“That’s the problem. I’m not sure I can.”
“What if I promise not to let you touch anything you’re not supposed to?”
He shakes his head, running his free hand through that messy blond hair, the strands falling dangerously over his forehead, begging for feminine fingers to explore them.
His other hand, still on the doorframe, grips it harder, and I worry the wood will split if he keeps it up.
“You’ve got a lot of faith in my self-restraint.”
“I have a lot of faith in you, period.”
He blows out a big breath and those green irises find me from the corners of his eyes and he studies me for a second.
For just a sliver in time, I let the weight, the burden I carry with me every day, show through. I take down my walls, barriers, and masks, and I let him see the heaviness I can never escape. The one that was triggered this afternoon by the email from my brother.
I stop trying to hide my load, and instead I let him see my desperation tonotfeel it all for once.
“Honestly?” I ask him.
He nods.
“I’ve had a really shitty day, and I don’t want to be alone tonight. We don’t have to do anything. Just lay with me?”
His eyes shutter, and his resolve to stay away melts in front of my eyes.
“If you said that to start, I would’ve brought tea and snacks and we could be watching some true crime documentary right now. Give me a sec.” He turns to leave the room, but I call out to him.
“I don’t need any of that, Weston. Just be with me?”
His hand drops from the doorframe and he’s by the bed in an instant, pulling back the covers from the other side of the mattress, soft eyes on mine.
“I’m just warning you that I’m not responsible for anything my little explorer does tonight.”
“Your little explorer?” I question.
Weston uses both hands to gesture between his legs and my mouth twitches, a smile trying to take over and erase the traces of the frown.
“I’ll keep him under control. But he has a mind of his own sometimes. I can’t lie, he thinks of you a lot, and he might not understand that having you in my bed doesn’t mean what he thinks it means.”
I giggle, the solemnity of the moment broken that fast, and I know this was the right choice tonight. Carrying a load like mine can be so isolating, so heavy on my own. But sharing it with him, even just by keeping me company? Suddenly it doesn’t feel like so much.
“Close those gorgeous eyes, darlin’.”
“Got a surprise for me?” I ask, with a taunt in my voice.
“You’ve already gotten an eyeful of my surprise, but might as well not rub it in your face tonight.”
“I wouldn’t complain if you did,” I tease.
“Mmhmm,” he says in a low voice. “Eyes to yourself for just a bit longer. Then all of you can have your fill. If I see your eyes wandering tonight, I might not be able to stop myself from giving them something worth watching.”
My stomach flutters, desire dipping down south. I place my hands over my eyes and listen to the sounds of him stripping down. The shedding of a shirt. A zipper, the rush of pants falling to the ground, and the noise of him stepping out of them.
Finally, as if he’s dragging this out just to tease me, to ratchet my need up from a nine point five out of ten to an eleven, I hear the flick of a switch and seconds later feel the bed shift under his weight.
I cheat, just a little, and let my hands fall away before he releases me from the command, just in time to see him yank on the sheets, pulling them up and over his body. That glimpse of my new obsession, even still in his dark green boxer briefs, before it’s hidden beneath the navy comforter…it does things to me. Things that turn my blood hot—the air on my skin freezing in contrast—and make my nipples pebble. My panties damp.
The moonlight streaking in through the crack in the curtains on his window is enough light for him to notice the change in me, and for me to watch his eyes darken in response.
