The Founders

Chapter 48

Warmth surrounded Kyra as her thoughts gradually reassembled into consciousness and she took note of the sunlight falling on her shoulder and back. She was lying almost completely on top of Alexander, and her arm was hooked beneath his waist; it was starting to go dead.

She tugged her arm, but it was really quite difficult so she gave up and yanked. Toppling backwards, she half fell off the sofa and then rolled over the rest of the way, pulling the rug with her.

Blinking sleepily, Alexander watched her as she stood up hurriedly, pulling the rug around her in the cold air of the room. The fire was just a heap of ashes now. Glancing down at his body, he looked back at her and said thickly, "Thanks."

Laughter bubbled out of her chest and she tossed the rug back at Alexander "I would say give me privacy so I can get dressed but I actually have nothing to get changed into." She looked down ruefully at her pyjamas, still from the night before.

Alexander reached over from the bed to pick up his sweater from the floor, his t-shirt riding up slightly and chucked it at her. She caught it and knelt back up on the sofa, grinning down at him as she tugged it on. "You do hog the bed a bit, don't you?" she said.

He raised his eyebrows at her, lifting one hand to rest at her waist. "I hog the bed? Kyra, you ended up completely on top of me."

She laughed, sitting back on her thighs. "Yeah, my point exactly. There was so little room for me on the actual sofa that I had to take the next layer up."

He squeezed her waist with a tickle and she gasped a laugh as her grabbed her and twisted her underneath him. He leaned over her and raised a hand threateningly beside her waist. "Kyra?"

"Yes, Alex?" she asked, trying to keep a straight face.

He grinned and then smoothed his face out again. "Kyra?"

"Yes, Alex?" She burst out laughing, and he started tickling her waist properly. She kicked her legs out, breathless and sweaty and laughing, trying to push his hands off her waist. He grabbed one with one hand, pinning it above her head and looking down at her, a triumphant smile on his face.

"Are you ready to stop being so rude?" She snickered and stopped when his hand slid against her bare waist again. She reached her free hand up and combed it through his hair, which was falling loosely over his forehead, and leaned up to place a quick kiss on his cheek. He blushed and loosened his grip on her hand.

"Can I please get up now?" she asked.

He leaned down and hovered a kiss just above her lips. "Okay," he said, the word a puff of air.

"Alex?"

"Yes, Kyra?"

She smiled against his lips but didn't rise to the bait. "Can I get up now? Please?"

He traced a hand along the skin of her waist, all the way up to her ribcage, making her squirm. Then he ducked down and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Okay," he said with a sigh. "I guess we have work to do."

He sat up, tugging his t-shirt back down and ran a hand over his hair. The room was bright with shafts of sunlight streaming in through the mullion windows behind the sofa, although the light didn't quite reach the corners of the room. It almost gave the impression of a polaroid taken on a very bright day, where the picture would come out extremely dark.

Kyra blinked and sat up, tugging down her own jumper and pulled the hair out from under the collar. Alexander was already moving around the room and tidying up; he was in the process of folding up the rug.

She smiled at her feet and gingerly placed them on the bare wood, her hands digging into the bald-rubbed velvet. "So, what's first on the agenda?" she asked, padding across the room to where her bag had been dropped.