She wasn't really given a choice: Gino had gotten out of bed and gone to sit on the empty one next to hers by the time she'd cleared her throat. Proximity achieved, he drew one leg up on the covers and rested his arms across his knee loosely.

"No kidding, huh?" The forced lightness was creeping back into his voice as the two kids in their room began to wake up - or because of them, maybe. "Must've been something bad in the pudding."