Crow felt the tension between them as Penelope shifted away from him. By her reaction, he knew she didn’t want to move farther with him yet, so he needed to respect her boundaries. He got ready to go to bed along with her, taking off his boots and putting out the lantern that was glowing dimly on the bedside table. He laid down and threw the blanket over himself, rolling over to face away from her.

Despite how tired he was and how much his body ached, he found that he was unable to fall asleep with her lying beside him. Even though they had technically slept next to each other one other time, it hadn’t been intentional. To knowingly sleep in the same bed as her made it difficult for him to relax. He stared at the wall on the other side of the room, trying not to think about it. However, in spite of his best efforts, he couldn’t ignore her close proximity.

He also found it uncomfortable how they were trying to stay as far away from each other as possible. They were acting like strangers who had been forced to share a bed rather than two people who claimed to love each other. He didn’t like it.

[i]This is ridiculous,[/i] Crow huffed quietly under his breath. In a somewhat defiant move, he rolled over to face Penelope and slid his arm around her middle, pulling her close so that her back was pressed to his chest. Settling down more comfortably, he let out his breath in a long sigh and closed his eyes. He felt at ease with her in his arms and finally began to drift off to sleep.