Dean chuckled against my skin, but the tickling stopped, and I turned in his arms. His hands slid around my middle as I moved to face him, bunching my shirt in the process.
“It’s a billionaire romance,” I said quietly as my breath evened out, my arms going slack at my sides.
“Hm?” He moved forward, resting his forehead on mine as he backed me up against the sunny living room window.
“They’re CEOs fighting for power...” I rested my head against the window, parting my lips. It was getting harder to remember what else happened in the book. “But they also can’t get enough of each other.”
He brushed his thumbs across my lower ribs, trailing his eyes down as he kept his voice low. “I can relate to that.”
I felt like I had too many clothes on. My skin felt tight and my body heavy as I arched just a little off the window. Wanting his touch everywhere regardless of reservations—
Jane retching in the next room suddenly halted the moment.
I woke up to a sunset coming through Kira’s bedroom window, Dean’s arm draped across my stomach, and Jane standing beside the bed, grinning from ear to ear as she poked my forehead.
At least she was upright.
Dean and I had given in to the temptation of Kira’s bed after our separate showers — and after I texted Kira if it was okay to use it for a nap. It was meant to be a short nap to catch up on the little sleep from last night and the game. But one glance at Kira’s alarm clock, and the sun dipping below the Brooklyn skyline, told me we had slept longer. Four hours longer.
We hadn’t moved from the positions we fell asleep in either; Dean on his stomach, face buried in the pillow, and me half starfished on my back.
“Sorry to burst your little bubble of bliss,” Jane whispered, tilting her head to one side as she looked at Dean, who was still fast asleep. “But Mom’s outside.”
I sat up quickly and Dean’s forearm dropped heavily to my thighs. “Downstairs?”
Jane shook her head. “Susan let her in at the door, and then brought her up to your place.”
“She’s out there?” I hissed, pointing to the bedroom door.
“Yep.”
“And you let her in?”
“It was either let her in or have her scream the door down.”
“When did she get here?”
“Like, three minutes ago. She sent me in here to get you. I’m assuming she wants to lecture us.”
“Great,” I sighed and then looked at her properly. My mood shifted to empathy. “How are you feeling?”
“I don’t really remember much... I just get glimpses of some guy...” She frowned slightly at what she could remember, brown eyes searching for the memory before she looked at me apprehensively. “Please don’t tell Mom.”
“I won’t.” I reached out and squeezed her hand. “Just promise me you won’t do that again without talking to me first?”
She nodded and smiled a little at our hands, swinging them. “Sounds good to me—”
The bedroom door swung open, and our mother marched in. When she opened her mouth to speak, her eyes snapped to Dean, and she halted at the foot of the bed. Clamping her mouth shut again when he stirred in his sleep but didn’t wake.
Well, not completely.
He dragged his arm from my thighs, spreading goosebumps along my skin beneath his touch, before pulling a pillow over his head with a soft groan.
If that was his groan for when he was tired…
“I was hoping to speak with you and your sister about this morning,” Mom began, shaking her chin-length light brown hair with a toss of her head. “But clearly you have other priorities this afternoon.”
I paused, taking my hand back from Jane. “Mom, I just woke up.”
