Madison rolled her eyes. When she tried to push him away a second time, she caught a glimpse of his tense face. Was he having a nightmare?

Ah, who cares? Madison closed her eyes.

Dammit! She did.

She knew all too well how it felt to be woken up by party noises and to be afraid of them.

Grandmother Eileen had called her parties “festivities” and other fancy names, but they had still consisted of people getting drunk and bad-mouthing others while stuffing their bellies full of so-called gourmet food.

Madison would never forget the one night shortly after she had lost her father. A man had mistaken her room for the bathroom. He’d apologized and left immediately, but the encounter had still left her frightened and lost. Almost as much as the imagined monsters lurking in her huge closet at night.

Declaring defeat, she pulled Jake closer. She fell asleep almost immediately.

Slowly, Sherry opened her eyes. She stretched and yawned for all she was worth. But when she turned to Jake, she froze.

He was lying in Madison’s arms, and both were sleeping peacefully as if it were an everyday occurrence.

Sherry rubbed her eyes. Was she imagining things?

His head was lying on her shoulder, and Madison seemed to have pulled him closer in her sleep, her arm wrapped around him.

Too many emotions at once surged through her and made her feel dizzy. Why had Jake cuddled up to Madison and not her? They looked so peaceful together.

A few loose strands of hair covered Madison’s relaxed features. Sherry reached out but stopped herself just in time before she could brush them to the side.

I think I’m losing it. She withdrew her hand and leaned back.

It was very likely Madison hadn’t even been aware of Jake’s cuddle attack. She would probably be angry when she woke up and found him like that.

Sherry gently pulled the blanket down from Jake’s body. Then, as carefully as possible, she pulled on Jake’s hand, which was currently lying on Madison’s shoulder. When she realized that this alone wouldn’t resolve the problem, she crawled closer and leaned over Madison to pull on Jake’s whole body.

She had gotten him halfway apart from Madison when he mumbled a protest in his sleep.

Madison’s eyes popped open, and their gazes met.

Oh no! Sherry forced a smile. “Hi, good morning,” she whispered. “It seems Jake moved over to you in the night. I’m really sorry. I’ll just—”

Madison smacked her lips. “Morning. It’s fine.”

“E-excuse me?”

“The sun’s barely up. Let’s sleep some more.” Not waiting for an answer, Madison took the blanket and covered Jake and herself again before closing her eyes.