I wasn’t even sure if I could really consider Dex a friend, even if I wanted to justify what was going on by saying that friends could sleep on beds together. It took everything in me to roll onto my back and tilt my head over to where he’d laid down on the other side of the mattress.
Besides the times when I'd had to share a bed with Will as kids, and that one time I messed around with my boyfriend a few years back, I'd never even been on the same bed as another guy. God, that made me feel lame.
It took all the baby scraps of will I’d stashed under my nails and tendons to sit up completely, yawning like it was morning time instead of the middle of the night. “I’ll go sleep on the couch then,” was what I told him, although I’m sure it sounded like some mutilated version of it.
His hand draped across my waist in a move that I had no doubt had been practiced many times in his life. “Stay. The bed’s big enough for the both of us,” was his brilliant answer.
It was the truth but still. He was laying in the middle so it defeated the purpose of his comment.
I yawned again. “It's not a good idea.” Once again I’m sure it didn’t sound anything like that out loud.
Dex grumbled, fingers wiggling at the bend of my hip and waist. “Quit bein' a prude and go to sleep, babe.”
If I'd been more awake I wouldhave been offended by being called a prude. Though I kind of was.
I groaned. “Dex.”
“Baby, please. Just go back to sleep. That couch is fuckin’ uncomfortable.”
Dang it!
He made another grumbling noise. “I swear I’m not gonna try to feel you up or anythin', Ritz.“
That notice didn’t exactly make me feel any better. Of course he wouldn't. I was like his... pet dog or something.
“I can just sleep, I swear," he insisted in a yawn.
Eek. Score two for Dex on the not-making-Iris-feel-better scoreboard.
“Babe, c’mon. I promise.”
And it was a Tempurpedic, damn it.
I was a weak sucker. I knew that. Even though I made huffs and puffs as I shuffled back under the covers and rolled further away from Dex, I still didn’t think stayingon the same mattress was a good idea. But I did it anyway.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Waking up next to Dex had to be the most awkward experience of my life.
More awkward than the time I'd walked in onyia-yianaked.
Because it wasn't like I opened my eyes facing the wall. I woke up on my belly. Normal, right?
With an elbow digging into my shoulder and a heavy leg thrown over one of mine—not so normal.
It wasn't like there was a boner pressed up against me or anything, but the bodily contact was enough. I straightened out as much as I could before trying to slide out from beneath the limbs pinning me down. I'd barely managed to scoot over about two inches before the leg over mine locked me down.
"What'cha doin'?" Dex's incredibly husky voice asked.
I froze. "Trying to get up."
The weight of his leg lessened as his heel slid up from my ankle to my knee. He had to be sleeping on his back, I figured. "Mmm," he grumbled. The elbow on my shoulder shifted off of me at the same time I heard him yawn. His foot shifted again, the solecoming to rest on the back of my knee before sliding down my calf. Holy moly, that was hot. "What are you wearin', honey?"
Aww crap.
"I'm not wearing pants," I told him, not moving an inch while his warm foot rubbed up my leg again.
All of a sudden, a cool breeze swept over my legs and Ipeekedover my shoulder to see Dex holding the sheet up, his head tipped down while helookedbelow it.
