"Come snuggle me, and maybe we can have a repeat."
She bit her lip while taking in his long, lean, muscled body stretched out on the bed. He absolutely did not flex trying to coax her back in because that would be silly. Then she shrugged and got back in bed with him, and he wanted to cheer.
"Scoot over," she said, climbing back to bed.
He scooted over ever so slightly, but spread his arms wide as she climbed back into them. The ease of it all took him by surprise. If he were honest with himself, he'd always been a little intimidated by her. She was beautiful, put together, and could control a room with the arch of an eyebrow. So the fact that he'd just seen her fall apart made him feel like they were in on a secret.
He leaned down and kissed her. This wasn't like the kisses they'd shared before, drunk on passion. No, this was sweet and tender. She stilled beneath his touch. He thought for a second she was going to stop him, until she kissed him right back.
The next morning, Murphy woke up to a scuffle at the foot of the bed. Hillary was dressed and trying to slip out.
He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eye. "Where are you going?"
"I'm just heading home."
"Without saying goodbye?"
"Well, I was hoping I could end this drunken hook-up with a little dignity intact, but it would seem I'm not that lucky."
His face paled. "You were drunk? I asked?—"
"Don't worry," she said as she casually slipped her phone into her purse. "You didn't take advantage. I wanted it, but now it'sdone. And Rookie . . . you really are good at it," she said, flicking her gaze to him with a casual smirk.
What was happening? This is not where he saw this going?
He moved to get out of bed before realizing he was still naked. "Give me a minute. I can take you home . . . or buy you breakfast . . . or something."
"Don't worry about it. My car’s here. We're good."
His shoulders slumped. "Are we?"
"Are we what?" she asked as she slipped her shoes on.
"Are we good? I don't usually do this."
She finally stopped and looked at him before a small smile crossed her face. It was a sweet smile, the kind of smile he'd never seen on her face before.
"Yes," she said as she moved to the bed and brushed his hair out of his face. "We are good. We had a fun night, and now we are going back to being work friends."
"Work friends?" he asked.
She nodded as she bit her lip, taking him in.
"Work friends," he said, even though the words sounded foreign in his mouth. "I can do that."
"Good. See you at work, friend."
"I'll see you there, boss."
At that, she turned and slipped out of the room. He collapsed back on the bed with a sigh. He would be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed. He was hoping that something might be happening between them. But if this was just a one-night thing, that's what it was. As much as he wanted to run down the hallway and bring her back into bed and order some room service and make her come again until it was time to check out, that wasn't what she wanted.
He would respect that.
He closed his eyes and blew out a long, slow breath before laughing to himself. He'd just hooked up with Hillary. Even ifit was a secret, it was a delicious secret that would have him stealing second glances for a long time to come.
As the quiet room settled around him, the scent of her still lingered on his pillow. He went back to sleep thinking about her.
5
