***Trigger Warning***

The first thing I see when my eyes flutter open is Brexton closing my laptop.

I sit straight up, anxiety coursing through me. "What happened?!"

He takes the laptop over to its charger and plugs it in, seemingly unaware of the panic rising within me. "You fell asleep." He says like it's no big deal.

I jump out of bed and race over to my laptop. "You promised you wouldn't let me fall asleep! My homework was due!" I glance at the alarm clock sitting on the nightstand. Three fifty glows green across its screen. "I slept for three and a half hours?! It's going to be so late!"

He lifts me up like it's nothing and throws me over his shoulder, carrying me to the bed. "It's okay Lyra, I promise."

I squirm against him. "I know it's not the end of the world, but I was really hoping to start off the semester strong. I'm going to be exhausted by the end and it's going to be a lot harder for me to make myself turn stuff in on time. Plus, the material is going to get harder. Not everyone is as smart as you Mr. McGomery. Also, why are you pulling me away from my laptop?"

He tosses me gently onto the bed and crawls on top of me. A smirk is plastered on his face. "It's all done."

My eyes grow huge. "No it's not, I fell asleep before I could finish it."

The fact that his face is inches from mine doesn't go unnoticed by me. "You're right, you didn't finish it. I did."

"You did my homework? How did you know what to do?" I say, dumbfounded. It couldn't have been easy for him to figure out how to navigate the site my class was on. I can barely find what I need to and I've been getting trained on how to use it. It must've taken a lot of time and effort on his part to pull this off. I am in disbelief. Nobody has ever done something like this for me before.

He rolls over onto his back. "I was watching what you were doing earlier, so that helped me figure out where to find your assignments. As far as the work itself, I looked it up in your book."

"That must've taken you so long!"

"It's a good thing all I do is stare at you." He chuckles. "Seriously though, no worries. We made the deadline."

I move my head into his line of vision, looking down at this masterpiece of a man. "Thank you, you have no idea how much that helped me out."

He shrugs. "You needed sleep, it's not a big deal at all."

I point a finger into his chest. "It's a big deal to me."

He pushes my arm out from under me, causing me to fall on top of him. As soon as I hit his chest he wraps his arms tightly around me and whispers in my ear. "You're a big deal to me."

"Everything you say sounds like a Shakespeare poem or something." I mumble against his bare chest.

He kisses the top of my head. "That's because you remind me of a Shakespeare poem."

My stomach swarms with butterflies. Then, as we're laying there and everything is going perfectly, I get nervous. I am growing more and more attached to Brexton and it's freaking me out. I have a hard time trusting myself when it comes to men. How do I know that he isn't going to switch up on me when we get together? Jeremiah was so sweet until he didn't have to be anymore. Don't get me wrong, Brexton is different from Jeremiah in every way possible but I am afraid that he'll change. Letting Brexton have access to my heart is either the best or worst decision I'll ever make.

"You can go back to sleep." Brexton whispers in my ear.

I twist my head to make eye contact so he knows I'm awake. "I'm not tired, just thinking."

His eyes explore my face, looking for an answer. "What are you thinking about?"

Should I say it? I guess I have nothing to lose. "Are you putting up a front?"

He tilts his head. "A front? What do you mean?"

I search for the right words. "Are you pretending to be perfect so that I'll fall for you?"

He looks at me as if I've grown two heads. "Stormy, I told you about the worst thing I've ever done. If I was putting up a front, I'm terrible at it. There's nothing I could ever do that would be worse than what I did that night and you know about that." He smirks. "Also, you hinting that you think I'm perfect may actually make me cry."

"Stormy?" I raise an eyebrow.

He nods confidently. "That's one of the nicknames I've given you."

I smile, I love nicknames. "What's the other?"

He lifts my chin, forcing me to look deeper into his hauntingly beautiful eyes. "Strawberry shortcake."

I playfully hit him. "Stop." I laugh.

"Don't blame me, blame your lips for tasting like that." His eyes travel down to my lips, making me lick them in anticipation. "I'm curious if the rest of you tastes like strawberries too."

"Hmm? You mean my head didn't taste like strawberries? That's kind of mean." I tease.

He laughs and kisses my head. "You've got that soft hair of yours covering the skin. It's your skin that taste like that I think. The skin on your hands tasted a little like that. You're arms too. I think, it's been so long I can't remember."

"It's been like a day."

He feigns shock. "It's been a whole day?! It's worse than I thought! This is bad, very bad."

I want to kiss him, but things are too intense between us right now. I'm not sure either of us will be able to stop ourselves from going further. "I'm sorry, but unfortunately, Jeremiah never gave me that very valuable information. So, as much as I want to help you, I can't."

He rolls his eyes. "He's worthless. Lucky for you, I'll be sharing that very valuable information with you the second I get it and you'll no longer be in the dark."

The flirty banter is only making me want him more. "Mr. McGomery, can I ask you something weird?"

"Yes." He says immediately, wearing a straight face.

I look down suddenly feeling a little shy. "This is going to sound so strange, but I have the strong desire to kiss your abs. Would that be okay?"

He burst out laughing. "You want to kiss my stomach?"

I nod, laughing too.

"Only if I get to kiss yours too." His eyes dart to the little bit of my stomach that's exposed.

The idea thrills and terrifies me. "That's fair."

He shakes his head and lays back, giving me full access to his impeccably sculpted stomach.

I kiss down his stomach sweetly, taking in the experience. It's kind of funny, but he his stomach tastes like orange creamsicle just like his lips. I guess his question was valid.

When I'm finished he has his eyes closed. "Next time, you don't have to ask." He says as he slowly sits up. "My turn."

I smile, and lift up my shirt just enough to expose my stomach to him. This is yet another thing I've never done so the familiar fluttery feeling I get whenever I'm around him returns.

When his lips reach my lower stomach I start giggling, squirming beneath his lips. "Brexton!"

His entire body tenses and the kisses stop. "What did you just say?"

"I honestly don't know what I yelled, I was too busy giggling."

He lifts up from my stomach and positions himself right in front of my face. "You said my name."

I didn't even notice I did that. "I did?"

He looks like a kid on Christmas morning. "You've never said my name in front of me before."

I squint at him. "You stopped kissing me because I said your name?"

"Say it again." He says eagerly.

I take his face in my hands, outlining it. "Brexton."

"I like my name so much better when you say it." He gives me a stern look. "Please never give me a nickname."

I click my tongue. "Too late, Mr. McGomery is here to stay, but I guess it wouldn't kill me to say your name every once in awhile."

He grins. "I'll take it."

A knock on the front door ends our conversation. Brexton jumps up. "Who's here this early?"

A rush of guilt overcomes me. I should've never left Inara by herself. "Maybe Inara woke up and it just sounded like someone knocking."

"I'm going to find out." He says as his tall frame pushes through the doorway. "I'll be right back."

He's crazy if he thinks I'm just going to lay here and wait. I get up and follow him.

His face goes pale when he looks through the peephole. He slowly opens the door, letting two police officers in. "What can I do for you?"

I come behind him. I place my hand on his back to let him know I'm here.

The one officer takes of his hat and rubs his head. "I'm looking for an Inara McGomery."

Right on cue, Inara walks out of her room. "You found her."

The officer nods and walks up to her. "You're under arrest for the murder of Roger Vanzuela and attempted murder of Lyra Blackwood." He goes up to a surprisingly calm looking Inara, placing handcuffs on her dainty wrists. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..."

"Excuse me? What is going on?" Brexton gets in the officer's face.

Inara glares at Brexton. "I know what I'm doing, could you just trust me?"

The shock wears off and I join in. "Trust you? Inara, what does you getting arrested have to do with trust?"

The other officer stands between us and Inara. "Ma'am, she confessed."