When his piercing blue eyes were suddenly revealed to the dimly lit master bedroom, Kyle’s first instinct was to turn over in his big, comfortable bed and search out the form he knew was there without even looking. When he saw her there a second later, lost in dreams he could only imagine, lost in a subconsciousness that kept them apart for the time being, he breathed a sigh of relief. Claire had slept in his bed in his nice apartment countless times before but this was the first time she was sleeping there with no intention of leaving. Not back to some other home, anyway. After many trips to and from London Royal and several, excruciating hours of unpacking her things, his bed had become their bed.

While part of him had tried to reason that all of this was happening too fast, Kyle was listening to the part of him that was happy and perfectly content with the pace his relationship with Claire was going. This wasn’t a normal relationship by any stretch of the imagination. There was no phase that required them to get to know each other. There weren’t any real surprises to be experienced. Kyle was already convinced that Claire knew him better than he knew himself and vice versa. Though he’d wisely never voice it, not to Claire, he was rather pleased that he’d fallen in love with two girls who knew him so well like that.

As he adjusted himself, Kyle just stared at her while she remained lost in peaceful sleep. There was almost a smile on her pretty face that proved that she was in the middle of happy dreams. Facing her, his head only inches away, so close that he could feel her breath on his face, he could see clearly every beautiful freckle that she had all over her. Around her nose, especially. For a moment he was tempted to count them. For an even longer moment he was tempted to try and kiss them all. He did neither. Instead he just stared at her and smiled a sleepy smile, watching her closely for no other reason than to love her.

When he saw her adjust herself on her pillow, Kyle was afraid that she was going to turn away from him. Without thinking, he reached for her with a naked arm and brought her elfin body closer to him while he remained on his side. Instead of fighting him, she seemed to invite his touch even though she was still asleep, going into him like she knew who it was that was reaching for her. She probably does, he told himself. In the end, he got what he wanted. Claire and her tiny, warm body was comfortable against his lean frame. One of his arms was now her pillow and the other was tight around her as she leaned into him like he would protect her from anything. Even in sleep Claire knew he was there for her.