In my employee’sbed.
“Do you want me to take the floor?” Emmett asks, startling me out of my daze.
Yes. “Yes” is the only correct answer.
“No,” is what comes out instead. “Don’t you think you’re a little old to be sleeping on the floor?”
“Damn right, I am.” He ambles right over to his side of the bed.
Okay. We’re doing this. We’re really doing this.
I’m not sure what other response I was hoping for. Maybe I was looking for more of a fight. Maybe I assumed he’d insist he sleep anywhere else but next to me. Maybe I was hoping one of us would have just a bit of willpower.
I stay stuck in the entryway, still shivering from my cold pajamas, my cold blanket and being back in my cold room foronly a few minutes. But then I feel the first warm flush to my skin I’ve experienced all night.
Because standing next to the bed, Emmett reaches over his head and pulls off his shirt in a single, fluid motion.
And fuck me, he’s delicious to look at. Tall and wide with bulky shoulders and inked arms. His chest is splattered with dark hair. His body narrows at the waist, but he’s not so cut that you can see the complete outline of each and every one of his ab muscles. Instead, he’s thick and muscular, including those thighs that are practically eating the athletic shorts stretched around them.
I’ve already seen him with his shirt off, already have the image ingrained in my memory, so this is nothing new. But I’ve never seen Emmett take his shirt off just before I’m about to crawl into bed with him.
“You could... keep that on,” I croak out.
He lifts an unimpressed brow in my direction. “I’m good, but thanks for the offer.”
Emmett makes a move to tug at the waistband of his shorts as if it were instinct for him to remove them before bed. Which means he probably sleeps naked or, at the very least, in only his underwear.
Which, again, I shouldn’t know.
It takes him less than a second to realize his mistake, before adjusting his waistband back low on his hips to keep his shorts on. Then he climbs into bed, pushing the sheets and comforter off his heated body, and with his long legs spread out and one arm folded behind his head, he finds me still stuck near the entryway.
“C’mon, princess.” He pats the mattress next to him. “I want to get some sleep.”
I don’t tend to get nervous, but this is making me nervous.He’smaking me nervous. He shouldn’t look so good when he’s so tired, and I shouldn’t be crawling into bed next to him.
Removing my slippers and keeping my blanket-cape on, I climb onto the mattress and very quickly realize that this is a queen bed and not a king by the way I can feel his body heat as soon as I lie down.
It’s lovely, but he’s already too close.
Once my head hits the pillow, Emmett turns off the light, coating the room in darkness.
I can’t see anything. I can’t hear anything either, other than the slight chatter of my own teeth. Every muscle in my body is firing, doing its best to warm itself up. Lying on my side, facing away from him, I pull my knees to my chest, trying to find as much warmth as possible.
“You’re still cold?” he asks quietly from behind me.
“Freezing.”
“Take that blanket off. It’s only making you colder.”
“I just need some time to warm up and I’ll be fine.”
There’s a moment of silence. A moment where I think he’s let it go, but then he whispers something highly inappropriate into the otherwise silent room.
“I can warm you up.”
Looking over my shoulder, my eyes shoot to his, and I’ve adjusted enough to the lack of light to find him lying on his side, facing me.
Emmett tentatively reaches out, tucking my hair behind my ear before brushing his knuckles across my cheek so I can feel exactly how warm he is.
