Justin released his hold on her.
“Hey…” She was breathless. “Why did you stop?” Her words came out as a whine.
“Because if I don’t stop now, I’ll end up sayingto hell with it—and you’re dead set on sleeping in my guest room for the next two weeks.” He stepped back, looking her up and down, running the tip of his tongue over his bottom lip. A gentle growl escaped him, and his eyes still burned as he looked straight through her.
“Goodnight, sugar. Just come on over if you have a bad dream, get scared of the dark, or get tired of being all alone—lonely in your own bed, without someone to hold you…”
“Brat,” she huffed playfully, and swatted the air.
“Right back at you, babe.” He turned, sauntering to his room, and left the door ajar.
It really was lonely in her own bed. Just knowing he was across the hall felt weird and obtuse. She wanted to be in there with him, but everything inside of her told her no. It’s not like they were in a long term relationship or engaged with marriage on the horizon. She never moved in with Max because they were building a house and it would’ve been like moving twice in a short period of time. She was firm on not having sex until they were married, so it was simple and made sense. For some reason, it didn’t feel that way with Justin…
Forget it and go climb in his bed.
Where the hell did that come from? She shoved her inner voice down and rolled over, trying to go to sleep. After a few minutes of attempting to find her zen, her eyes flew open. Did Justin talk in his sleep? She could hear a conversation happening, but it was muffled. Who was he talking to?
She pulled the covers aside and tucked her feet into her slippers. She tried to be quiet as she tiptoed out of the room, and peeked around the corner into his. She squinted, trying to see what she could with the little bit of moonlight coming from thewindow. He was rolling side to side, mumbling something she couldn’t understand.
She almost screamed when Bear came trotting past her leg and jumped onto the bed—laying close to Justin. A few moments later, his bad dream seemed to halt. For whatever reason, it felt like this wasn’t the first time it’d happened. The way Bear came so quickly and knew exactly what to do. Did it happen often? It hadn’t happened the night she slept with him.Blythe sighed and rolled her eyes at her own use of the term. Usually when people said the phrase, it meant much more than just “sleeping.” Whoever coined it, should’ve been more specific.
Justin seemed settled with Bear snuggled up next to him, so she went back to her own bed. The following hours felt endless, and a sigh of relief washed over her with the sun coming through her window.
Finally… She was starving and ready to start the day. Justin was going to go over his appointments with her and show her the ropes. She was going to go around with him to visit each client, as well. She’d seen him work before, but this would be much more in depth, and she was excited.
She needed to throw a few things in the washing machine that she’d worn the day before. She picked up what she needed and padded down the hall to the laundry room across from Justin’s.
Blythe tucked her fingers under the lid and opened the machine. Normally, she would separate lights and darks, but she didn’t have enough clothes to do that. She shrugged—what the hell.
She threw everything in, sprinkled the powdered laundry detergent over the top, closed the lid, twisted the knob, and pressed start. She quietly tiptoed down the stairs and made herself a blueberry bagel with strawberry cream cheese for breakfast. She took her plate and sat at the table for a fewminutes while she waited for the short cycle to finish on the washing machine. It was still early at six am, and appointments didn’t start for a couple more hours. Justin was still asleep, which was a good thing. Whatever he’d been dreaming probably had him exhausted.
She heard the machine buzz in the distance. She quickly rinsed her plate and tip-toed back up the stairs to switch everything over to the dryer.
JUSTIN
A slobbery tongue was licking his chin, his nose, and his eyelids. Justin fluttered them open and petted his hound on the head. Bear only slept with him when he had a rough night. It was foggy, but he remembered the tossing and turning. Hopefully he hadn’t been loud or said things he didn’t want anyone to hear.
He rolled out of the covers, naked torso and long bottoms. He took a quick shower and remembered his towel this time. He’d left it on the hook before bed, not wanting to play another game of peekaboo surprise with Blythe. When she finally saw him head to toe in his birthday suit, she would know it was coming, and he would make sure her eyes were wide open the entire time. He pulled on a pair of jeans and reached for a plain black tee.
The sounds coming from across the hall made him think she was kicking something. He threw the shirt over his shoulder and moved to stand in the doorway of his room. There he could seeher diving into the washing machine across the hall. She wasn’t extremely short, but even at her average height, the bottom was deep. Every time she jumped to reach in, her knees hit the front. She must’ve been going for a sock, or something small, because she was having a hard time and seemed to be dangling a little longer than before.
He should’ve immediately gone to help her, but she was so damn cute. Watching her made him smile as he leaned against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest. Her grunts were quiet, but he could tell she really did need some assistance. Three long strides and he was up against her, the zipper of his pants pressed to her perfect ass on display, dangling in the air. He brought his large hands to her waist and his lips closer to her ear.
“Need some help, sugar?” he hummed in a deep timbre.
He picked her up and spun her around to face him, her nose buried right between his pecs. She gasped and stuttered.
“Hi, um, you smell good…” She inhaled deeply, and it felt like she took a whisper of his soul with her. “What do you have on?”
He didn’t have anything on, just his soap and the shower water. Blythe ran her fingers through the hair covering his chest, and his jaw clenched with her touch.
“This is perfect…” She looked dazed, and he chuckled. He never thought twice about his hair, just kept it nice and trimmed so it didn’t grow out of control.
“Where did you come from?” Her eyes danced as she looked up at him. “And why is your shirt never on?”
He shrugged. “I wasn’t aware you had an issue with me walking around half naked, but if it bothers you…”
“No!” She shook her head and reached on her tiptoes, pulling his head down to kiss him hard.
