Listed: Volume II (13 page)

He
looked up at the ceiling again and frowned deeper, feeling slightly flustered
and not sure why.

She
propped herself up on one elbow and gazed down at his face. “You’ve never been
anything except chivalrous with me,” she murmured, very softly, her voice
feeling to him almost like a caress.

He
shifted his eyes and met hers in the dark. They gazed at each other for a
moment that lasted too long, and Paul felt a tug in his chest that was both
thrilling and terrifying. Emily seemed to be caught in the moment with him, and
she adjusted a little, bringing her face closer to his.

It
was all Paul could do to stop himself from grabbing her and pulling her into a
deep kiss. His body wasn’t even reacting at the moment, but he still seemed to
want her so much.

He
clenched his fist in the bedding and fought the impulse fiercely. He wasn’t
going to take advantage of this situation and use Emily as the fix to his
horniness.

Desperately
groping for a way out of the tense moment, he said, “You better get some sleep,
if you want to have energy for seeing all the sights tomorrow.”

Emily
let out a whoosh of air, as if she’d deflated. Then she flopped over onto her
back, evidently realizing that she really was tired. “Yeah,” she agreed. “I do
want to get out early. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Paul
relaxed once she was safely on her side of the bed and not so tantalizingly
within arm’s reach. He was still conscious of her. She’d rolled over onto her
side, and her back was to him. She adjusted the covers several times and rearranged
her pillow. He could hear her breathing in the dark.

Eventually,
she fell asleep. Not long after, Paul fell asleep too.

*
* *

He woke up before five
the next morning.

The
first thing he was aware of was that he’d slept surprisingly well—he hadn’t woken
up all night, which was very unusual.

The
next thing he was aware of was the fact that he was very warm and very hard.

And
the next thing he was aware of was the feeling of a little radiator pressed
into his side.

He
blinked down and saw Emily, cuddled up beside him, her cheek pressed against
the side of his chest and her arm wrapped around his middle.

She
was sound asleep. He should have known she was a cuddler. During the night, she
must have rolled onto his side of the bed and nestled into him.

Part
of him liked the feeling. She was warm, her body soft and clingy against his.
He liked the heat from her body. He liked the weight of her arm on his belly.
He liked the way her hand instinctively clutched his side.

But
the arm that had ended up wrapped around her during the night was numb from a
lack of circulation. And arousal pulsed uncomfortably at his groin, no doubt
intensified by Emily’s soft body pressed into his.

So
he gently pulled his numb arm from under her weight and eased her back over
toward the middle of the bed. Then he rolled out of bed and made his way to the
bathroom to take an early shower.

*
* *

Paul wanted to shake
Emily, and she wasn’t even in the same room.

He
was getting out of the shower, and she was in the bedroom. But he knew—he just
knew—that she was still being irrational, stubborn, and infuriating.

She’d
taken a shower earlier than evening, before dinner, so she hadn’t needed one
before bed.  Paul had showered earlier too, since he’d been hot and sweaty
after sightseeing. He hadn’t absolutely needed a shower before bed either. The
argument he’d been having with Emily had put a damper on any physical responses
prompted by going to bed with her.

But
he’d taken a shower anyway and had jerked off with quick efficiency under the
spray, since his body didn’t necessarily follow the lead of his mind, and he
didn’t want to risk it.

When
he came out of the bathroom, Emily was curled up under the covers, facing away
from both the bathroom and his side of the bed.

Maybe
she’d decided to give him the silent treatment, which would be all right with
him.

He
sat down on the side of the bed and noticed she’d put a cold bottle of water on
his nightstand, despite being angry with him. It touched him, for some reason.

He’d
been a fool to let himself be distracted even momentarily by sentiment.

Without
turning over, Emily said in a tight, defensive tone, “I’m not being irrational.
I’m not being stubborn. I’m telling you that I’m not an invalid. When I don’t
have a fever, I feel as good as anyone else, and I don’t appreciate your acting
like I’m too sick to do anything normal.”

Paul
rolled his eyes and let out an impatient exhale. “And I’ve said at least six
times now that I wasn’t treating you like an invalid. It was the hottest part
of the afternoon, and even healthy people get sick from the heat.”

“But
I
wasn’t getting sick. I was having a good time, and I wasn’t ready to
go back yet.”

“I
know you were having a good time, but we have two more days in Egypt to do everything
you want to do. We didn’t have to pack everything into one day, when there was
a chance that the heat could prompt a fever.” He turned off the light and got
under the covers, lying on his back and looking at her tense shoulders and
unyielding spine.

“I
wasn’t getting feverish,” she gritted out, her earlier attempt to control her
tone obviously failing as she got even angrier with him. “You’re treating me
like a child who can’t tell whether she’s sick or not.”

“I’m
not saying you were sick
then
. I’m saying you could have
gotten
sick. And there was absolutely no reason for you to risk another fever.” He
rubbed his jaw in frustration and got tired of looking at the back of her head.
“Would you please turn over so I don’t have to talk to your back?”

Emily
rolled over, obviously not appreciating his exasperated tone.  His eyes
had adjusted enough to the dark to tell that she was glaring at him. “I get
fevers because I have this virus. I don’t get fevers because I get too hot.”

“But
how do you know external conditions can’t trigger a fever? You were hot, Emily.
You can tell me all you want that you were fine, but you were getting too hot
out there.”

Paul
had been hit with a flare of worry that afternoon as he’d noticed Emily’s very
flushed face and the dampness of perspiration on the back of her shirt. Since
he’d already been tired and annoyed about other things, he hadn’t hesitated to
call an end to their tour, digging in his heels despite Emily’s very vocal
objections.

“Everyone
was hot, and I wasn’t even walking! But you evidently think I’m so delicate
that I can’t even get driven around in a Jeep.”

“We
can go back tomorrow. You can still see everything.”

“But
I liked having Akil as our guide, and he’s not going to be available tomorrow.”

Paul
closed his eyes and clenched his jaw for a moment before he replied coldly,
“Yes, you’ve told me several times now how much you liked him. But I’m sure our
guide tomorrow will be equally knowledgeable.”

Unlike
Emily, Paul hadn’t liked the very handsome Egyptian archeology student who had
shown them around today. He especially hadn’t liked the way the man’s eyes
lingered on Emily’s face and body.

His
comment seemed to prompt in her another cause for irritation with him. She
snapped, “And, by the way, there was no reason for you to be so rude to the
poor guy, after he’d been nothing but nice to us.”

“He’d
been nice to
you
,” Paul corrected, rather gutturally. “And I definitely
wasn’t blind to
why
he was nice to you.”

“What
the hell is that supposed to mean? I liked him and thought he was smart and
funny. I wasn’t flirting with him or anything.”

“I
didn’t mean to imply that
you
were flirting,” he said, although he
hadn’t been at all happy with the way Emily was grinning and laughing with the
obnoxious man. He hadn't for a minute thought she would do anything. It just
bothered him to see her enjoying another man the way she sometimes enjoyed him.
“I was referring to his obvious interest in you.”

Emily
actually snorted. “That’s ridiculous. He knew we’re married. I mean, you were
right there glowering at him the whole time. He wasn’t coming on to me. He was
just nice.”

“No
man has a reason to be that nice to my wife.”

She
made a wordless sound of frustration in her throat. “So I’m not allowed to have
another man even talk to me?”

“You’re
intentionally misunderstanding me. Of course, you can talk to other men. Of
course, men can talk to you. What I have a problem with is men making obvious
moves on my wife.” He saw her open her mouth to argue. “You might not have
realized that’s what he had in mind, but I promise you it was. He didn’t just
want to talk to you. He wanted to get you into bed.”

Emily’s
lips parted as she stared at him, and for a moment Paul felt a tug of desire.
He was still too annoyed for it to develop into a problem, though.

“I
don’t think that’s right.” Her anger had faded into slight confusion. “He was
being nice.”

“You’re
a beautiful woman, Emily. There’s a reason why so many men want to be nice to you.”
He’d spoken without thinking, to make a point in the argument. But, after the
words were said, he wasn’t sure they should have been.

Finally,
she shrugged. “I can’t go around assuming that every man who talks to me wants
to jump me. I just can’t believe it’s true, and—even if it was—I couldn’t
function that way. If a man gets inappropriate with me, of course I would put a
stop to it. But, to tell you the truth, no one has even
tried
to be
inappropriate with me.”

“What
do you mean by that?”

“I
mean, I’m not the kind of girl that men come on to.”

He
swallowed, bristling at the thought of all the blind fools who had made Emily
believe herself to be undesirable, even as he was aware that he used to be one
of them. “You’ve been around high school boys,” he said matter-of-factly. “And
high school boys are stupid most of the time. You can’t judge yourself by what
happens in high school. Men will want you, Emily.”

It
was too dark to read the expression in her eyes clearly. “Do you think so?”

“Of
course.”

She
smiled at him, and he smiled back. They seemed to be caught in that intense
gaze again, and this time he couldn’t pull out. He couldn’t look away. He
couldn’t say anything. The only thing he was capable of doing was barely
restraining himself from hauling her into a kiss.

If
he kissed her now, in their bed, he wouldn’t be able to stop.

After
a long moment, Emily broke the spell. “Anyway, I’m still annoyed with you for
cutting my day short.”

He
rolled his eyes, almost relieved that the tension was broken.  “I’ve told
you hundreds of times now that I’m not going to back down about your health.”

“I
know you’ve said that, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Evidently
tired of arguing, she rolled over, showing him her back again. This time Paul
didn’t complain.

He
lay in bed and stewed about her stubborn irrationality for a long time.

Then,
without warning, Emily said into the darkness of the room, "I'm sorry if I
was too stubborn. I know you were just trying to look out for me."

He
hesitated, mostly to swallow over his surprise and not because he didn't want
to apologize too. He'd never met anyone who had apologized to him so genuinely.
Finally, he was able to say, "Thanks. I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have been
so bad-tempered, especially about…"

"Akil,"
Emily finished for him, a smile in her voice. "That's all right. I forgive
you."

*
* *

Paul woke up just after
five o’clock the next day. And, just like the previous morning, his personal
space had definitely been invaded.

He
was sleeping on his side, with his back in Emily’s direction. But, during the
night, she’d pressed herself up behind him in her sleep, spooning him cozily
with her arms wrapped around his middle.

He
was partly erect but not as hard as yesterday, and he was too groggy to want to
pull away. She felt nice pressed up behind him—warm and soft and feminine.

Paul
had never had the instinct to cuddle before. With most of the women he’d slept
with over the years, he hadn’t even spent the night. When he’d had serious
girlfriends, he’d tried to hold them for a while after they’d had sex, but he’d
always needed his own space to sleep.

He
wasn’t really any different now. He was sure this wasn't any sort of impulse to
cuddle. But there was something he liked about the way Emily clung to him in
her sleep.

He
could feel her damp breath against his bare back. He could feel her loose hair
tickling his skin just slightly. He could feel her soft breasts pressed tightly
against him, with only a thin layer of cotton between their skin. Her legs were
tucked snugly behind his, her small body molding his perfectly. And she was
squeezing him lightly with her arms, her hands clutching at his bare belly.