Page 30 of The Retreat

Imogen woke feeling cosy. Man, this blanket was good. What was it stuffed with? Goose down? It was positively toasty. And heavy. And… Wait, was that a breath on the back of her neck?

Her eyes blinked open slowly, suspiciously. She was facing the wall. That was normal. She always slept facing away from the door. But the arm draped across her waist? Not hers. And definitely not normal.

Her first thought was, Oh no, a bear. Her second thought was, Did Jade get into the room somehow?

Somehow, the most obvious explanation was the last to occur to her.

Imogen turned her head, careful not to jostle the mattress too much, and peered over her shoulder.

There she was. Talia. In Imogen’s bed. Asleep. Curled in close, practically nuzzled into Imogen’s shoulder. She was out cold, her expression soft and serene.

Imogen lay there, utterly still, for a solid ten seconds. Which felt like an eternity when you were trying not to acknowledge the thigh slotted casually between your own. The worst thing was that her body was reacting like it was happy about the situation.

Very happy.

She had to do something and quick. ‘Talia,’ she whispered.

Nothing.

‘Talia,’ she hissed.

Talia made an ‘Mmm’ noise and nuzzled closer.

Imogen wriggled backwards, managing to extract a single inch of space before Talia’s hand slid down her side and rested just above her hip, pulling her closer.

‘Talia!’ Imogen snapped.

Talia blinked awake.

At first, there was just confusion and sleepy blinking.

Then her gaze slid from Imogen’s face to their tangled legs, to the bedsheets, back to Imogen. Her entire body went rigid.

‘What the hell!’

She practically launched herself off the mattress, thudding backwards into the nightstand. A lamp wobbled dangerously.

‘Why am I in your bed?!’ she demanded as if Imogen had done it.

Imogen was incensed. ‘You tell me! I woke up with you clamped around me!’

‘I didn’t, I don’t…!’ Talia stammered. She looked genuinely scandalised. ‘I must’ve sleepwalked. I do that sometimes. When I’m… when things are… you know, stressful. I didn’t mean to!’

‘OK,’ Imogen said, accepting it as the truth. Nothing else made sense.

Talia made a sound of pure, wordless mortification and buried her face in her hands. Her ears were red. It was kind of adorable.

Imogen hated that she thought that.

‘This,’ Talia said finally, voice muffled by her palms, ‘is not OK.’

‘Mmm,’ Imogen agreed, too aware of how warm her face felt. ‘Ten out of ten on the fake-girlfriend immersion, though.’

Talia looked up, startled. Then narrowed her eyes. ‘This isn’t funny.’

‘It’s a little funny,’ Imogen said, attempting to believe it. ‘I mean, we can’t not laugh about it.’

Talia looked, if anything, even more horrified.

‘Relax,’ Imogen said, trying for casual. ‘It was an accident.’

‘Relaxing is the problem!’

Imogen’s smile faltered slightly.

Because the thing was, it wasn’t funny. Because there had been a moment there where Imogen had nearly decided not to move. To just enjoy it. Just be with Talia.

Talia backed toward the bathroom door, face flaming. ‘I’m going to brush my shower. I mean, shower my teeth. Oh, for fuck’s sake, you know what I mean.’

Imogen nodded, trying not to smile at how flustered Talia was.

‘I’m sorry. This won’t happen again,’ Talia vowed.

‘No, of course. Obviously.’

Talia yanked open the door and slammed it behind her.

Imogen sat in the silence that followed. She let her head fall back against the headboard, eyes on the ceiling. Just one more day.