“I hadn’t thought of it that way.” He let out a yawn, stretching his arms over his head as he did. “Suppose you're right.”
“Bed time?” I offered, not wanting to keep him up later than he needed to be.
“Maybe we could find a movie? I’ve been yawning all day, I just need my brain to shut down.” He squirmed slightly as if settling in for a while.
Boy, did I know the feeling of not being able to unwind and it was the worst. Or maybe in this case it was the best since it meant I got to spend some quiet time with Candrin.
“Let’s see what’son.” I grabbed the remote.
It took forever for us to find something that was suitable. We didn’t want anything overly exciting because then we’d be up until dawn, but we also didn’t want something dry that would make it easy for us to get distracted and start talking, once again resulting in us going straight from the couch to getting ready for the day.
Eventually we found an old movie about a little boy whose family moved to a homestead, something neither of us was invested in, but was interesting enough to keep our attention—for about ten minutes.
At least that was as much of the movie as I remembered when I woke up—under the blanket, hard as a rock, with Candrin snuggled up against me, his lips on my throat.
Shit. What am I supposed to do now?
If he woke up this way, he was going to be embarrassed, as was I. It was one thing to have offered him a sip of hot milk from my own cup, quite another to have a boner sticking out when he discovered he was nearly kissing my neck.
7
CANDRIN
A hard day’s night
I wriggled against something warm and soft. But my hips were rubbing on something hard. Whatever it was, it was nice and I wanted to stay right where I was.
“Mmmm.” There was a comforting scent tickling my nostrils and I took a deep breath and inhaled. My lips and nose pressed on another something. I felt so well-rested. Best sleep since the reading of the will. While I didn’t know what time it was, there were birds outside making a noise and I figured my alarm would ring soon.
Funny though, I didn’t recall returning to bed after watching the movie with Tanner.
Tanner! I pried open one eye. Fuck me, the soft warm something I was snuggled against wasn’t my duvet. It was my landlord. Yikes. I froze, not daring to move. My face was pressed on his throat. If I stuck out my tongue, I’d taste him. Instead, I inhaled him. Gods, he smelled so good.
Opening both eyes, I took note of the gray dawn creeping under the curtain. I’d have to get up soon in time to shower and catch the bus to work. Not only did I not want to move, but how would I extricate myself from my landlord’s embrace.
Oh shit, my brain was functioning enough to register that I had a hard on and it was pressed on Tanner’s erection. Gods no, I had to sneak out before he woke and hoped he had no memory of falling asleep on the couch with me. If he was embarrassed or awkward about what happened, that would make sharing a house difficult. Perhaps impossible and he’d ask me to leave.
Hardly daring to breathe, I removed the blanket from my body and put one foot on the floor. Tanner snuffled and rubbed his head on the cushion we’d both slept on. But he didn’t wake, hiseyes didn’t even flicker. Swiveling my ass, I sat up, glancing over my shoulder at the alpha. So far, so good.
I tiptoed out of the room and up the stairs. A quick shower later, and I grabbed my stuff and with one eye on sleeping Tanner, I closed the front door, hoping the loud click didn’t wake him.
Taking a huge gulp of air, I congratulated myself on getting out of the house and not having to confront my wide awake landlord. But as I strolled to the bus stop, I pondered the situation. I was attracted to the alpha and us both sleeping on the sofa and having morning wood should have been a dream come true.
But with my life in turmoil, having no money, and the homeless shelter facing a cut in funding—most of its funding—when dear brother, Charles worked out the details of Father’s finances, having a roof over my head at Tanner’s was a lifeline. I was sinking in shit, and him giving me a home, however temporary, saved me. I couldn’t mess it up by thinking that us having hard-ons meant anything. He was probably dreaming of Blake. Ewww. I couldn’t be jealous of Tanner having a life but not with that guy!
As I sat on the bus and watched the city coming to life out the window, I contemplatedfinding another place to live. That would be the sensible decision. And who knew, perhaps Tanner and I could be friends if I did, though that was doubtful if I moved out of his house after less than a week.
Of course there was a huge hurdle to me finding a room elsewhere. Money. As in I didn’t have much. I’d used a chunk of the cash I found at my house… my former home—for rent. And I for sure wouldn’t get it back.
Father’s remodeled motorbike! Since the day I arrived, it’d been sitting in the shed at the back of Tanner’s house. Much as I was grateful it was under cover, the bike was worth a lot of money and shouldn’t be sitting in a shed that probably leaked when it rained.
But I couldn’t sell the bike and definitely couldn’t ride it though Saul had suggested that the W Day.Will Day. Father had taken years to restore the bike. The only way I’d sell it was in an auction and give the proceeds to the charity to help it stay afloat.
That was a great idea. If I sold the car, I’d have enough to tide me over for months, while auctioning the bike would benefit the charity. I sent a quick text to Anders saying I definitelywanted to sell the car.
I got off the bus and almost ran into a guy reading a newspaper. “Watch it!” he snarled.
“Sorry.”
