She lost it then, with a full-body laugh that shook the bed, one hand pressed to her mouth like she was trying to contain it. When she finally caught her breath, she wiped at her eyes. “God, I needed that.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She looked at me then with the soft expression I'd seen at the bar, without the panic clouding everything. “I wish you had invited me back. Last night.”
And just like that, we weren’t strangers in the wrong bed anymore.
“You could have invited me,” I said, lifting my hand slowly, giving her a chance to shift away. When she didn’t, I ran my fingertips along her jaw, slow and measured. She swallowed, eyes becoming heavy-lidded.
The moment cracked open, just wide enough to fall through.
“I wanted to,” she said, leaning into my palm. “But I wasn’t going to offer to fuck you on my sister’s couch.”
The knowledge that they were sisters was completely overshadowed by the phrase ‘offer to fuck you’ rolling comfortably off her tongue. She uncrossed her arms, the blanket falling to reveal her low cut tank top.
I swallowed, fingers continuing their path along her jaw to tuck a hair behind her ear, feeling the shiver she repressed as I smirked, “You could have invited me back tomybed.”
“Oh shut up,” she laughed, nudging my shoulder.
And when she leaned closer, I did too.
And kissed her.
It wasn’t rushed or urgent. It hadn’t been in any of my meticulous plans.
Yet when she wrapped her hand around my neck and kissed me back, I forgot all about the damned checklists.
Hannah
Un.Fucking.Believable.
I cracked an egg into the pan, wishing I could climb in beside it and sizzle off my pent-up frustration at my body’s betrayal. Not only had I had that gorgeous man in my bed—or more accurately, I’d unknowingly climbed into his and sleepily spooned him, and he hadn’t kicked me out—but he’d invited me to stay, confessing that the crush wasn’t one-sided.
And then we kissed.
What started as a simple brush of lips deepened quickly as he slid his tongue against mine. His hand shifted to frame my hips, pulling them closer, groaning as my legs pressed into his hard dick. I pushed him onto his back, not wanting even an inch between us as I straddled his hips and leaned forward to kiss him deeper. I took control, grabbing his hands and sliding them underneath my shirt. They cupped my breasts, squeezing and teasing as I gasped into his mouth…
Until that gasp morphed into a yawn.
A goddamnyawn.
My traitorous body had yawned into his mouth.
I tried to play it off as a gasp gone wrong, rocking my hips against him in hopes that it would wake me up more… but his hands released my breasts to lower my tank, smoothing it down. In the dim light of dawn creeping through the window, he scanned my face, brow furrowed. “You said you worked a double tonight?”
“Yeah, but I’m fine. I’m used to it,” I said, trying to shake off his concern and get back to the kissing. I hadn’t realized until his mouth touched mine just how badly I’d needed to be seen as a person deserving desire… not just a mess to clean up.
But Connor’s eyes lingered on my face, where I knew bags had formed under my eyes. His thumb traced my cheekbone. “How long have you been sleeping on the couch?”
I shrugged. “Couple weeks.”
I didn’t tell him about the crick in my back from the lumpy cushions, or the way Teresa opened the living room windows every morning at six-thirty—she liked getting to the spa early to open up before the morning rush, which meant I got a cheerful “Rise and shine!” whether I’d been asleep for two hours or six. Not that I blamed her. Her apartment, her schedule, her morning-person habits that I’d probably find endearing if I wasn’t the one being passively-aggressively roused.
Because I’d take that lumpy couch any day over our mother’s judgment couched in concern: “How many jobs did you apply for today, Hannah? You know the longer you have a gap in your resume, the harder it will be to get hired.”
Connor didn’t need to know that sob story, so I added, “But it’s only temporary. Just until I figure out what’s next.”
He nodded gently, his thumb still lingering on my cheek. “That ends now. It’s ridiculous to sleep on the couch when my bed is empty. You sleep here, okay?”
