she tilted her head to the side. “Huh?”

“You know—do you cuddle or need your space?” When she just looked at me, I added, “A fork or a spoon? Wait, no, a big spoon or a little spoon?”

“I don’t… know?”

Grinning at her, I poked her. “Sure you do. Am I going to wake up with you wrapped around me, or are you going to starfish and take the whole bed?”

“I really don’t know,” she said quietly.

I didn’t read anything into that response and reached for the remote for the television.

“Just so you know, I’m one or the other. I can either take all of the space, and you’ll be left hanging off the edge of the bed. Or I’ll wrap my arms around you, and you’ll be fighting for air.”

“That doesn’t sound appealing. Why can’t you just stick to your side?”

Flicking through the options until I found the movie app I was looking for, I shrugged. “I’ve got no control over my body when I sleep.”

Settling on a real life crime series, I hit play and dropped the remote in the space between us.

“Well, I guess you’re going to have to put up with me talking in my sleep. Don’t get upset if I knee you in the balls if you wrap yourself around me, though. I also have no control over my body when I sleep.”

Raising an eyebrow at her, I pointed out, “You do that when you’re awake, too, so I don’t think we can blame you being asleep for busting my balls.”

Bursting out laughing, she wriggled around, trying to find a comfortable position.

When I realized she was too far up the pillows to find one, I got up on my knees, and shoved one hand under her thighs and the other around her back, and moved her down the mattress, until she was where she’d be able to get comfy.

Once she was in the right place, I dropped back down and quickly yanked the comforter up over my chest.

See, her skin felt so soft, and I hadn’t realized she wasn’t wearing shorts under the long t-shirt she had on, so my palm had skimmed across her butt cheeks and the crotch of her panties accidentally. Knowing how close I was to the area I’d seen only days ago, and remembering what the quick flash had looked like, had an immediate effect on my body.

So, yeah, I needed the camouflage the comforter would give me before she crawled out of the bedroom screaming for help.

“We’re watching this?” she asked, her eyes on the screen as a blurred photo of a crime scene came onto the screen, and the detective described the scene he’d investigated.

“Are you squeamish?”

“No, but I had you pegged for an action movie guy.”

“I am,” I admitted. “But this is relevant to my major, so I tend to watch them and listen to the details they reveal on it and how the investigations played out.”

“What made you decide to major in forensic science?”

The answer wasn’t as exciting as many people thought.

“You’re expecting me to say that I either found a dead body or lost someone whose death needed to be investigated, aren’t you?” When she nodded, I smiled at her.

“It’s nothing like that. Do you remember when that old woman who owned a small convenience store on Portland Street was murdered?”

“Yeah,” she winced. “That was so sad.”

“Well, I was going past it on my bike when they discovered her body, and I stood back as the police and crime scene investigators arrived to process it. For some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about it and trying to figure out who’d done it and why. The next day, I went back and put plastic bags over my shoes, then did a walk around of the area to see if I could find anything.”

I had her full attention at this. “Did you?”

“Yup. I was the one who found the pile of cigarette butts they got the killer’s DNA from. After that, I guess it lit a fire inside me, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.”

This time it was Sasha who rolled onto her side to watch me. “I’m not trying to ruin it for you at all, I think it’s great you’re doing what you’re doing, but isn’t it different finding cigarettes and having to go into the store where her body was with her skull crushed?”

“It is,” I agreed. “But it’s still gathering evidence and piecing together a puzzle so a family can have some peace of mind that whoever killed their loved one is behind bars.”

“How are you finding it so far?”

Her interest in what I was doing was warming me up inside.