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I got up and placed my hand on his. It was like an icicle.
He jerked it away seconds later. “What are you doing?”
“Calling you out on your lie. You’re cold and it’s worse on the floor. Get on the bed.”
He considered it for far too long—so long I thought he would say no.
“Fine,” he grumbled. He lay on the bed beside me,sighing as if it were a chore. I closed my eyes. I could already feel his heat, and my entire body begged me to latch on to it.
I hated being cold. And sharing body heat was my thing. Many of my exes called me exceptionally clingy in my sleep, which didn’t bode well for my pride. Reed even asked me to sleep in the guest room to break me of the habit. He didn’t want me weighing him down.
Maybe Reed’s dickish request was a good thing. I had gotten good at not cuddling on my nights alone. I could do it here too.
“Is it warming up?” he asked.
“Mostly.”
His eyes met mine before he ripped them away.
“You really don’t want to be up here, do you?” I asked.
“It’s odd sharing a bed after not talking for seven years.”
It was odder for me, considering he’d turned me down firmly all that time ago and my feelings were involuntarily rushing back.
“None of this is for fun,” I muttered, unsure of who it was for, “it’s just for survival.”
The room was eerily silent except for the wind outside.
“Yeah,” he said.
Silence returned, only broken by the shiver that racked my body.
“You’re still cold?”
“I’ll survive.”
“Move closer.”
“No.”
Yes,my body begged.
“We should share heat.”
I froze and then slowly turned to him. “What did you say?”
“Conserving heat. It’s how we’ll stay warm.”
“I’m not cuddling with you.”
“It’s not cuddling. It’s sharing heat. It’s not ... intimate. It’s for survival.”
Survival. I was starting to hate that word because despite everything, I did not want to be close to him only for survival.
TEN
“Do I really need to move?”Stella sounded like she was being tortured. “We’re close enough as it is.”