Saved at Sunrise (Shadow Falls #4.5)(14)

Asleep, he looked younger, except for his five o'clock shadow. She tried to remember if she'd felt any of that stubble when he'd kissed her last night at the restaurant. She hadn't. But she wanted to run her fingers across his chin now.

Her gaze shifted downward to her chest, to her not-so-big boobs. The sheet had slipped down around her waist.

Frowning, she snatched the sheet up and wondered if Steve had been privy to the view before he'd fallen asleep. Of course he had, she realized, he'd been the one to remove her bra and play doctor when he dressed her wound. A depressing thought hit. Had he been disappointed that she wasn't bigger?

She stared at the two slight mounds now pushing against the sheet-finding a bit of hope that they were a little bigger than they used to be. In the last few months, she'd actually started to fill out a B cup. Not that she aspired to get to a C cup like Miranda and Kylie. But a full B or B+ would be nice.

She glanced to her left side and lowered the sheet just a bit to see her bandage. It didn't look like a half-assed job. Shifting her shoulder, she realized it must have healed, because there wasn't even the slightest amount of pain. Then she looked at her arm where another bandage was.

She vaguely remembered Steve waking her up and making her drink blood two or three times. She also recalled him telling her yesterday that his mom was a doctor. Was he considering becoming a doctor himself? He should. The boy had what it took.

Reaching up, she loosened the bandage below her shoulder blade to see the wound. The cut still showed, but it was close to being healed.

"It looks good," a deep, sleepy voice said beside her.

She cut her eyes to the guy sharing the mattress with her and glared. "Get out of my bed."

He grinned. "Technically, it's my bed. I rented the room."

She frowned. "It's too early to be logical!"

He chuckled. "Actually, it's not early, either."

She sat up a little, holding the sheet to her chest, and vaguely recalled not being able to sit up earlier. "What time is it?"

He rolled over and looked at the clock on the bedside table. "Six."

"That's early," she said.

"In the afternoon." He ran a hand through his sleep-mussed hair and looked adorable doing it.

"Wait. It's six in the afternoon? Shit!" She sat up straighter. "I slept all freaking day? Burnett's probably livid. I was supposed to check in."

"I did."

She frowned. "You told him I was hurt!"

"No, well I did, but I downplayed it-a lot. I had to tell him you had to fight because the whole burning warehouse and sightings of giant lions made the news."

She recalled him turning into a lion both at the warehouse with the rogues and to fight off the weres. "You were spotted?"

"A drunk in the alley, so it's not too bad."

"Sorry," she said, remembering he was a stickler about following the rules and not shifting in a public place. And yet he'd shifted because ... because she couldn't protect them.

"It's okay." His gaze went soft again, like he cared or something. "We got out alive. And we completed our mission. Now the FRU can go in and make some arrests in the gang."

She nodded. "I'm surprised Burnett hasn't been calling every fifteen minutes."

"I think he would have but he's got another problem on his hands."

"What?" Della asked.

"Supposedly Helen was attacked."

"Helen? Our Helen?" Helen was a bashful half-fae who Della couldn't believe anyone would hurt. "Is she okay? Who did that?"

"Burnett's been at the hospital with her. He said she was okay. I asked who did it, and he said they didn't know. But you know Burnett, he'll get them and when he does they'll get hell."

"Yeah, and I'd like to help him dish out that hell. Thank God she's okay." Della's stomach grumbled, embarrassingly loud, too.

Steve chuckled. "I think you're hungry." He bounced out of bed. "I'll get it for you."

Sitting up, she leaned against the bed's headboard and held the sheet to her chest. She watched him go to the small fridge and pull out a plastic bag with blood. But it wasn't the same blood she'd brought with her on this trip. That blood she'd left at the cabin.

Questions started floating around her head. "That's not my blood. Where did you-"

"My mom worked at this town's ER for a couple of weeks when we first moved from Alabama. There's a blood bank right down the street, that's why I chose this hotel."

His words bounced around her head. "You stole blood from a blood bank?" She shook her head. "You're never supposed to do that!"

"I didn't. Well, not technically." He moved to stand by the bed and handed her a cup.

She took the cup and stared down at it. The wonderful aroma filled her nose. "Is this O negative?" she asked, recalling how good it had tasted when she'd been semicomatose.

"Only the best for you." He sent her a crooked smile.

"I guess you can't take it back, can you? And if you try I might have to kill you." She took a big sip.

He grinned. "Drink up, and besides, I didn't exactly steal it."

She glanced at him from the cup's lip. He continued to stand there just looking at her. "What do you mean?"