Protecting Miss Dawes - a job like any other

Chapter 15: Molly

I woke up abruptly, stirred by a nightmare where I relived the explosion, but walked around the dark room afterwards and saw the dead lying there and then stumbled on Charles, covered in dust and debris and staring back at me with unseeing, dead eyes. The reality I woke up to was a lovely contrast, even if the bomb itself had been real. It took me a moment to realise I was in mum and dad's house with its familiar smell and noises, and then another to realise I was being held by Charles. Then I smiled to myself. In his sleep, the arm he had around me had moved so hand cupped my breast tenderly. I could also feel a soft pressure to my back from his morning hardness. I did not mind at all, but I knew he would be embarrassed when he woke up, so I pretended to still be asleep and enjoyed the closeness of him for some time, feeling only slightly ashamed that his unintentional touch excited me.

Finally, he stirred and woke up, and I heard him whisper to himself;

"Oh shit!", then quickly removed his hand from my breast and pulled back his hips from me so we no longer touched there, but then he put his arm back to just hold me, which pleased me immensely. If I was a cat I would have purred then, I enjoyed all this far too much.

I waited another fifteen minutes or so before I moved, so he would not think I had noticed. Then yawned and softly said good morning.

"Good morning", his voice sounded sleepy.

I liked it that way, it felt like an intimate version of it. I tried to make mine sound sleepy too, even though I was wide awake, my senses alert.

"Were you able to sleep at all?"

He gave out a little laugh.

"Fortunately, I'm used to sleeping conditions far more uncomfortable than this from the army. Here I was lucky both to have pillow, sheets and a woman beside me... errrm, not that I, we... sorry, you know what I mean."

I still had my back to him and smiled, loving that my presence could make him a little bit embarrassed.

"And you?"

"I slept well, except I had a nightmare. About the bombing and seeing a whole lot of dead people. Seeing you dead. It was awful."

He briefly pressed me a little harder to him.

"I'm here, I'm alive,"

"I'm so grateful for that, but others... I still can't grasp it really happened. I need to listen to the news, need to know how bad it was exactly."

"You want to get up and do it now? Listen to the news?"

"No... Can we just stay like this for a while? I'm not ready to face it yet."

"Me neither, to tell you the truth. I've seen much during my years in the army, but this... innocent peopled harmed and killed right here at home. I'm just so thankful we survived Molly. That Sam still has a dad."

I loved that he was using my name now, something had changed between us in the past twenty-four hours.

"What now?" I turned to him even if lying face to face was an even more challenging position than spooning, given the small space, and we ended up with our faces very close.

He had a morning stubble, a dark shade over his chin. I had never seen him with that, his shave was always immaculate, but it suited him. Made him look rougher, sexy. Made me want to dot little kisses along his jawline and feel that stubble bruise my lips.

"What now?" he repeated, smirking. "Are you asking me? You wanted me to take you here and I did, but I haven't made any further plans. I thought you had an idea? You're the boss after all."