“I’m just grateful you came at all,” Kiva said. She then repeated her earlier words. “Thank you, Jaren. You always seem to be saving me.”
“And I always will,” he returned. The depth of emotion in his response would have shaken Kiva, if he hadn’t quickly — and awkwardly — added, “You know, if I have to. Which hopefully I won’t. Ever again. But if I do, then I will. Of course. Obviously.”
Laughing at how flustered he was, Kiva placed her finger over his lips for the second time that night.
“Good night, Jaren.”
He sighed against her finger. “Good night, Kiva.”
She snuggled deeper and was just beginning to drift off when Jaren’s voice came to her again, whisper soft. “Kiva?”
“Mmm?” she murmured.
“I’m sorry about today. With your family.”
Even if she’d decided to move past it, Kiva still felt the ache of betrayal all over again.
“And I’m sorry I was so angry,” Jaren continued. “I just —”
“I know,” she interrupted in her own whisper.
Half asleep and entirely unable to keep her guard up, Kiva shifted forward until she was pressed against him. He automatically rolled onto his back and pulled her closer, her head coming to rest on his bare chest. Without thinking, she laid her hand over his heart and curled her leg around his knee, the two of them perfectly entwined.
He didn’t say anything else, but just as Kiva succumbed to sleep, she whispered one last time, “I know.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
When Kiva woke the next morning, her entire torso was plastered to Jaren’s, their legs tangled in an impressive feat of flexibility.
Panic hit her, but she told herself to remain calm. She just had to slip away before he stirred. If she could extricate herself without jostling him too much, then —
“Morning.”
Kiva froze, barely having managed to remove her arm, let alone anything else.
“You’re not trying to sneak off, are you?” Jaren asked, his voice husky and yet still bubbling with humor.
“Erm . . .”
Moving impossibly fast, Jaren flipped them both over, the breath whooshing out of Kiva as she found herself on her back and looking up into his highly amused face.
“Let’s try that again, shall we?” he murmured, kissing the hinge of her jaw. “Good morning, Kiva.”
A garbled sound left her, her stomach pooling with heat as his lips moved boldly to her neck and kissed the sensitive spot right beneath her ear.
“Did you sleep well?” he whispered there, his mouth brushing her skin with each word, prompting a delicious shiver to travel down her spine. Another unintelligible sound left her, causing him to chuckle quietly and say, “I did, too.”
Kiva gripped his bare waist, unsure whether to push him away or pull him closer. Before she could decide, he drew back and looked down at her with a soft expression. “Spend the day with me.”
Her mind was so addled by his touch that it took her a moment to respond. “Pardon?”
The word was breathy enough that she would have been mortified if Jaren’s eyes hadn’t softened even further, with him instantly ducking down and placing a feather-light kiss on the corner of her mouth, as if he couldn’t help himself. It happened so fast that Kiva would have wondered if she’d imagined it, if not for the tingling that remained in its wake.
“Spend the day with me,” he repeated.
This time, Kiva ignored everything he was making her feel in an attempt to focus. “Don’t you have meetings?”
“I’ll reschedule.” He leaned in until his face was all she could see. “Please. I need a day off. And I want to spend it with you.”
It would have taken a much stronger person than Kiva to say no, especially when he was looking at her like . . . like . . . like that.
“All right,” she surrendered. “But if you mean the whole day, then you’re telling Caldon.”
Another quiet chuckle from Jaren. “I think you can survive missing one training session.” He tilted his head toward his balcony. “And besides, it’s already well past dawn.”
Kiva followed his gaze and gasped at the bright sunlight, having no idea how she’d slept so late. “He’s going to kill me tomorrow,” she moaned, already fearing the punishing workout.
“Then we’d better make sure today is worth your inevitable demise.” With those mirth-filled words, Jaren lifted his weight off Kiva and pulled her out of bed, his arms remaining loosely wrapped around her.