Betrayal (Blood Haze: Book Three) A Paranormal Romance by Tara Shuler Read Free Book Online Page B

of whatever room I
was in, and I suddenly felt very guilty. I threw the covers back
and padded across the room, kneeling in front of him and placing my
hand gently on his.
    “Alexi?” I whispered.
    I startled him, and his head jerked up
quickly. Seeing me, he relaxed slightly, but he was still
tense.
    “What it is? Is something wrong?” Alexi
asked, with a concerned edge in his voice.
    “No, no,” I told him. “Nothing’s wrong. I was
just wondering if you’d trade places with me.”
    “Trade places? What do you mean?”
    “I mean, you go sleep in the bed and I’ll
sleep in the chair.”
    “What? No! Why would you want to do
that?”
    “This chair looks awfully uncomfortable,
Alexi. When was the last time you slept in a bed?”
    “I do not remember, but it is not
important.”
    “Alexi, you’ve done so much for everyone
else, lately. You deserve to get some decent sleep.”
    “I am fine, Alice. Just go back to bed.”
    “No,” I refused flatly. “If you’re not going
to sleep in the bed, then I’m going to sleep on the floor.”
    I stood up and traipsed over to the bed
defiantly. I snatched a pillow and blanket off the bed, and then I
tossed the pillow into the floor and lied down.
    “Please do not be so difficult,” Alexi
groaned.
    “Nope! Don’t want to hear it!” I teased,
turning over and facing away from him.
    “You should be sleeping,” Alexi grumbled.
    “I am,” I joked.
    “Be serious, Alice.”
    “I am very serious!”
    “If you do not get up and get back into that
bed, I’m going to drag you there, myself!” Alexi demanded.
    “Then I’ll just get right back out!” I said
defiantly.
    Alexi sighed.
    “What do you want?” he asked.
    “I want you to sleep in the bed, and I will
sleep in the chair,” I told him.
    “I will not agree to that.”
    “Then what will you agree to?”
    “What if I drag a mattress in here and sleep
on the floor?” he offered.
    “No, Alexi. I want you to sleep in a real
bed.”
    “A mattress is part of a real bed.”
    “It’s not the same thing, and you know
it.”
    “Please, Alice. Just get some sleep. I will
be fine!”
    “Nope! Shan’t!”
    Alexi growled in exasperation.
    “I am not leaving you, and I am not letting
you sleep in a chair. If you will not accept me sleeping on a
mattress on the floor… well, I believe this is what they call an
impasse.”
    “For goodness sake, Alexi! Just sleep in the
damned bed!” I shouted.
    “That is your bed, and I want you in it this
minute!” he demanded, suddenly towering over me.
    I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.
    “Alright, compromise,” I said. “We’ll take
shifts.”
    “No.”
    “Fine, sleep in the bed with me.”
    “Absolutely not!”
    “Why not?”
    “It is inappropriate.”
    “Alexi, Liam’s in the room. It’s not
like…”
    “I said absolutely not,” Alexi said. “We are
not yet married, and I will do no such thing.”
    “It’s the twenty-first century, Alexi. You
don’t have to worry about tainting my honor or anything.”
    “I just do not think it is appropriate.”
    “Please?” I begged, looking up to him with my
best set of puppy dog eyes.
    Alexi’s mouth twisted into a frustrated
smirk.
    “Fine,” he relented. “But we will place
pillows between us, and I will sleep on top of the blankets.”
    “No. We both sleep under the blankets, but
the pillows between us will be fine.”
    “Deal,” he said, extending his hand.
    I took his hand and shook it, and he pulled
me closer to him. My body was touching his, and he put his other
hand on my shoulder.
    “I have relented to appease you,” he said
sternly, bending his face closer to mine. “But, I am going on
record as objecting to this, and I still think it is
inappropriate.”
    “Duly noted,” I agreed, trying to suppress a
chuckle.
    He started to pull his hand away, but I
gripped it harder and pulled him back toward me. I put my other
hand behind his head and pulled it down, and I planted a kiss on
his