The mattress squeaked again as she shifted position. He heard her murmur something, low and indistinct, before falling silent again. Her scent wrapped round him like a blanket.
Oh no.
Buck held his breath, trying to not to inhale any more of that warm, sweet fragrance. It was no good. Even the slightest whiff of Honey was enough to grab hisfullattention.
Wonderful. Now he was naked, under her bed, with a raging boner.
Someone banged on the bedroom door. “Honey! Honey! We gotta get to breakfast! Are you awake?”
“I amnow,” Buck heard Honey say under her breath, with distinct aggravation. She raised her voice, sliding into her usual cheerful, upbeat register. “You girls go ahead and get dressed! I’ll be out in a minute!”
The edge of a blanket flopped over the edge of the bed. Two bare, graceful feet followed. Buck tried very hard not to stare at them, and failed miserably. For fuck’s sake, how couldfeetbe that damn sexy?
Honey stretched, lifting up onto her toes. She let out a soft, breathy moan.
This did not help his situation.
Buck clenched his teeth, trying to dissociate from his body through sheer force of will. He prayed Honey would head to the bathroom. The instant she left, he’d grab her blanket and run like hell—
Cloth rustled. With a soft whisper, a pair of bright pink panties hit the floor, inches from his nose.
Oh fuck.
She was getting undressed. She was taking off her clothes. Honey was going to be naked, and he was already naked, and she didn’t know that he wasright there.
He had to stop her.
In retrospect, he probably shouldn’t have done this by grabbing her ankle.
CHAPTER15
Honey liked to think of herself as a self-reliant, capable woman. The sort of person that others could count on to stay calm in any crisis.
She was, however, only human.
And when an unexpected hand shoots out from under your bed to grab your ankle, even the most unflappable person would be hard pressed not to react.
She shrieked.
The hand let go at once. As she leaped away, she caught a single, split-second glimpse of Buck staring up at her from the shadows under the bed, face frozen in an expression of utter horror.
“Honey!”
Footsteps thundered toward her room. With lightning speed, Buck’s arm shot out again, this time to seize her blanket. He disappeared under the bed again, taking the blanket with him. Honey had just enough time to yank her nightshirt back down to cover her body before half a dozen girls burst through the door.
“Honey, are you okay?” Estelle demanded. She glared round the room, pillow raised like a sword. “What happened?”
“I—I’m fine, girls.” Through force of habit, she adopted a reassuring smile, though her heart was still trying to climb up her throat. “No need to worry.”
“But we heard you scream,” Claire said, eyes wide.
“Oh, um,” Honey stammered, thinking fast. She attempted a little laugh, as though she was embarrassed. “I was just startled, that’s all. I thought I saw a rat.”
This did not quite get the response she’d expected.
“Maisie!” a girl from one of the other packs exclaimed in exasperation. “We’ve told you before, that’s not funny!”
“It wasn’t me!” protested a girl wearing light blue pajamas printed with cheese wedges. She turned to the other girls in her pack for support. “You saw me, I was in my bunk the whole time!”
