A Deceptive Beauty

Chapter Twenty Two

Belle's first observation of consciousness was the feeling of warmness. Her eyes remained closed, still sleepy, while her mind was starting to awake.

Her next observation was that even though her arms were wrapped around a hard pillow, it felt as if something was lying on her sides and back.

Still with her eyes closed, she tilted her head to fully rest on the hard, warm pillow. It felt awfully strange and it wasn't what she was used to. It was comfortable but not at the angle she had been setting her head on it.

Suddenly, her pillow let out a snore. Belle's eyes flew open.

The first thing she saw was skin. As her eyes took in more details, she realized that what she was seeing were muscles. Ones that belonged to the bare chest of a man.

Belle's eyes widened as she internally panicked. Her eyes shifted upwards, seeing that it was Kaiden that she was embracing. But she also noticed that his arms were held tightly around her, resting across her waist, all the way around her back. Her skin tingled when she realized that his hand rested on the small of her back.

Her heart skipped a beat when she realized her very indecent position. Horror then filled her mind when she wondered about what happened. Surely they didn't...

She gulped, looking down, hoping that she still had her clothes on, and that Kaiden had his own on as well. Dread pitted in her stomach as she slowly glanced down.

Slight relief filled her when she saw that Kaiden had his pants on. But the relief became worry again when she saw that she was wearing a large shirt, that didn't look like it was hers.

Questions frantically popped up her her head. Why was she wearing a man's shirt? Why was she in bed with Kaiden? Why were they embracing each other? What had happened? She just couldn't remember.

Then, Kaiden, still asleep, lifted his leg and set it over hers, trapping her further.

Belle felt claustrophobic. Despite the fact that this was something she thought about, it bothered her that she didn't remember what happened and how she got there?

Suddenly, her space became even more enclosed as Kaiden shifted his body downwards, starting to lay on top of her. Belle couldn't control her panic, so she shot her hands out and pushed him.

As soon as she did, she noticed Kaiden jolt awake and flail as he fell off the bed. Belle winced when she heard a loud thud and a groan. She cringed when she realized that she had shoved the duke off of his bed.

Her eyes widened once again when she noticed that she had been sleeping on Kaiden's bed. What on earth happened?

"That was a wonderful wake up call," Kaiden groaned sarcastically from the ground. "I think I have a bump on my head now."

Belle felt really bad for shoving him off so she quickly dismissed any worrisome thoughts and hopped off the bed next to him. He was curled up on his side, holding his head.

But Kaiden's hair was attractively messy and his eyelashes seemed longer when his eyes were heavy lidded. And, oh, it was just so much harder to concentrate around him with him being shirtless. His lean but muscular chest was impossible to avoid seeing.

She ignored her erratic heart beat and went over to feel his head, searching for a bump. While she did, she kept her eyes strictly on his head, perpetually trying to convince herself that Kaiden wasn't half-naked.

"I'm sorry," Belle cringed again as she gently prodded. When she found a small bump on the back of his head, she cringed and apologized again.

"Annabelle," he winced when she pressed the back of his head. "It's fine," he insisted, taking her hand off his head.