The Roommate (Roommates, #1)

A whispered voice at the edge of my bed woke me. “Paige?”

“Yeah?” I slurred, blinking in the darkness. The only light came from the hallway, casting the room in shadows.

Cannon’s shadowy form stood a few feet from where I slept. He said nothing, just crossed the room and sat beside me on the bed.

Groggy and confused, I lifted my head. “What time is it?”

“About one in the morning. We were overstaffed and slow, so they sent me home early.”Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

That didn’t explain what he was doing in my bedroom. I blinked at him slowly.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he continued.

It took me a second to remember what had happened earlier. I’d gone on a date with Daniel the Douche and ended up with a bloody nose. It hadn’t hurt much, so the blood had surprised me.

“I’m fine,” I said.

Cannon’s warm palm found my cheek, and he brushed the hair back from my face. “Couldn’t sleep till I made sure you were all right.”

I swallowed, leaning into his touch, enjoying the way his strong fingers felt moving through my hair, stroking my scalp. Letting my eyes slip closed, I murmured something unintelligible, and Cannon chuckled.

“Just rest, princess. Sorry I woke you.”

I felt his lips on my forehead, and then the mattress shifted as he rose from the bed. Missing his warm, masculine touch almost immediately, I reached out toward him.

“Don’t go. Not yet,” I whispered.

Normally, I would have been too ashamed to say that. I would have forced myself to be an adult and let him leave. But deep in the night, in the pitch-black darkness, I could ask for what I wanted. I didn’t have to look at his face or worry about what he saw on mine. Nothing that happened between midnight and sunrise counted; I could hide behind the strange darkness that blanketed the world when everyone we knew was asleep. And in the daylight, I could write off this slipup as a dream.

He hesitated for the briefest of moments, and I moved over, making room in the bed.

Then he climbed in beside me, lying down on top of the covers, and in his calming presence, I fell back to sleep almost instantly.