Écarté (Lost Birds Book 4)

Part 10 Wiggles.

"Tao..." I whispered as I crept into his room.

The lump of blankets in the center of the bed didn't even twitch.

I crept closer and ignored the butterflies waking up in my stomach. They were trying to warn me of something but I didn't listen. I had a job to do.

My first task from Aydan was to wake Mateo up so that we could get in some driving practice before the meeting today. It felt weird being the one to wake any of them up. They were almost always awake before me. I was determined to follow through even if Tao was grumpy and annoyed with me. I didn't want to give Aydan or the others any reason to think that I couldn't handle today or that I couldn't handle simple tasks.

I reached the edge of Tao's bed and leaned down.

"Tao." I whispered again.

This time I reached for the edge of his blanket. In a flash the blanket was gone. Strong warm hands grasped my arms and pulled. The room tilted. I landed on the soft bed with a thud. The scent of cinnamon and leather surrounded me along with a cage of arms and then the blanket came back down and plunged us into complete darkness.

I tried to move.

My wiggling was met with a huff. Tao rolled slightly pinning me beneath him and successfully stopping my movements.

"Tao!" I whispered half scolding and half giggling.

"Who sent you?" He mumbled. His voice was husky and accented with sleep.

"Aydan." I laughed.

He let out a heavy sigh but gave no other response. I waited to see if he would ask anything else. After a moment of silence his breathing began to even out against the nap of my neck and I knew he was falling back asleep.

"Tao!" I whisper giggled again and tried to squirm.

"Stop that." He mumbled holding me tighter and tucking his head into the crook of my neck like I was some kind of pillow.

"We have to get up. I need a driving lesson before the meeting." I said quietly.

"Mmm." Tao sighed. "Lesson number one: don't drive while sleeping-sleepy."

"Exactly. Which is why I'm here to wake you up." I said wiggling around to get out of his grasp.

"Stop it dulzura." He warned.

"It's time to wake up." I said wiggling with each word.

"All your wiggles are doing is this." Tao muttered against my neck.He shifted adjusting my waist firmly back against him until I could feel his stiff member pressed against my backside. 

I gasped and froze. 

My thoughts slowed to a crawl and I tried to figure out how my wiggling around had caused this reaction from Tao. My thoughts drifted to my horse-riding lessons yesterday. Maybe Tao was feeling how I had. Being pressed against him in bed like this was a lot more intimate than sitting in someone lap.

I gulped and ran through a quick list of options. If I continued to stay still Tao and I were both going to fall asleep. I'd be failing my task and in turn proving that I could not handle something simple like this. If I got up Tao would probably still fall back asleep. And if I wiggled around and tried to wake Tao up even more I'd probably end up making his predicament even worse. I wondered if guys got the same painful cramping sensation that I had at Theo's before. I hoped not.

Tao shifted away from me which eased the pressure against my bottom. He kept his arms around me though so I was pretty sure he didn't want me to leave.