Nigel irritably batted away the strand of hair that was tickling his cheek and wrinkled his nose when it started tickling that instead. Still more asleep than awake, he thought, "Sydney has got to start wearing her hair tied back during the night."
A slight movement of the silk covered body next to his snapped him awake in an instant and he almost swore out loud when he realised that it happened again.
For the fourth morning in a row he had woken up to find Sydney and himself cuddled together. No matter how far apart they were when they fell asleep, by the time he woke up they were as close together as it was possible to get.
It wouldn't have been so bad if it had only been the last few nights, he could have put that down to the stress of their current hunt or something, but it had actually been happening for the last 7 or 8 months. Every time they had to share a bed, something that seemed to happen more often than he would have thought possible, they would wake up in one of two positions.
Either they would be lying on their sides with his body curled around hers from behind or they would be in the position they were in now. Nigel was flat on his back with Sydney sprawled practically on top of him, her head tucked in the crook of his neck, one arm flung across his chest and her legs tangled with his.
Nigel had one arm wrapped around her shoulders and the other hand rested on her silk-clad hip, a fact that he had only just noticed and he guiltily snatched his hand away, praying that the sudden movement wouldn't wake her up. When her only response was to sigh and nuzzle her head further under his chin, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He glanced down and saw that the blankets had been kicked off the bed at some point during the night and he was treated to the sight of Sydney wearing just a silk nightgown. From the first day he had known her, Sydney had always been perfectly comfortable with her body and her sexuality and had no problem with wandering around their hotel room in her underwear or wearing sexy lingerie to bed. Much as Nigel enjoyed the view, he occasionally toyed with the idea of buying her a pair of flannel pyjamas just so that he wouldn't be confronted with how beautiful she looked wearing silk and lace.
He glanced at the clock on the bedside cabinet and sighed when he saw it was only 3am and therefore much to early for him to get up, take a very cold shower and try not to think about the obvious effect of waking up with a very beautiful woman in his arms.
Nigel very gently tried to extricate himself from the potentially fatally embarassing situation he found himself in, but Sydney was obviously comfortable where she was and didn't want to move. In fact, when he tried to slide out from underneath her sleeping form, she grabbed hold of his t-shirt and tried to get even closer to him.
He sighed and decided to try another way of getting out of the bed, hopefully without getting killed in the process. Thanks to a slightly drunken late-night conversation a few months ago, Nigel now knew that easiest way to get Sydney to relax was to brush hr hair. He hoped that just running his fingers through it would have the same effect and cause her to relax so much that she would let go of his shirt and allow him to slide out of bed.
What he hadn't counted on was the effect that it would have on him. The feel of the silken strands running through his fingers was probably the most sensual thing he had ever felt and the lingering aroma of her shampoo intoxicated him to the point that he never noticed when Sydney woke up.
She lay there for a few minutes, wondering what the hell he was doing and then decided that she really didn't care as long as he kept doing it. When his finger lightly brushed the nape of her neck, it took every ounce of willpower that she had not to give in to the moan that was trying to break free. Sydney knew she had to stop what was happening before things went too far and she did what she had wanted to for a while. Namely, pin him to the mattress and show him exactly how much fun sharing a bed could be, although she had a sneaky suspicion that Nigel could show her a few things as well.
"Nigel," she eventually said quietly. "What are you doing?"
Nigel yelped in surprise and moved away from her so fast; anyone would have thought she had suddenly become red hot. Sydney let him go, turned onto her side, propped her head on her hand and watched him as he practically scuttled to the other side of the room and as far away from the bed as possible.
Sydney didn't say anything for a moment, she just watched him as he paced the length of the room and back again, muttering under his breath the whole time. She figured that this sort of behaviour could go on all night if she didn't put a stop to it, so she did just that. "Nigel!" she said sharply. "Stop all that pacing around and muttering and come back to bed."
Hearing Sydney say 'Come back to bed' sent a glow to Nigel's cheeks that could have rivalled a lighthouse and he finally turned to face her. "I'm sorry, Syd," he apologised. "But you were sprawled all over me. I was only trying to wake you up a little so I could move. I wasn't trying to take advantage or anything."
Sydney sighed and let her stern expression soften. "Relax, Nigel," she said with a smile. "I know you would never do that. When two people share a bed as often as we do, these things happen, it's perfectly normal. Now, will you please come back to bed so we can both get some sleep?"
Nigel gestured towards the couch. "I, uh, I'll sleep on the couch for tonight, Syd. Let you get a good night's sleep."
Sydney sighed again. "Nigel," she said sweetly. "That couch isn't long enough for you to sleep on, which is how we ended up in the same bed in the first place. Now, it's late, I'm tired and if you don't get your butt over here and into this bed so I can go back to sleep, I'm going to come over there and kick it. Okay?"
Nigel gulped nervously and nodded before hesitantly crossing the room and sitting back down on the very edge of the bed. With an irritated sigh, Sydney leant over the edge of the bed, grabbed the blankets and dragged them back onto the bed before practically forcing Nigel into lying down. "Look," she said as she once again draped herself over him. "If it makes you feel any better, we can discuss this in the morning, but right now I would just like to go back to sleep. So, just close your eyes and relax and before you know it, we'll be having the most uncomfortable discussion of our entire lives."
Nigel couldn't stop the snort of suppressed laughter that escaped him and Sydney smiled. She knew that once she got him smiling about something, the battle was half over. She settled down and felt his arm instinctively wrap around her shoulder and she smiled as she let her eyes drift closed.
Nigel thought there was no way on Earth he would ever be able to get to sleep, but the surprisingly light weight of Sydney laying practically on top of him and the gentle sound of her steady breathing soon relaxed him to the point where sleep swept over him in the space between one heartbeat and the next.
In the darkness, Sydney smiled and snuggled closer when she felt him relax into sleep. Her last conscious thought before she too fell asleep, held securely in the arms of her best friend, was that the next morning was definitely going to be something to look forward to.
TBC