She was sleeping. He could hear it in the way her breathing had changed. More slow, more heavy. He was lying behind her on the couch with his arm around her waist as he did earlier. The empty pizza box was still on the table, the aroma of the pizza still hanging in the air although it was all gone.
He ran through the four options in his head. He could let her sleep on the couch and stay behind her and sleep there too. He could get up, let her lie there and go to bed. He could carry her into bed and go back and sleep on the couch himself like he did the night prior. Or he could carry her into bed and sleep next to her. While weighing his options, he went through the night in his head.
He had driven her to the house where she stayed from time to time. She went inside while he waited in the car. Shortly after the face of an elderly woman had appeared in the window. She was looking straight at him as if she was checking him out. It was clear she did care about these girls. He sent a smile her way and hoped he passed her test.
Shortly after Sadie came back out with a backpack. It was pretty worn out and he wondered if it was the same backpack she had had five years ago when she had left her home at the age of 16. She couldn't have many belongings if she only had that bag.
Back at his place she had asked to borrow a t-shirt to sleep in. He had told her to just pick whatever she wanted in his closet. She had gone to the bathroom to shower while he ordered pizza. She came back out with semi-dried hair and his way too big shirt. She made a joke about actually being more covered up than usual although she was only in a shirt and he had laughed.
The pizza had arrived. They had eaten and watched a couple of more movies. At some point during this last movie, she had fallen asleep, so here he was weighing in on four options. Either way he just wanted to let her sleep. She deserved some peace and quiet.
He got up as gently as he could. Option three. That was the best. She needed a bed to rest and he didn't mind the couch. He gently picked her up. She started stirring. Not a heavy sleeper apparently.
"Ssh, just sleep. You're safe," he whispered.
He carried her into the bedroom and laid her down on the bed. He reached for the covers to tuck her in. He looked at her. The shirt had been pulled up by accident, exposing her thong to him. He felt aroused and swallowed hard before pulling the covers over her. Last thing she needed was him trying to get in her pants.
He took a couple of steps away but couldn't move his eyes from her or walk out of the room. He thought it through in his head real quickly. He wasn't sure she was gonna like it but it was his bedroom and he could be a gentleman as hard as it might be. Option four, it had to be option four. He stripped down to his boxers, crawled under the covers as well and put his arm back around her waist where it had been most of the day. He placed a kiss on the back of her head, took in the scent of her hair one last time before closing his eyes.
He grunted and pushed his crotch forward as he started to slowly wake up the next morning. Waking up with a hard on was nothing new but having a female body in front of him while waking up was. He grinded his crotch against her as his fingers gently pinched the nipple they had a hold on. His head started to clear more and more. Something was wrong. He opened his eyes and reality hit him. He had never gotten out of bed so fast. What the hell was wrong with him? Had he been groping her all night in his sleep?
He ran his fingers through his hair in desperation as she sat up and looked at him. There wasn't anger in her eyes like he expected. Instead they just seemed kind of dead.
"It's okay, Dean," she said.
"No Sadie, it's really not," he said.
"I don't mind. You've been so kind to me," she said.
His mouth fell open. He reached his hands up to stop her before she said what he was afraid she would.
"I am NOT taking advantage of you or demanding any kind of payment for letting you stay here," he said.
He marched out of the room before she could answer.
He closed the door to the bathroom behind him and turned on the shower. He quickly got out of his boxers and went to stand under the water. What was she thinking? He would not sleep with her no matter how attractive he found her. She wasn't a piece of toy to play with. She had to understand that she was worth more than that. He growled as he looked down and saw his dick still demanded attention. He grabbed it and started stroking himself. He might not wanna sleep with her but that didn't mean he couldn't think about her while jerking off.
He was surprised to see she had set the table when he came back out. She had gotten dressed if that's what he could call it with her choice of clothes and she had made breakfast.
"You didn't have anything else but eggs and toast," she said apologizing.
"It's perfect," he said and sat down.
They ate in silence. He couldn't remember ever having a woman cook for him and he enjoyed every second of it. He watched her over the table as she focused on her own food. He had to convince her to stay for a while. He had a feeling that he somehow needed her just as much as she probably needed him. He made a silent vow in his head to keep her off the streets for good, now and forever, whatever he had to do to keep her safe.
He cleared his throat and she looked at him.
"I have to go workout this morning. You wanna come along?" He asked.
"Watching a bunch of sweaty men challenging each other to see who can lift more weights? No thanks, I'm good," she answered.
"You wanna stay here then?" He asked.
She looked him straight in the eyes as if she was searching for some kind of answer in them to a question she hadn't asked out loud.
"I really would like it if you're still here when I get back," he said.
"And when is that?" She asked.
"Around noon. We can go shopping to fill up the fridge so you can cook whatever you like tomorrow morning," he said.
There, he laid it out there without asking or begging. She now knew he was expecting her to stay at least one more night. He kept his eyes locked with hers, just waiting for her reply. She slowly nodded.
"Okay," she said.
Okay. Only one word. Okay. One word that meant more than anything else. One word that made him more happy than she could possibly know. He smiled at her. Okay.