I want to take him up on the offer, but I shake my head. “I would, but I was planning to nap out here until Parker comes home.” I watch Oliver’s face closely for any signs of hurt or jealousy. I don’t find any, but I still feel compelled to explain myself. Oliver might be completely okay with this unconventional relationship, but I can’t seem to shake the guilt entirely. “It’s New Year’s Eve. I don’t want him to come home to a sleeping house. I want to at least say good night. And I should probably warn him about Charlie.”
Oliver chuckles again. “Yeah, that’s probably wise. He’s as likely to kill a stranger in our home as Illren.”
I laugh. “The difference is he would ask questions first.”
“True.” Oliver covers a yawn with his fist. “All right. I need to sleep.” He kisses my cheek. “Good night, Nora.”
I grin. “No class tomorrow, so I’ll see you in the morning for once.”
“Late morning, I hope. It is four a.m.”
The man has a point. “Okay, maybe noon.”
I wake up in my own bed with a dead-to-the-world vampire wrapped around me like an octopus. It’s not the first time Parker has used me as his personal body pillow. It started about a week ago. The first night he snuck into my room he stayed on top of the covers, but it’s cool in the den—Terrance can’t handle a lot of heat—so the second night he snuggled under the covers with me, and that was the end of my personal space.
He never asked if he could start sleeping in my bed, and he’s never mentioned it. I don’t bring it up, either. Surprisingly, I don’t mind. He’s never tried to make a play. It’s not a sexual thing. I think he really just needs the company. I think he’s lonely and feeling a little disconnected from the rest of the clan.
As the only vampire in the family, he’s the only one of us on a truly nocturnal schedule. After the whole human-hunters-killing-fey issue was settled, we all went back to our normal work schedules, and Parker started his new job as the Deputy Director of the Detroit Division of the FUA. Since then, we hardly ever see him.
Oliver has his last semester of grad school classes in the mornings and then works until midnight, so he mostly crashes as soon as he gets home. Terrance, Rook, and I usually drag ourselves through the door between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m. and do the same. Illren’s schedule seems more erratic, but he’s not really the let’s hang out type. In truth, Terrance, Rook, and I see Parker for an hour or two after he wakes up each evening, and Oliver sees him at work, but that’s it. In the summer, when sunset is as late as 9:00 p.m., we have the potential to not see Parker at all. I need to do something about that. I just don’t know what. In the meantime, I’ll let him continue sneaking into my bed, and I’ll just enjoy our snuggle time.
I usually disentangle myself from him and get ready for my day without disturbing him, but I missed him last night, and I don’t want to get up yet. I must have fallen asleep on the couch, and he brought me to bed without waking me, because I’m still in my work clothes.
I roll over and kiss his cheek. “Parker,” I murmur.
He shifts in his sleep, pulls me closer, and nuzzles his face into my neck. It seems it’s going to take a little more effort to wake him up. Vampires can wake during sunlight hours, but they’re usually pretty groggy and can never stay awake for long. I don’t need him awake for long, I just want to say hello. “Parker.”
He groans and nuzzles me again.
Feeling bold, I slide my hands under his T-shirt, thinking my chilly fingers on his bare skin will do the trick. He doesn’t stir, but it definitely wakes me up. I’ve never had the pleasure of exploring his abs like this. His skin is so smooth it’s like silk beneath my fingers, and the line of fine hair running from his belly button to his waistline is particularly interesting.
Parker’s body tenses beneath my touch. He lets out a low moan of pleasure, and his hands start rubbing my back. “If you’re feeling me up, does that mean I get to return the favor?” he asks, his voice husky and thick with sleep.
Still feeling brave, I drag my fingers up the firm ridges of his abs. “Maybe.”
His hands immediately seek out the hem of my shirt. Instead of slipping his fingers beneath the fabric like I did, he pushes my shirt up. I follow his prompt and take it off. He tosses it to the floor and pulls me back down to him, letting his hands roam over all of my exposed skin. I shiver with pleasure and snuggle closer. “Sorry. I won’t keep you up long. I just wanted to say hello. You were supposed to wake me up last night.”
His eyes are closed, and his body feels completely relaxed as he continues to run his fingertips along my skin. “You looked too peaceful.” He still sounds groggy, but it’s a happy groggy. A content groggy.
“I wanted to wish you a Happy New Year. Now you owe me a kiss.”
Parker sucks in a deep breath as if to clear the sleepiness from his brain, then rolls on top of me and finds my lips with his. His body weighs me down, and where that would normally trigger a panic attack, Parker’s movements are so languid that I actually enjoy the feel of him pressing me into the mattress.
The kiss is deep at first but quickly morphs into something slow and relaxed. There’s something different about this kiss than his normal ones. Parker’s too sleepy to really worry about losing control. He’s not overthinking it for once. He’s acting on instinct, and the result is a slow, sensual kiss that is sexy as sin. He’s making love to my mouth as if he has all the time in the world. I would stay in bed with him like this all day if I thought he could manage it, but I know my time is limited, so I take advantage of this rare, totally relaxed kiss for as long as I can. One kiss becomes two, then three, until he finally collapses onto his back and pulls me against his chest. “Happy New Year, Nora. I love you,” he murmurs, drifting off to sleep again.
I smile against his chest and wonder if he’ll even remember this moment when he wakes up. I hope so. “Sweet dreams, Parker.” I kiss his cheek, then roll out of bed to get ready for the day.
When I finally emerge from my room, showered and ready to go, I find the rest of my clan hanging out in the living room. I’m the last one up, and the guys all seem to be enjoying their day off. Rook and Terrance are deeply concentrated on a game of pool, and Oliver and Charlie are engrossed in some kind of shooting video game. Even Illren is present. He’s pulled the coffee table in front of a chair and is sharpening his knives and sword on it. But for him, that’s being social.
None of them notice my presence, so I take the opportunity to simply watch them. I’m glad they’re hanging out. All of my guys get along for the most part, but they haven’t really bonded with each other much. Hopefully this is the beginning of them becoming more of a family than just all being the men in my life.
“Look out!” Oliver shouts. “You’ve got a man on your six. You need to build cover.”
One of the characters on the giant screen breaks out into some funky dance, and Charlie starts frantically pressing buttons on his controller. “What the—I’m dancing. Why am I dancing? I can’t move!”
Oliver laughs. “Boogie bomb. It’ll stop in a second.”