“Emma, I swear to God if you even think about getting out of that bed on my behalf.” He crosses the floor, barely taking three steps before he’s beside me, my wrist in his hand. I inhale sharply, seared by the contact. Realizing he’s touching me, holding me, inches away from pressing my body against his, he stops, dropping my arm and retreating backwards. “Shit. I’m sorry. I would never ask you to sleep on the floor.”

“If I’m not sleeping on the floor, and I’m not letting you sleep on the floor, the other option is sharing. Which I’m completely fine with.”

Henry searches my face for any doubt or hesitation. I’m certain if I gave him even the smallest inkling of uncomfortableness, he’d adamantly refuse my proposal. And for some odd reason, the notion makes me tingly all over.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. Now, let’s be adults about this. Get in.” I pat the space and Henry complies, slipping under the sheets.

“You win this round, Burns. If you change your mind at any point, even in the middle of the night, you better wake me up or shove me to the floor.”

“I will, I promise. Besides, it’s freezing down there. I can’t have you shivering to death while I bask under all these covers. Seriously, how many layers are on this bed?”

“Ah, not having a ‘let them eat cake’ moment, are you? I knew you cared about me,” he muses. “And I thought you wouldn’t shed a tear if I disappeared off the face of the earth.”

“Hm. Maybe one. A lone drop. Suffice to say, we’ve made progress over the last few weeks.”

“We definitely have. Until we find out who they’re selecting for the partner position soon.”

I turn on my side, resting my head on my elbow so we’re facing each other. “You should get it. You work so hard. You’re intelligent. Your clients adore you. You have a great success rate, and you’re a good guy.”

“I only work with contracts. You’re literally changing the world.”

“That’s not true.”

“Are you kidding me? Emma.” His hand reaches out again, stroking along the length of my elbow where my cheek is resting. “You’re out there fighting for people others don’t listen to. You tackle pressing issues. You save lives and keep families together. You work on changing the antiquated laws in this country, and you accept any client, no matter their socioeconomic status. You’re not a paycheck pusher like half the asshats in our industry. You genuinely care, and that makes you special. And judging by the way your eyes are about to pop out of your head, you clearly don’t hear it enough.”