Page 19 of Captain's Orders
Jordan's hand moved up to the curve where her ribs flared into her chest. Dani's breast filled her palm and she arched up against her and her mouth opened wider against Jordan's. And something was happening to Jordan that shouldn't be happening yet. A wave in her belly, sharp and immediate, her muscles tightening of their own accord. They'd barely touched and yet it was there, breaking over her before she could stop it, her whole body shuddering against Dani's.
She came awake with a strangled cry and sat up.
For a beat she didn't know where she was. The cabin. Her berth. The duvet shoved down around her hips and her heart hammering and the rest—the involuntary clench of her muscles, the slow pulse already starting to fade—was unmistakable. She had just had an orgasm in her sleep.
The pull-out bed creaked.
"Jordan?"
No. Please, no.
The mattress dipped as Dani sat down on the edge of her berth. An arm settled across Jordan's shoulders.
"Hey. Hey, are you okay?"
Jordan couldn't speak. If she opened her mouth, she'd give herself away. She kept her eyes closed and tried to slow her breathing. In through the nose. Hold. Out through the mouth.
"Jordan," Dani whispered. "It's okay. You had a nightmare. You're awake now."
A nightmare. Sure. Jordan opened her eyes and turned on the bedside lamp.
Dani's face was creased with concern as she took her hand. "You're okay."
A quiet laugh escaped Jordan. "Yeah." Her voice came out rough and she cleared her throat. "Yeah. Sorry I woke you."
"Don't apologize." Dani's thumb had started moving in small, absent strokes against her shoulder. Jordan wasn't sure she knew she was doing it but she was extremely aware she was doing it. "Do you remember what it was about?"
"No." A clean lie. "I don't remember."
Dani nodded, and Jordan could see her face working through it. A career in the Navy, a woman waking up gasping in the dark—she was filling in the blanks the way anyone would. Combat, probably. Friends lost. The truth was that Jordan had had a quiet career—peacetime, mostly logistics and training. She'd never deployed into anything that left a mark.
"Can I get you anything?" Dani asked. "Water? Or—you can read for a bit. I always find that helps after a bad one. Breaks the loop, so you don't drop straight back into the same dream."
"I'm okay. Really. Thank you."
Dani didn't move and her arm stayed around her shoulders. "You're shaking," she said.
Jordan looked down at her hands. Yes, they were shaking and so was the rest of her. She closed her fingers into fists.
"It's just adrenaline," she said.
"Yeah, that takes a while to come down." Dani shifted a little closer. "Look—I don't want to overstep. But if you wanted, I could just—I could sleep on this side of the bed. Sometimes it helps to have someone close after a nightmare."
Jordan wanted to laugh because the thought of letting Dani Ellis climb into her bed, three minutes after coming awake from a dream of doing exactly that, was absurd. "I'm okay," she saidagain. The dream hadn't faded the way dreams were supposed to. Her body still wanted her here, and there was no version of this where she made the smart choice, so she added, "But you're welcome to sleep here if you'd like to."
Dani looked surprised and Jordan's heart continued to hammer hard while she considered this. She probably thought Jordan was upset and it wasn't fair that she was taking advantage, but Jordan didn't care. Not right now.
"Are you sure?" Dani asked.
Jordan nodded. There was no way she'd be able to sleep but she craved Dani’s nearness now that she'd had a taste of her, even if it was just in a dream.
Dani lifted the edge of the duvet and slid under it. As Jordan reached over and clicked off the lamp, she wondered if Dani felt as self-conscious as she did.
The dark settled between them, and Dani shifted to find a position. Neither of them had thought this through. Dani finally moved closer and rolled onto her side, her back to Jordan, close enough that Jordan could feel her warmth.
Jordan made a split decision and draped her arm over Dani's waist.
A quiet moan escaped Dani and then she went rigid for a beat. She was holding her breath. Her ribs were tight under Jordan's arm, her whole body still. When she finally exhaled, it came out unsteady, and what followed was a quick, shallow rhythm.
