Free Awakening Beauty by Bonnie Dee and Marie Treanor

eyes grew warm as they gazed into his face, and her long eyelashes swept down to cover her surge of desire.
    Joel’s body heated in instant response. Oh yes, she was woman enough to feel the attraction that simmered and sparked between them as they lay side by side on the bed. He could see the rapid rise and fall of her pert little breasts in their skimpy top, had to fight the urge to lean across the bed and touch the pebbled nipples clearly visible through the fabric, roll them between his fingers, push up her top and kiss her breasts. A night in his arms would waken her, all right. He’d make sure of that, show her the importance, the confusion, sex could add to one’s life decisions.
    No, he wouldn’t. That would be far too unkind. It wasn’t even true. He wanted her because she was lovely and because she— moved him, not because he wanted to prove anything. And he couldn’t be so callous as to take her when she was so confused and grief-stricken. He was well aware her interest in his life was much like the television for her right now—escape from her own devastating problems.
    With a stern internal warning to his hardening cock, he said aloud, “Well, we both have a lot to think about. I suggest we should sleep on it.”
    She flushed, adding delectable rosy color to her face and neck and even her shoulders. His cock ignored his warnings.
    “Where will you sleep?” she asked, lifting her head, once again the princess addressing her servant, which had the effect of instantly squashing his half-formed, half-hearted plan to try to get another room for himself.
    “Here,” he said dryly. “There’s plenty of space for both of us.”
    She eyed the bed dubiously. “I’m used to sleeping alone in a bed this size.”
    “Aurora, for the last several hundred years, apparently, you’ve slept on a wooden floor. Get over it. Trust me, we won’t even touch hands.”

    Convinced she’d never be able to sleep with anyone else, let alone Joel, lying in the same bed, Aurora curled up on the edge, as far away from him as she could get. She thought she wanted time to herself, to grieve. But as she stared into the darkness, she began to wonder if she was too numb, or too confused by the world’s new strangeness. Or perhaps the sheer number of years her parents had been dead already had somehow dulled the edges.
    When she closed her eyes, she remembered them perfectly, every detail of their loving, anxious faces, every expression of anger or care or concentration, every tone of voice used to address her, friends, servants, ministers… She could see them in the castle, sitting on their thrones, walking in the gardens, laughing with her in some childhood game, or riding out toward the gates.
    But she couldn’t see them here in this weird new world. She couldn’t imagine them in this hotel room accepting Joel’s easy, informal kindness. She certainly couldn’t imagine their reaction to his lowly birth, his disrespectful manners and his managing ways. They’d never meet him, never know anything about him, and although that thought brought a lump to her throat, it seemed to keep the actual grief at bay, as if she’d left her parents in another country while she got on with her own life.
    She tried to imagine their shock at finding her in this bed wearing nothing but her wispy chemise and shorts with Joel asleep in some undergarment only a foot away from her. But this was a new life, a new Aurora, and she could do things she never would have considered before.
    Part of her wanted to laugh with joy at the sense of freedom that surged through her. The other part listened to Joel’s deep, even breathing and wanted to turn over to watch him sleep. Unable to resist, she finally did so, remembering to sigh as she resettled on the pillow. Just in case her movement woke him, she’d pretend to be asleep.
    But his breathing continued without pause or hitch. He lay with his back to her, his arm flung out of the quilt to reveal the