“Is that right?” I said as I raised a brow and locked eyes with her. “Then I wonder why you always make it a point to leave my company like your ass is on fire.”
“Did it ever occur to you that you’re not the best conversationalist?” she shot back. “You’re grumpy, surly, and not exactly a fun guy to be around.”
“And I’m also the man who’s been accused of murdering his father for over two decades,” I replied.
She folded her arms over her ample breasts. “I don’t believe that. I never have.”
I shrugged. “Prove it. Sleep with the devil, Lauren. Crawl under the covers and get a decent night’s sleep.”
“Is that what it’s going to take for you to believe me?” she asked softly.
No.
It wasn’t.
I already knew that she didn’t believe that I’d killed my father.
She’d never looked at me like she suspected it one single fucking time, and I knew what those looks were like because I saw them often enough from many of the people in Crystal Fork.
I was challenging her because she looked exhausted, and she needed to sleep all night in a comfortable bed.
I wasn’t going toneedher tonight because I was sick, but I was good at reading people, and something told me that Lauren wasn’t going to retreat to one of the guest rooms upstairs yet.
She’d stubbornly sleep in that damn chair if I couldn’t get her into the bed.
Hell, maybe I was twisted because I wanted her to sleep in my bed, even if touching her was completely off-limits. I wanted toknowthat she was getting the sleep that she needed.
Those dark circles and the exhausted look on her face were there because she’d been taking care ofme.
“Fine,” she huffed as she broke eye contact and stood.
I watched as she strode to the other side of the bed, slid between the covers, and pulled the comforter over her body.
She made a production out of fluffing her pillow before she finally settled onto her side and let out a small moan that made my dick twitch.
“This is probably the most comfortable bed I’ve ever been in,” she said with a sigh. “Wake me up if you need anything or if your fever goes up again.”
I turned onto my side and watched as she quickly fell into a deep sleep.
No fear.
No apprehension.
Okay, I’d known that she didn’t suspect me of murdering my father, but that kind of trust was a little…disconcerting.
Was she really that innocent?
It was never, ever safe to climb into bed withanyguy that she didn’t already know intimately.
Granted, I was weak from the flu, but still…
She’s thirty-one years old, dickhead. She’s not an innocent virgin. And you’re the one who dared her to crawl into your bed. Leave it. Her choices mean absolutely nothing to you.
I’d gotten exactly what I’d wanted.
I just hadn’t expected Lauren to toss me her trust that wholeheartedly or that easily.
I trusted no one except my older brother, Asher.
