“I was dreaming that you were holding me.”
“Not a dream,” I tell her. “You might want to sleep in your bed, though.”
“I like your shoulder.” She’s definitely still half asleep. It’s like I gave her a shot of truth serum.
“My shoulder likes you too.”
“Mmm. Your shoulder loves me.”
“True.” I smile.
She stretches and collapses onto my lap, tucking her legs up and curling into me. “G’nite, Cody.”
“Carli?”
“Hmm?” She doesn’t budge.
“Let’s get you to bed.”
“I can’t take you to bed, Cody,” she says, but her words are slurred. “Jace doesn’t even know I kissed you.”
“Yeah. Probably best we tell him before I go to bed with you.” I chuckle.
Something about that sentence must be the equivalent of a cold glass of water because Carli bolts upright. “Did you say you’re telling Jace?”
“No. I said I can’t go to bed with you while he doesn’t even know we’re dating.”
She laughs and rubs her eyes. “Oh. Yeah. There’s a few things that need to happen before you go to bed with me. That’s one.”
I chuckle. Then I smile at the idea of Carli in a wedding dress…
“Let’s get you to bed.”
“Are you driving back home tonight?”
I pull my cell out. Two forty-five.
“I could sleep on the couch and leave before sunrise,” I offer.
Staying means a greater chance Jace could sense something—questions waiting in the morning if I’m not home before work starts on the ranch. But when Carli looks at me like that, my decision is made.
“Do that. Stay here,” she says. “Blankets are in that coat closet by the front door.”
She stands up and I follow her. Then she wraps her arms around my waist and tugs me close. “I like you being here.”
“I like being here.”
“Mmm. You love it,” she says, yawning.
Exhausted Carli might just be my new favorite thing.
“I do love it,” I tell her.
She turns toward her bedroom and says, “Goodnight, Cody. Set an alarm.”
“Got that covered,” I say, pulling down blankets and settling onto the couch.
I could leave. But I like being one room over from her. Just for tonight.
