Summer Days

Chapter 16

As tempting as it was to slip into his shirt again after my bath, I chose the safer route and wore the pajamas that Gabriel had packed for me. They were mostly gray and I rolled my eyes at that. But they did have a tiny floral pattern in pink across them. I gathered up my things from the bathroom, leaving it as neat as it had been before as I slipped out into the bedroom, my wet hair still up in a bundle with a towel on the top of my head.

I encountered Owen's slightly amused look as he took in what I looked like. I arched an eyebrow at him. "Something wrong?" I asked.

"Oh no, darling." He shook his head. "Nothing at all wrong." I narrowed my gaze at him and went to put my things away, hanging the dress up again in the closet before I went to settle on the bed, sitting cross legged with my kindle nearby and my brush in hand. He watched me dry my hair a bit more with the towel before setting it aside and starting to work on the tangles. "Can I do that for you?" He blurted and I turned to look at him again, finding his eyes locked on me, a look that I couldn't quite identify on his face.

"You want to brush my hair out?" He nodded. "Okay but we just won't tell Gabriel that you did it... I'm not sure how possessive he is of my hair when it's family."

He gave me the millimeter smile.

It was a darn good thing that I was already sitting down because that smile alone would have weakened my knees until I had to sit down.

He kissed my temple as he eased the brush out of my hand before he settled behind me on the bed and took over brushing out my hair. It was almost enough to lull me into falling asleep.

Almost.

"There." He said, smoothing his hand down the back of my hair when he'd finished. "All done."

I tilted my head up and back to look up at him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He said, leaning over me and dropping a kiss on my lips before he got up and headed to get himself ready for bed while I put my brush away and put the towel into the hamper.

I settled on the bed, propped up by pillows – including his. I smiled and rolled my shoulders for a moment before swiping my kindle open and pulling up the book I was reading earlier. A swirl of spring fresh soap scent filled the room as Owen came out of the bathroom, still toweling off his hair as I glanced up at him from my comfy spot against the pillows. "Hey." I smiled.

He arched an eyebrow at me, corners of his lips tilting slightly upward. "All the pillows?"

I smirked. "Yup."

"Seems a bit selfish of you."

"I was missing my most favorite pillow of the weekend." If I didn't see it, it wouldn't have believed it but his cheeks tinged slightly pink and I tilted my head to look at him.

He snorted slightly before chuckling. "I see." He pushed up the corner of his glasses before coming to slide into bed with me, raising me up and reclaiming part of the pillows for himself before he settled me back against him. "Still comfy?"

I sighed softly and shifted against him. "Yes."

"Good." I felt him shift slightly and figured he was reaching for his phone or a book to read.

I turned my head to look at him for a long moment, distracted from my book with his nearness. I shifted and kissed his cheek. He certainly was doing a lot of eyebrow raising tonight, I mused. I shrugged a shoulder. "Nothing special, just felt like it." He smiled and returned the gesture, kissing my cheek.

We read in silence for a while until I realized he'd stopped turning pages. I carefully turned, finding his eyes closed, arm still around me loosely but his book was propped against his chest as if saving his place.

I was delighted.

I always.... ALWAYS... fell asleep first no matter who I was with.

Other than that one time that North was napping before Luke and I drew on him but that was different, that wasn't at night before bedtime.

I knew they all did it, they waited for me to fall asleep because that way they could be sure that I was not going to toss and turn too often. I reached for his book, pulling the magnetic bookmark from where he'd put it over the front cover so that I could mark his place. I set the book on the nightstand and bit my lower lip for a moment before I reached for his glasses.

I slid them carefully off his nose, folding them up before setting them carefully on top of the book. I managed to turn the light off without disturbing him and I couldn't resist, brushing my lips lightly against his before I shifted, sliding down into the bed more, my back to him in the same positioning that I'd woken up in that morning, wrapping one of his arms around my waist as I settled in.

I drifted off to sleep... happy and content in his arms – even if he was already asleep... spring scent filling the air as it settled me and helped to put me to sleep.