Page 36 of The Restoration Program

She took a step along the left path, then another. With the new accessibility, she wouldn’t be trapped up there if she got scared. She could leave any time she wanted to.

The platform ended against the side of the mattress. Her feet sank into the plush material and made her efforts to climb onto the pillow shaky at best. Ryan’s breath caught. His eyes were wide as he gingerly extended a hand to help her up the rest of the way.

The pillow was perfectly soft and cool, bigger than a California king bed. After watching her carefully, Ryan slowly lowered back onto his side and she did the same. She was on the edge of the pillow, as close to him as she could get. He didn’t say a word, but she could see the relief, the quiet delight in his eyes. She saw thewantthere too, but he kept it leashed. The reins were in her hands tonight.

“My pajamas are in the closet,” Nicole said softly. She flicked her eyes down his toned body meaningfully.

“Well, that’s a shame.” He moved his hand closer, pausing to give her a searching look. She nodded and beckoned him. They both held their breath as she guided his fingertips to the hem of her simple dress.

They locked eyes again, and she nodded with more certainty. He pulled up her dress, and she arched her back to help him slide off the soft material. The strap caught briefly on her bandaged arm. She winced, and he hurriedly set aside the dress to gently brush a finger over the wrapping.

“Sorry,” he said. “Does it hurt?”

She smiled impishly. “Only if I flail my arms like this—”

He caught her wrist between a finger and thumb before she could demonstrate. Half-burying a chuckle into his pillow, he stroked her forearm lightly. “How am I supposed to get any sleep when you’re so hyper?”

“Guess we’ll just have to problem-solve.”

She settled back down, urging his hand to follow. She shuffled her lower half under his palm, careful to keep her bandaged arm clear. His hand remained tense for several long moments before relaxing onto the gentle curves of her body. His fingers curled slightly, wrapping her in a tender embrace.

“Night, Nicki,” he whispered.

She shut her eyes and found comfort in his warmth.

Nothing about this was normal, no matter how much Jenning insisted the adjustment was going well. But Nicole couldn’t deny that this was the first night she felt like she was sleeping athome.

DAY TWENTY-SIX

“The goal of this exercise is to strengthen the bond between NüPrint and their spouse-slash-family member-slash-life partner. While there are many facets that make a Restored NüPrint a unique and dignified member of society, an unavoidable aspect is reduced scale. It is imperative for family units to have true empathy in order to forge the best future together.”

Nicole lowered the worksheet and puffed her cheeks. As thoughPartners with Printsdidn’t stimulate enough awkward conversation, Dr. Burman had assignedhomeworka few days in advance of their third meeting.

“What?” Ryan said, grinning. “Sounds romantic already.”

His relaxed attitude assuaged her. “I think it’s a whole lot of fancy words to say ‘lie down on the floor.’”

“Oh. Right.”

Ryan set aside his glass of wine and scooped Nicole up carefully as he stood from the couch. Finding a space between the electric fireplace and the coffee table, he laid down on his back and got settled.

“Cozy. Now what?”

Nicole stepped free from his hands and paced upward to sit on his chest. She looked down at the sheet.

“It says you’re supposed to have your eyes open, babe. They want you to look around. See—” An inexplicable lump appeared in her throat. Nicole swallowed hard, heat creeping into her face and strength vanishing from her voice. “They want you to see how I see the world.”

His eyes fluttered open dutifully, and he looked side to side. His gaze drifted around slowly, climbing up the legs of the coffee table and focusing briefly on the distance of the ceiling overhead.

“Okay,” Nicole said after a minute. “What do you notice? Just say what comes to mind as you think of it.”

“Um…” He took a deep, thoughtful breath. “I see that we should run the vacuum over the carpet.”

She tapped his chest. “Come on, you have to take this seriously!”

“Iam! Being this close to dust bunnies can’t be good for you.”

He tilted his chin to his chest and raised his eyebrows at her. She couldn’t suppress a smile, her self-consciousness easing somewhat. “Fine,” she said. “What else?”