“Or you could stay.” Erin’s voice was soft, still uncertain despite everything that had passed between them tonight.
“I’m tired.”
“I meant to sleep; get your mind out of the gutter.”
“I thought you didn’t do sleepovers.”
“Well, that was before.” Rising to her feet, Erin extended her hand toward Lia. “Are you coming?”
“Apparently not, if we’re only sleeping.”
Erin rolled her eyes. “You are such a child.”
“I’d love to sleep over.” Lia grasped Erin’s hand, letting herself be hauled upright and pulled toward Erin’s bedroom.
It was far from the first time she’d been inside Erin’s bedroom, but nerves buzzed through her as Erin let go of her to grab the pyjamas at the bottom of the bed. Would they be able to handle this change in their relationship status? Or would it all come crashing down? Lia shook her head. She shouldn’t get ahead of herself. She should enjoy the here and now—enjoy the fact that she was lucky enough to see a side of Erin that few others ever had.
“There’s spare pyjamas in the bottom drawer if you need any,” Erin said, already at the door to her en suite. “Make yourself at home.”
Courtesy of Albion’s one-night stay in Germany, Lia had her own pyjamas in her bag. But slipping into Erin’s bed wearing Erin’s clothes was too tempting. A quick glance around the room, however, revealed a problem.
Erin didn’t have just one set of drawers. She had three—one on either side of the bed, and a large chest of drawers beneath her trophy cabinet. Which was the right one?
Erin wouldn’t have told her to get some if she didn’t mind Lia looking, right?
In the corner of the room, already curled in his bed, Gerrard watched her. “Which one did she mean, buddy?”
He lowered his head and closed his eyes.
Sighing, Lia made a decision as an electric toothbrush sounded from the bathroom. It would make the most sense to be the large chest of drawers, wouldn’t it? Surely that was where Erin kept most of her clothes.
But the bottom drawer was stuffed with football jerseys of all different colours, so full it was hard to pull it open. They must have been the shirts Erin swapped at the end of important games. Lia had some herself, but nowhere near this many.
Impressed with the collection, Lia made her way to the bed. Maybe she should have started there—it made sense that the things you wore to bed would be beside it. She had one of the drawers there halfway open when Erin emerged from the bathroom.
“Not that one!” Erin’s voice was strangled with something like horror.
Lia was about to ask why when she glanced down, the contents of the drawer visible through the gap. “Oh.” She snatched her hand back and slammed the door shut, trying hard not to think about Erin using either the purple vibrator or black strap-on and harness she’d spotted inside. “Sorry. You didn’t say which one.”
“The other side.” Erin’s cheeks were flushed pink as she rounded the bed to the other bedside table and pulled out a set of plaid pyjamas and a white tank top. “Here.”
“Thanks.” Lia accepted the bundle but wavered before stepping into the bathroom. “You don’t have to be embarrassed, you know.” It was so rare for her to see Erin blush that she couldn’t help but draw it out. “Sex toys are a perfectly normal thing to keep beside your bed. It’s healthy!”
With a groan, Erin slid beneath the covers, pulling them to her chin. “Can we not? Forget you ever saw them.”
“What if I don’t want to forget I saw them?” Lia caught Erin’s eye and bit her bottom lip, watching the way Erin’s throat bobbed as she swallowed. “What if I want you to use them with me?”
“You’d want that?”
“Yes. Not tonight.” When it happened, she wanted to enjoy every second. She couldn’t do that tonight when her body was screaming at her to sleep. “But in the future? Please.”
“Okay.”
The tremble in Erin’s voice—usually so unshakeable—was gratifying. It put a spring in her step as she freshened up in the bathroom before climbing into the bed beside Erin, rolling on her side to face her.
Erin rolled too, before wrapping an arm around her waist to pull Lia close and drifting her lips across her forehead. “Thank you for turning a shitty day into an amazing one.” A shadow passed across her face; no doubt she was thinking of Germany.
Lia wasn’t sure she’d fully processed the loss herself yet. It was one thing losing a regular game, but getting knocked out of a competition after such a dismal performance was hard to swallow. But she didn’t want to dwell on that tonight. No, she wanted to bask in the feeling of being in Erin’s bed, wrapped in her arms. In being able to wake beside her and see Erin all sleepy and rumpled.
