Darkness met his gaze, giving way and buckling beneath a series of blinks. Outlines glazed into focus, and he was just about able to make out his surroundings. Raven's room. They were sharing the bed. He was under the covers. The big guy was sprawled out on top of them, flat on his back, an arm angled so it fell across his face.

He lay there, figuring out how to breathe again. He lay there, trying to calm the accelerated drumming within his chest. And when he managed to get both under control, he struggled up into an incline, shifting until his back pressed into the crushed velvet headboard. The...