specialized in that, so she wouldn’t know where else to turn to get one. Now that she was laying still, it was starting to get a little chilly, but she would concentrate on something else to help her forget it.
Suddenly the room lit up. “Why are you sleeping out here?” Tyson’s gruff voice made her think of dark chocolate and sex, and the voice warmed her up quickly.
“I didn’t think you wanted me to sleep in bed with you.” She sat up to look at him as he stood there looking confused.
“Why would you think that?”
“You said you’d left some towels for me, and then you told me you were going to ‘hit the sack.’ There was never an offer to come to bed when I was done with the shower.” She watched his face and wondered if she’d just been being silly because he looked like he wasn’t understanding her logic, and it was making her think she’d been making a big deal out of nothing.
“I didn’t know I had to offer a formal invitation for you to come to bed. You slept with me when we were at the other apartment.”
“We’d had sex and then we’d fallen asleep; there was nothing to get confused. There has been a lot going on with us today, and I wasn’t sure if you wanted to sleep — in the real sense of the word — with me or if you wanted some space.” She was getting ready to drop this whole damn thing because she was feeling sillier and sillier as this whole conversation continued.
“I haven’t been in a lot of situations with women where it lasts more than one night, so you’ll have to excuse me if I’m not very good at this.” He walked over and held out his hand. “Come to bed, Ella.”
She grabbed his hand and stood up to follow him to his room. He settled her into bed before going to the other side to get under the covers. They were cloaked in darkness, but she couldn’t turn off all the thoughts that consumed her.
“Where else do you think I could get another identity beside the Reapers?” Ella broke into that because she wanted him to at least start thinking of someone because trying to stay on the straight and narrow didn’t allow her to have been in acquaintance with anyone who would know that information.
“There are a few people around town, but that is pretty expensive.”
“I’m sure, but if I have to make a move out of town, it would be better for me if I could move somewhere else.”
“Don’t you have probation?” he asked.
“I do have probation.” She couldn’t believe that she’d almost forgotten that part. Fuck . What was she going to do now? She couldn’t leave, and she couldn’t stay. Her situation seemed to be getting worse and worse. The woman who thought day and night about getting out of prison and staying on the narrow path of the do-gooder had fallen off as soon as she’d eaten that breakfast with Bruce earlier in the week. Maybe she could call her probation officer and see what they could do, but she didn’t want to tip them off if they told her no and she had to leave anyway.
“Don’t worry about it now, sweetheart, just get some rest, and hope things look better in the morning.”
Sleep? There was no way in the world she was going to be able to sleep. Her mind whirled with overwhelming thoughts and fears. It was hard to lay still and even harder to breathe.
“Shhhh…” Tyson pulled her into him so he was aligned and nestled against her back. That shouldn’t have been able to shake her out of whatever had been going on with her, but it did. She was able to take a deep breath, thankful that whatever collision her body seemed to be steaming towards had been blocked by the comfort of the man who confused her at every turn. She snuggled into him and turned her thoughts off. He smelled good, and he felt even better. Concentrating on that was a pleasure.
CHAPTER FIVE
He didn’t know how he pulled it off, but he got out of the house without Ella asking