After a while, he slid me off his lap and stood up, then took my hand and pulled me to my feet as he said, “Come on, angel. It’s late, let’s get you tucked in bed.”
“Will you spend the night with me?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t,” he said, and I felt a stab of disappointment. “I just can’t sleep in unfamiliar places. But I’ll get you tucked in before I take off.”
“K,” I murmured, and let him lead me to the bedroom.
He pushed the door open and stopped short when he flipped on the overhead light. The room was empty except for a cheap air mattress topped with a thin pillow and thinner blanket, my gym bag open on the floor beside it. Dante frowned at this, and asked, “When is your furniture supposed to arrive?”
I grinned at that. “Well, whenever my neighbors decide they don’t want some of their stuff anymore and drag it out to the curb for disposal. Shortly after that, it will ‘arrive’ in my apartment, after I drag it up the stairs.”
“You haven’t bought yourself any stuff? Not even a bed?”
“I made nine dollars today by working the nonexistent lunch rush,” I told him. “So for now, it’s air mattresses and milk crates, but with a forecast for secondhand castoffs in the hopefully near future.”
“You can’t live like this,” Dante said, knitting his brows together. “Get dressed. You can stay in my guest room until we get your apartment squared away.”
I crossed the room to the air mattress and slid under the blanket. “This is fine.”
“This room is really depressing,” Dante told me. “You’re not spending the night here.”
“Sure I am.”
“Please come home with me.”
“I appreciate your concern, Dante, but I’m happy here. If Jamie wasn’t making me a great deal on this sublet, I’d be living in my truck right now. So to me, this place isn’t depressing. It’s a palace.”
Dante considered this for a long moment. Then he turned off the overhead light and crossed the room to me. I could see him pretty clearly in the illumination provided by the streetlight outside my bare window. He sunk down carefully on a corner of the air mattress and said, “What are the chances this thing can hold both of us without exploding?”
“Slim to none. But let’s live dangerously.” I stretched out on my side, and he pulled off his tie and his shoes and lay down gingerly beside me, gathering me into his arms. I ran my palms up his broad back and snuggled against him as I murmured, “What are you doing? I thought you were going to deposit me in my bed and be done with me for tonight.”
“I was going to deposit you in your bed, back when I thought you had a bed.”
“And now, what? You’re staying to compensate for the lack of furnishings?”
His laugh was deep, warm and genuine. “I’m staying because you’re too stubborn to come with me when I tell you to.”
“You didn’t want to spend the night with me. There’s really no reason for you to stay,” I told him.
“Are you telling me to leave?”
“Well, no.”
“Ok then.” He shifted his arms around me, settling in. “Just so you know, I’m going to go home sometime during the night. I’ll never be able to sleep here. But I’ll stay long enough for you to fall asleep.”
“You never really explained why you’re even staying that long,” I murmured drowsily as I cuddled against him.
“I just can’t walk away and leave you all alone in this depressing room with this depressing air mattress.” And after a few moments, he said quietly, “I’m staying because you make me want to protect you like I’ve never wanted to protect anyone or anything in my life.”
I mulled that over as I nestled into the space between his chin and shoulder. And then I whispered, “Thank you.”
Chapter Four
It was disappointing to wake up alone the next morning, even though Dante had forewarned me. And not entirely surprising to find myself lying on the hard floor. The cheap air mattress had indeed not been up to the task of holding both of us last night. But instead of exploding, it had apparently slowly and anticlimactically leaked to death.
I got up off the floor and padded into the kitchen, in search of my morning caffeine. It was going to have to take the form of a can of soda, because that was all I had here.
Or it used to be all I had here. I stopped short at the sight of a shiny new coffee maker on my counter, coffee pot full, a couple white mugs lined up beside it. There was a pink bakery box on the counter, too, and I flipped the lid to find an assortment of bagels. A search of the kitchen revealed Dante had also bought me groceries, pots and pans, silverware and dishes. Really? Where did someone even find dishes this early in the morning?