Tabula Rasa

Chapter 22

He woke up to skin beneath his fingertips.

He wasn't wrapped around Calina - like he'd feared when he'd made the choice to sleep with her again - but he was still very much invading her space. She was on her back, near the edge of the bed, her face angled away from him...and he was in the middle of the bed, his left hand gently grasping her upper arm, his knuckles brushing the side of her silk-covered breast.

Shit.

He slowly extracted his wandering hand, and tucked it beneath his pillow where it couldn't do any further damage. He needed to get a handle on this. Calina was right - it wasn't practical to sleep in an armchair every night. They were adults; they could share a bed as friends. It didn't have to mean anything more.

Just as long as he kept to his side of the bed, and his hands to himself.

He inched backwards on the mattress and winced when the bed frame creaked. The sound woke the woman next to him, and triggered a cascade of events that did absolutely nothing to help him control his treacherous body.

First she stretched, her lithe body lengthening as she pointed her toes and reached her arms over her head. The silk of her pyjamas rustled lightly as the material glided over the equally soft sheets of his bed. The movement released the concentration of her scent that had been trapped beneath the covers...

...and then she let out a soft groan.

It was just the noise of someone rising to awareness. An involuntary sound that expressed the relief of loosened joints and stretched muscle and rested bones.

Completely innocuous.

But the sound ricocheted through Matt's body like a bullet, firing off every nerve ending and sending his lust into overdrive.

"Morning," Calina said, oblivious to his reaction. Her voice was husky and low with sleep, and it just made everything a million times worse.

"Uh, morning."

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You look flushed. You're not coming down with a cold again, are you?" She reached her hand out to gauge his temperature, but he grabbed it before she could make contact with his forehead.

He squeezed her hand quickly, then let it go. "I'm not sick. It's just warm in here."

She snuggled back under the covers. "Hmmm, maybe. But I like it. I don't wanna get up today."

Matt couldn't help but smile. Every time she woke up, she revealed a different side to herself. He remembered how she was last weekend, when she'd accidentally fallen asleep in his living room. Back then she'd been confused and disorientated on waking. When he'd had to check her for a concussion she was adorably grumpy. And yesterday, she'd been unguarded and honest as she shared pieces of her past.

This morning she was almost...playful.

And it made him want to play with her. To pull the sheet over them both and block out the world. Laugh with her and cover her smile with his kiss while he covered her body with his own-

No!

Jesus, what was he thinking?

First his body, and now his mind was betraying him. He moved back, further away from her, and tried to get his thoughts under control. It had just been too long, that was all. Too long since he'd been with a woman. Too long since he'd been this close to someone he was attracted to.

Too long...since he'd let himself have any fun.

"Are you sure you're okay, Matt?" Calina asked.

"Yeah. Why?"