Chapter 144

Cecilia The events in Boulder had left me physically and emotionally drained, and I'd fallen into the deepest sleep I'd experienced in weeks. When I started to surface from sleep, the dream-fog still thick in my brain, I reached out with the lazy confidence of someone absolutely sure they were still in their own bed. My hand landed on something warm. Solid. Not Harper. "Harper?" I mumbled, patting blindly. "Why does your shoulder feel... suspiciously like a gym membership?" My hand slid lower. “…Wait. Where did your chest go?” A voice—not Harper’s, not even a little—answered, deep and unreasonably close to my ear. “Can’t find it?” The voice rumbled, low and amused. “Maybe you should try a more thorough search.” My hand froze mid-snoop, now resting squarely on what was undeniably a very male, very bare chest. Warm skin. Firm muscle. A nipple. Oh God, a nipple. All systems went red alert. My brain kicked into panic mode so fast I nearly dislocated something. I was no longer waking up—I w