He made an interested face. “And why is that?”
“Because most men snore. I mean, jeez, have you ever heard Eddie? If anything could drive me to murder…” She let her voice trail off.
Theo knew exactly what she was talking about. He couldn’t count the number of times he had to throw a pillow at Eddie when they had sleepovers. Yet even still, Theo felt the need to vindicate his best friend.
“Well, you were snoring last night,” he fibbed.
Dani shot up from the bed, her face absolutely mortified. “No, I wasn’t!”
“Oh yeah, totally sawing logs all night long. I had to put a pillow over my head to drown it out,” he teased.
“You’re joking,” she proclaimed. But when he didn’t respond, she followed up, “Please tell me you’re joking.”
“Sorry, Juicy. Like brother, like sister. I alwaysthoughtthere was something about you that reminded me of Eddie,” he said, putting his finger to his chin and looking up like he was thinking.
“Shut up!” she said, throwing a pillow at him. Theo laughed, catching the pillow before it hit him in the face. “IknewI didn’t snore.”
Theo took the pillow and brought it behind his back, propping himself up.
“Give me back my pillow,” she said.
“Nope, sorry. Snore tax.” He fluffed up both pillows, making himself more comfortable.
“I wasn’t snoring.” She glared at him, trying her best to look serious in this rather unserious conversation.
He shrugged, then nestled into the cushions like he was settling back into bed. With a quick movement, Dani reached over to snatch the pillow back from Theo, but he caught her wrist before she was able to take it. They paused, staring at each other for a solid beat, before Dani scrambled for the pillow, sending arms flailing, bodies thrown about the bed. She tried scowling, but their laughter broke through, turning to giggles when he touched the sides of her stomach.
“Don’t,” she said, still laughing. “You know I’m ticklish.”
Oh, Theo knew, all right. Eddie used to tickle her as a form of torture, which satisfyingly resulted in her kicking him in the face once.
“Oh yeah?” he said, his hands shooting to her waist again.
But Dani wasn’t having it. She batted his hands away and placed her own on his bare stomach.
Fuck. Theo was ticklish, too.
He struggled to get out from under the bedspread, but once Dani realized what he was doing, she swung her leg over his waist, straddling him while her hands danced all over his body.
Her touch turned from ticklish to sensual. And now with her looming over him with her beautiful black hair cascading over her shoulders and her breasts freely swaying underneath her loose-fitting tank top—fuck—he could feel himself starting to get hard. This was not what he needed.
Her hand ran over his body, touching his tattoo and sending a zap through him, a jolt that startled her and they both froze. She felt it, too.
“Did that hurt?” she asked.
No, it didn’t hurt.
Itburned.
“It’s my shoulder,” he said, even though she’d been nowhere near his shoulder.
She raised her head then nodded like she understood.
Understood he was full of shit.
“I suppose we should probably start getting ready,” she said. “Who knows when Maurice and Louis are going to come knocking.”
Right. Maurice and Louis. For a brief moment, he and Dani were the only people who had existed. He’d forgotten where they were and what they were doing. Finally, he experienced a bit of normalcy, of his life back home. Not that he and Dani had ever been in this position—literally—before, but being around her gave him comfort. And made everything else, everything that was bad, fade away.
