In Your Shadow ✓

Chapter 43

When James woke up the next morning, he was glad to see that Mia was still sound asleep in his arms. Smiling softly, he started stroking her skin in a gentle way.

Keeping her eyes closed, she frowned and buried her face into his neck.

James broke out in a lazy grin. "Good morning, gorgeous," he said in a husky voice.

She huffed, not saying anything.

"Not a morning person, are you?" He asked quietly while running his fingers through her slightly messy hair.

Mia let out a small sigh, still refusing to open her eyes.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like you're starting to warm up to me," James smiled.

"You're wrong," Mia mumbled into his neck.

He rolled his eyes. "You couldn't miss saying that, could you?"

"Listen, in my head, I've already got up and walked away from you, but to be honest, I'm way too comfortable right now to do that," she said quietly.

"Maybe you should start thinking about why that might be," he suggested.

"Right," she scoffed, "because we're 'meant to be'..."

"Exactly."

"Could you just not talk for a few minutes?" She asked.

"As you wish."

He tightened his hold around her waist and sat up, pulling her onto his lap. Her head was still resting on his shoulder.

Feeling confident, James tilted his head down and started pressing light kisses all the way from her neck to her shoulder.

"What are you –"

"I'm being quiet," he murmured into her neck, making goosebumps appear on her skin.

"Maybe you should go back to talking, then," Mia mumbled.

James pulled away a bit to look at her with an offended expression on his face. "What, did you not like it?"

She shrugged. "It was okay, I suppose..."

He frowned. "Ouch."

Mia raised an eyebrow at him. She wrapped one of her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, making his eyes widen in surprise. She placed her free palm on his chest and brought it up to his neck slowly, then she ran her fingers through his dark hair while looking into his eyes through her eyelashes. She glanced down at his lips while biting her own lower lip before looking back into his eyes.

His breathing quickened and his skin got hotter. Taking his appearance in, Mia let out a light chuckle.

"See?" She tilted her head to the side. "I barely did anything and you're already a mess. I'm definitely better than you."

James blinked. "Huh?"

She smirked. "Aw, you almost look cute right now, Potter. Almost."

Pulling away from him, she stood up and walked over to the other bed. James watched as she got dressed, frowning.

"Where are you going?" He asked quietly, still not over what she did a few seconds before.

"We have a plan, remember?" She rolled her eyes. "I'm going back to the High Street to get you some clothes."

"Oh... right..." James nodded slowly, covering his lap with the covers.

After Mia put all of her clothes on, she grabbed her wand and started murmuring a spell under her breath to fix her hair with. When she put her coat on and placed her wand into her right boot, she turned to look at him.