Page 9

PART V

In the end, the bedroom issue was something they decided not to decide.

Exhausted by the revelations of the day, Selene had gone up to shower and sleep while William had gone through the brownstone to check on the current security system.

It was good. Better than he'd expected.

He didn't wait for Badger to come back from parking the car in a nearby rented spot, he went through the house on his own.

Cypher had already looked up the specifics of the security system and approved of it.

After she'd made a few modifications to the system .

And promised that she'd put it all back when Selene was done with her rental there.

She'd dug up a full timeline of who had owned the property from the day it broke ground in construction until Selene rented the home.

No skeletons in any of these closets.

With a smile, he finished his exploration at the connecting door between the main part of the house and the door to the rooms under the stairs. The door was fully wired like the rest of the house. If someone was going to come at Selene here, at her house, they'd have a dickens of a time doing it.

The control panel was also wired for password locks.

Almost as if she'd been watching, Cypher's voice filled the room from the ALEXA unit on the table in the entryway.

“How does everything look?”

William looked at the device and then up at the camera closest to him. He lifted his hand to wave. "Looks good, but you already knew that. You've been watching me since we came in."

“Don’t forget all of the traffic cameras on the way between dinner and home.” Her words were soft but they carried a lot of meaning and knowledge in them.

William winced a little at the easy way she spoke about having them under surveillance.

Cypher’s voice hummed a little. “Badger's coming up the sidewalk now. I've already tested his passcode for the door below. He's got the key with him.”

William nodded at her words. He looked back up at the camera. "What do you think about changing the locks to passcode only?"

He didn't hear a sound from ALEXA, but he felt her hesitation as a physical presence.

William shook his head. "It's better this way."

He let out a breath.

"Two levels of protection."

“I agree.”

He swore he could hear her smile.

“You should get some sleep. Tomorrow there is an early call at the set.”

William looked back up at the camera. "Do we get a wakeup call?"

Her voice lowered to barely a whisper. “Selene set a few alarms upstairs in the bedroom.”

He frowned a little and then he found out that Cypher had likely hacked into all of the electronic devices in the home.

Her laughter was soft. “If it looks like you two are going to sleep through the alarm. I'll make sure you wake up.”

He wasn't about to ask her HOW she'd accomplish that, but he knew that she'd do it.

"Make sure," he lowered his chin as he looked into the camera, "that you get sleep, too. "

She laughed softly, the speaker giving her voice a slight electronic distortion.

Cypher giggled. “Don’t worry, Mal. I’m not in the system. I am the system.”

He lifted his chin ready to say something only to realize that there wasn't anything to say. Instead he murmured the only thought in his head. "I don't know what that means."

Cypher sighed. “No one’s perfect.”

He shrugged.

It was the truth.

“Good night, Gunny.” Her voice sounded like it was coming from far away.

"'Night, Cypher."

He walked up the stairs to the top floor of the brownstone, making sure that he was taking stock of surfaces, distances, and potential dangers as he went.

He knew that Badger would bring some clothes for him when he came back. He'd leave the clothes just inside the door to the main level of the house. He could go downstairs and get it later, but he wanted to check in on Selene.

He wanted to make sure that she was safe.

That she was resting.

The stairs barely creaked as he moved. He was light enough on his feet, but a house this old was likely to have some creaks and groans. He'd have to go through and find them, so he'd know .

The second landing he reached was the level with her bedroom.

She'd left the door open, and he was determined not to read anything into it.

She knew that he'd come up eventually.

And while they hadn't talked about where he'd actually sleep, he knew that he'd find a place to put his head down for the night.

Like the space just behind her door.

That was a great place to sleep.

If someone came at her through the bedroom door, he'd literally be in her way.

William stepped inside and stood there for a few moments as he let the light of the moon show the layout of the room.

The moon was half full, giving him plenty of light to see by. He moved around to the windows at the back end of the brownstone.

He could see the surrounding homes both on the sides of the yard and the ones on the other street behind them.

It was a quiet night in the neighborhood.

He was glad to see it. Cypher had already run the neighbors through her microscope. He wasn't worried about any of them being a danger to her.

There weren't any noise complaints for the area. Most of the people seemed to be friendly but not nosy. All in all, a good neighborhood .

Turning his back to the window he looked over at the bed and smiled.

It was a King-sized bed.

In the military he'd been happy to put a pillow under his head and fall into a dead sleep. When he'd gotten his own quarters, he'd kept to a smaller bed. Having something really comfortable under him might just make him lazy. Or at least that's what he thought.

Knowing Selene as much as he did, he knew that she'd save him space so he could sleep.

She trusted him.

That much he knew.

If she didn't, she would have told him to find another place to sleep.

She was generous, but she would draw a line between them if she didn't feel comfortable with him.

But still, he stood there, watching over her as she lay in bed.

He'd wondered before, what she wore to sleep.

Covered as she was in her blankets, he wasn't going to find out tonight.

The realization didn't bother him.

He... cared for her, but he wasn't about to try and take it to the next step. Not when she was struggling. Worried.

And to be honest with himself, he didn't want to cross that line knowing that this was temporary.

He wasn't like Ares and Heather .

They'd been in love before they'd been placed in each other's lives again.

Sure, he'd known Selene before, but nothing at all like Ares and Heather. The day they'd spent together was just that, a day.

William moved to the door off of the bedroom. He opened it up and saw a closet to the left and the bathroom to the right.

It had been remodeled since it had been built, likely to provide more room for the homeowner.

He opened a small closet on the bathroom side and saw stacks of linens.

Reaching down he picked up blankets and walked out of the bathroom to set up a place to sleep only to see Selene awake and looking at him.

"Sorry," she sighed and wrapped her arms around her pillow, "I fell asleep waiting for you."

The sound of her voice was already musical, melodic, beautiful.

But roughened by sleep?

It sounded like...

Sex.

William lowered the blankets he was holding so he was holding them between them. It might be half a moon outside, but it was enough light for her to see.

"I didn't expect you to wait." He smiled at her as her eyes were drifting closed. "I checked the security system and everything is great."

"Hmm... 'kay. "

He shook his head and moved toward the door with his blankets.

"I left you space."

He stopped and looked back to the bed.

Selene had turned over, facing the door. Her hair was falling over her face and she lifted a hand to brush it back. "If you want to sleep on the floor," she yawned, "I think it gets really cold."

Her eyelids were heavy, but she was trying to keep them open.

"I don't have my change of clothes yet. Badger-"

She yawned again. "You'll have it in the morning... get some sleep."

Selene tapped her palm on the empty half of the bed closest to him.

"We have an early call..."

He dropped the blankets on a chair and put his suit coat across the back of it. He took off his shirt, shoes, and pants, leaving his boxer briefs on. When he looked at her to ask if she'd mind if he slept like that beside her, she was already asleep.

Smiling, he looked down and felt the cool air across his ankles.

Selene had been right.

It was cold near the floor.

He shook his head and picked a blanket up from the top of the pile.

William lay down on the bed and covered himself with the blanket. He wasn't going to disturb her by trying to share her blanket with her. It was enough that he got to look at her, asleep and at peace.

He laid his hand on the bed between them.

Taking a moment to see the light of the moon turn her long wavy hair into silver lengths curling over her shoulder.

It was strange, he thought, his eyes growing heavy and his body sinking into the mattress, how he'd dreamed about a moment like this since he'd met Selene Carter, but never in his life had he thought that he'd be in bed with Selene and all they were doing... was sleeping.

When she woke up, the world was different.

It wasn't just that she wasn't alone in bed. It was who she was with.

Just one breath and she knew. William.

William Winchester.

Gunny .

She smiled at that memory. It certainly wasn't a name that she would have given him.

Certainly not the name that Cali had called him.

Still calls him.

Hotstuff.

It was an older descriptive, but it fit him.

And there she was.

In bed with hotstuff himself .

The sad part of it, there wasn't anything hot going on.

Except for the heat rolling off of his body.

She normally liked to sleep cool.

And by cool, she meant that she liked the room to be an icebox and then she rolled herself up in warm blankets like a burrito.

Now?

She didn't have a single blanket around her.

She had William.

She had her arm over his chest. Her leg up and over his hip, her foot between his legs.

And she'd never felt so warm before.

Drawing in a breath had the unexpected result of arching her body against his.

And suddenly, she was on fire.

Every nerve ending in her body came to life.

He was asleep, which was the only thing saving her from complete and utter embarrassment.

She was practically on top of him.

Before she could figure out how to move and get off of him before she woke him up, she heard his voice.

"You're up before the alarm."

She drew in another breath, just trying to keep herself from blurting out something... outrageous.

"I normally have to set half a dozen alarms to get up on time. "

Carefully, she lifted her leg and lowered it down beside the other.

"I normally don't hog the bed." She closed her eyes and grumbled to herself. "Sorry."

"How do you know?"

"Hmm?"

He shifted on the bed, bringing her face to face with the man who regularly haunted her dreams.

He smiled and looked better than anyone had a right to look before dawn.

Before she could gather her thoughts, he covered the hand that was slipping down his chest and held it over his heart. "How do you know you don't hog the bed?"

She dragged her gaze up from their joined hands to his face and she saw the smile in his eyes.

"Lord, you're good looking."

She tried to pull her hand away to cover her mouth, but with the weight of his hand on hers, it didn't happen.

"I guess I don't know about the bed thing, just that when I sleep, I usually wake up the same way I went to sleep. Wrapped up in half a dozen blankets. Well, with one foot poking out."

He raised a brow at that last part. "So more like one of those hot dog rolls."

She frowned at that. "A what?"

He lifted her hand up, pointing her index finger in the air between them. "A hot dog roll has one end of the hot dog pointing out of one end and the other end pointing out of the bottom. You'd have your head out one end and your foot out the other."

She started to shake her head, but she couldn't do much with her head laying on her pillow. "Just the foot. I usually have my blankets over my head. And..." She raised her gaze toward her forehead. "I should have braided my hair last night. It's going to a nest when I get out of bed."

Her alarm went off behind her on the nightstand and she was tempted to reach back and knock it down to the floor, but instead, she used it to get up.

"Looks like I need to get up and get ready."

She turned around. William let go of her hand slowly, her fingers pulling out from under his hand.

Selene dropped her legs off of the bed on the side of the windows and frowned a little.

She had to gather her wits around her.

It was just too easy to be around him.

Too easy for her body to heat and lean into his touch.

She wasn't someone who had sex just for kicks. This... this wasn't going to be that either. He was here to protect her. Here to make sure that they could finish the movie in time. And then... then he would go back to his life. His job. Where he guarded people.

Other people.

Who knows where.

Who knows who .

She blew out a breath and stood up, grasping her phone from the charger.

Selene was halfway to the bathroom when she stopped and turned back to the bed.

William was sitting up on the mattress, his legs folded.

His posture and the stretch of the boxer briefs that he'd worn to bed did nothing... ABSOLUTELY NOTHING... to hide the length and girth of his...

She forced her eyes up.

Past his face.

Past the top of his head.

Up the wallpaper to the ceiling.

"Um... I was thinking I'd shower first. And then you can go."

She couldn't see his face, but she heard what she thought was a hint of humor in his voice.

"Yeah. I need to go and get my clothes from Badger."

She nodded but kept her gaze way above the bed. "Okay. I'm going to go and... shower. Now."

Selene turned around, her free hand fisting as she stepped into the bathroom.

The tiles under her feet were almost frosty and she had to tip-toe to the bathmat.

Every inch she moved, she felt more and more like a complete idiot.

The first time she'd met him, he was in his dress uniform. Shining buttons. Medals pinned to his chest. A pristine white hat on his head. Every inch a picture of perfection.

Even at Cooper's house, he'd been dressed in an outfit that was quiet elegance.

He looked like he had the same designers in his closet that Cooper did and that... that was interesting.

But in his boxer briefs?

Holy... Moly.

She reached her hand into the shower and turned on the water. She knew she couldn't handle the warm water she normally liked, she couldn't do ice either.

So she made it just north of cool and stepped in.

She didn't waste time because she knew once she let thoughts of him into her head, she'd lose track of time itself, and she had to get to work.

Reaching for the exfoliating towel from the hook in the shower, she grasped her favorite body wash and got to work.

Now that she knew what he was packing, she tried to fight of the smile that stretched her lips, her dreams would never be the same.