She scrunches her nose. “If you wanted to talk about the best time to use an ax over a machine gun, I wouldn’t say no. I really liked that ax. But it’s not that. I can’t explain why; I just want to be with you tonight.”
Yeah, this is love. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I want this woman in my life forever.
“What?” she asks.
I still haven’t said she can stay. All I’ve done for the last several seconds is grin at her like an idiot, making her regret wanting to spend the night with me. I will never stop being grateful she’ll look twice at me, never mind wants to spend the night in my bed. “Just feeling lucky. You can stay with me tonight. Which side do you want?”
My bed is a king, and I like to sprawl, so there’s no way we won’t be touching in the night.
You’re pathetic.
I am. Utterly pathetic. And I don’t even care.
She shrugs. “I don’t mind.”
“Neither do I. Whatever side you want is yours. I’ll turn off the light, and you get into bed. Need to use my bathroom first?”
“No, I used mine already.”
I head to the door to close it. “If you turn on the nightstand lamp, I’ll get the ceiling light.”
She glances from me to the two nightstands, then walks around to the left side and gets into bed, turning on the lamp. “Elias?”
I turn off the ceiling light and cross the room to get into bed. I’m in shorts. Usually, I sleep naked, but there’s no way I’m stripping or doinganythingthat will scare Maisie away. Going commando might send her running if she’s only here to talk zombies and snuggle a bit before bed. “Yep?”
She waits until I’ve gotten into bed, then leans toward me and touches her lips to mine. “You are very sweet, but you should have told me you prefer the right instead of letting me pick.”
The kiss short-circuited my brain so I scramble for a response. “How do you know I usually sleep on the right?”
“You plugged your phone in on the right nightstand. I’m going to assume you’d prefer not to get out of bed and run around it tomorrow morning to turn off the alarm clock, which is also on that nightstand.”
“If you wanted the right? Absolutely.”
She smiles. “You’re crazy.”
“Probably,” I happily admit and point my chin at the lamp. “Want to turn that off now or later?”
“Later. I’m not tired yet.”
“Okay.”
I lie down, pull her against me, humming in pleasure when she rests her cheek against my chest. As I run my hand up and down her back, I’m so beyond content, it’s not even funny.
Fuck. I am never getting out of this bed again. Seriously, fuck work and food and ever needing to use the bathroom. This is it. I’m going nowhere
“I keep thinking about the pancakes you made for me,” she says, her voice quiet.
I wince. “That bad, huh?”
“No,” she denies, her breath warm against my throat. “I was so scared when I came downstairs my first morning here, and I kept telling myself that I would take the first opportunity to leave.”
My arms instinctively tighten around her as if to keep her here. “And then?”
“Then you were there, offering to make me pancakes, and you looked so worried that I might not like pancake mix from a box.”
“Baby,” I tell her gently, “I have tasted the pies you make, and Wyatt told me you were the one responsible for the new pies flying out of Nico’s Diner. I was fuckingterrified.”
Her body shakes, though her laughter is silent. I’m getting ready to apologize for inflicting my cooking on her when she brushes a kiss across my jaw.
