Muse

Complications

Sunlight coaxes me awake. It cuts through the parted curtains and sheers and makes the white and cream hotel room almost hard to look at with my just-awake eyes. Daniel's already up. He sits with his back against a propped pillow. Green eyes go back and forth over the last pages of a book he holds. My book.

Bolting up, I almost snatch it from him then reign myself in. I grab the nearest pillow and bury my face in it and groan. Cheeks and ears burn and prickle. Seeing him read it, knowing he's read it...it's like he's watching me do things to myself. Not that he hasn't seen that already, but that was last night and was a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing. Quiet laughter gusts from Daniel.

"Not proud of your work?" I hear the book shut, the bed creak, the sheets hiss. Heat from his body glances against mine. "It's not my normal fare but it's quite entertaining. Good banter and action." A fingertip trails along my spine and I shiver. "Very sexy."

"Yeah, well," I say into the pillow and shrug.

Hands hook under my armpits and haul me up pillow and all. Daniel knocks it down, unmasking me. He grasps my shoulders and gives me a playful shake.

"You want to be a successful author and you can't look someone who's read your work in the eye?"

"It's weird when they read it right in front of you. There's no comfortable distance in that case."

"You know, a lot of people will want to speak with you if you end up a public success. They'll want to know all about you and your work."

With a dismissive sniff, I say, "I can be a reclusive artist type. Always a mystery."

"That's difficult to manage these days. And do you really want to be a hermit? Lock yourself away forever?"

"Not forever, but I definitely need time with just me. I'm not invigorated by social interaction like you are and I don't think I can learn to be."

"Maybe you'll never be an extrovert but you can learn to manage. I can help with that. Teach you some tricks."

"Tricks?"

Daniel nods. "There are ways to let people know you care about them as general humans, make them feel acknowledged and special, without giving up a lot of yourself at the same time."

I make a face. Sounds disingenuous.

"Don't worry," Daniel says, reading my mind. "It's not an act. Just a way to express yourself and protect yourself at the same time...if you want to learn from me, that is."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I promised I'd get complicated with you today."

I stare at him and wait for him to go on. Sighing, he scrubs his hands over his sleep-disheveled hair and leans back into his pillow. One arm raises and he gestures me close, so I lay against him, the side of my head against his warm chest, and he drapes his arm over me.