Minutes, hours, or months later, Teddy was gently shaking me awake. "Foster? Foster. We have to stop for food. We're hours away from the hotel because of the traffic, and everyone's starving. Do you need any food? Will you be okay if I leave for a sec to get something to eat, or do you want me to stay with you?"
I shifted and felt his leg under my head and his hand warm on my hair. I swam up to the light and tried to focus on his words. "No."
"No, you don't need anything, or no, you don't want me to go?"
"No, you don't need to go. Sandwiches for you guys in my bag. From the kitchen this morning. Ten of them. All kinds. In the seat behind Geth." I stopped trying to chin myself on the bottom rung of consciousness and let go.
Later. Warm breath in my ear. The bus was humming along smoothly, and that was what had awakened me. We were actually moving. I shifted a little, and felt the familiar firmness behind me, the arm around my waist, gathering me in, pulling me all the way to him. The walls of privacy I tried to put up when awake seemed to desert and betray me in sleep, as my legs were tucked intimately around his; we were fitted together as tightly as two spoons in a drawer, and I had his arm clasped firmly in my hand.
My stirring had roused him a little, and he shifted his head against mine, pulled me even closer against him, if that was possible, touched his lips to my ear. "Shh, darling, it's okay, it's only me," he whispered softly in his sleep, exhaling warm air in a puff. I drifted back to sleep, pondering what he could possibly have said that I'd misheard as "darling."
Title: Living the Shallows
Author: Tani Hanes
Genre: YA Romance
Aileen Foster, a shy, 22 year old student from LA, thinks she has landed a dream job as an interpreter for some actors making a film in Japan. She gets a surprise when she arrives in Tokyo and finds out that they are UK Crush, the hottest boyband around. She has been orphaned for most of her life, and it’s a shock for her to enter their world of frank physicality. The boys come to love her, and Aileen is forced to look at her life and choices, and decide if she’s ready to be brave and start living.
Author Bio
My name is Tani Hanes, and I am a 51 rear old substitute teacher. Im from central California and am a recent transplant to New York City. The most important things to know about me are that I’m punctual, I love grammar and sushi, and I’m very intolerant of intolerance. The least important things to know about me are that I like to knit and I couldn’t spell “acoustic” for 40 years. I’ve wanted to write since I was ten, and I finally did it. If you want to write, don’t wait as long as I did, it’s pointless, and very frustrating!
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