Summary: MC (Mara) gets some much-needed rest after finding Kate.
Note: I am a sucker for my OTPs falling asleep next to each other and cuddling together. I’ve also been missing Grant the last couple chapters, and thought this was a great chance to give him and Mara some time together.
Mara is used to running on very little sleep. Her editor and her deadlines have led to many nights that have more cups of coffee than hours of sleep, but the last few days in Birchport have left her more exhausted than any other time she can remember. Sometimes it feels like she’s been here for weeks, so much has happened.
And then she remembers it hasn’t even been a week yet, and that thought alone makes her just want to sleep for the next three days. After they find Kate and she’s brought to the hospital, Mara nearly puts up a fight to stay in her room overnight. Flynn is a few rooms down, Kate is panicked and still out of it, and Mara hates the thought of leaving her alone. But the hospital remains firm on its visiting hours.
Almost as soon as she steps outside, her phone rings. Mara groans. She’s too tired to deal with people right now, but when she sees that it’s Grant, she smiles a little and answers. She appreciates that he doesn’t hammer her with questions, just talks to her reassuringly and asks how she and Kate are. There’s something incredibly soothing about his voice, and it nearly lulls her to sleep as she sits in her rental car.
“Mara?” he says, and she jumps, hitting her elbow on the middle console.
“Ow,” she mutters, rubbing her arm.
“I’m sorry,” she says next, realizing she’d missed something Grant had said.
She yawns, blinking blearily at the green glow of the numbers on the clock, and realizes it’s almost midnight.
“It’s been a long few days,” she says through another yawn. “I think it’s finally catching up to me.”
Grant hums sympathetically. “You need sleep. Can you get back to the B&B okay?”
It’s not too far, just a few miles, but she can already feel herself forcing her eyes to stay open.
“I’ll call a cab,” she says, gathering up her purse. “What do you think the odds are that Miss Harlenay will let me sneak in without asking me lots of questions?”
Grant laughs warmly. “Probably not great.”
He clears his throat, then says, “We have plenty of spare rooms here, if you want. And no Miss Harlenay to sneak past.”
The thought of sleeping in an undoubtedly large, plush bed in the Emerson mansion sounds fantastic. Seeing Grant is a definite perk too, even though she immediately feels a little guilty for thinking that when Kate is upstairs in a hospital bed.
“That would actually be really great,” Mara answers. “If you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” Grant reassures her. “I’ll be there soon, okay?”
She manages to stay awake until Grant gets there and pulls up right next to her rental car. Mara slips her arms around him when he hugs her, sinking into his warmth. He holds onto her, running one of his hands up and down her back.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks with concern, nudging her chin up.
Mara nods. “I’m okay. I’m just relieved we found Kate.”
She bites her lip, then frowns when she remembers Walsh’s words on Tanner’s yacht. “But I’m guessing Walsh still isn’t going to see her as a victim.”
Grant’s face tightens. “You’re probably right, unfortunately.”
He runs his thumb lightly over a scratch across her cheek. “Let’s worry about that tomorrow though, okay? You must be exhausted.”
She can almost feel the bags forming under her eyes.
“Hey,” she teases, the word interrupted by a yawn. “You look just as exhausted as I do.”
The corners of his mouth lift up. “I probably do.”
Grant’s fingers lace with hers on the drive to the Emerson mansion, and again when they walk inside and up the stairs. The bedroom he opens the door to is bigger than her apartment in New York, and the bed looks so comfortable that she almost drops right into it without taking her shoes off.
“Damn,” she mutters, realizing she has nothing to wear and that her outfit has seen far better days.
Grant tells her to hang on and heads back out the door, returning a few moments later with a t-shirt and a spare toothbrush.
“You’re a lifesaver,” Mara says. “Thank you.”
He shrugs, and she fights back a smile at the faint blush staining his cheeks.
“Do you always blush this easily?” she can’t resist teasing him as she heads into the attached bathroom.
Grant grins sheepishly. “No.”
“So just me, then?” she asks through the bathroom door, sighing in relief as she strips out of her torn, dirty clothes and pulls the t-shirt over her head.
It smells like Grant, his laundry detergent and his cologne, and it makes her stomach flutter.
“Just you,” she hears Grant laugh.
She brushes her teeth and scrubs the day off of her face, then heads back out to the bedroom. Grant is still there, and smiles softly when she re-emerges.
“Do you need anything else?” he asks, and she suddenly wants to ask him to stay.
She’s never been big on cuddling or needing comforting, but something about Grant has been bringing it out in her. And after the past few days, nothing sounds better than having him next to her while she sleeps.
“Will you stay?” she asks, resting her hands lightly on his chest.
His heart thumps steadily under her palm, and she swallows hard when it suddenly speeds up.
“If you want me to,” Grant murmurs.
Mara loops her arms around his neck when he tilts his head down, and sighs against his lips when he kisses her softly.
“I do.”
Grant kisses her again, a soothing, reassuring press of his lips to hers. Mara climbs into the bed, watching him get undressed. He hesitates before he pulls his t-shirt off, glancing over at her. She nods, an unintentional soft noise slipping past her lips when he gets it over his head and she sees his bare chest and stomach and the defined lines of his muscles.
Grant grins at her, and she grins back. When he’s down to just his boxers, he flips the light off, plunging them into darkness, and slides in next to her. Curling up next to him feels oddly natural, like they’ve done it before. His hand runs soothingly over her side, making her eyes drift closed. Before she falls asleep, Mara lifts her head up, her lips finding his instinctively in the dark.
She’s too tired and there’s too much going on for her to consider anything beyond kissing him right now, even as each meeting of their lips sends little flashes of heat and arousal straight to her belly. Grant pushes her hair back from her face, his thumb running over her cheekbone.
“Think you can sleep?” he asks her.
Mara nods, unable to help herself from kissing him one more time. She feels Grant smile as they kiss again, soft and slow, before she finally sighs and lays her head against his shoulder.
As challenging and difficult as she knows the coming days will be, for now, she focuses on the rhythmic rise and fall of Grant’s chest, the reassuring touch of his hand tracing up and down her back, and lets herself sleep.