Ashton Marshall grasped Bella Woods' exploring hand, holding her waist, and pressed her against his chest so that Bella's face was almost touching his torso.
Bella was clearly uncomfortable in this position, and after some fussing, she finally settled down.
The room's air conditioning was already low, and with Ashton's body heat rising, Bella was sweating lightly, with her hot breaths faintly sprinkling onto his chest.
The air in the room became evidently thinner.
Ashton took a deep breath, lowered his head to kiss Bella's forehead, grabbed a tissue to wipe the sweat off her back, and then cuddled her back to sleep.
A good night's rest ensued.
At four o'clock in the morning, Bella's phone alarm went off.
Ashton almost instinctively opened his eyes, and his first reaction was to cover the little one's ears and stare at the phone lighting up on the bedside table.
He reached over to grab the phone and turned off the alarm.
