They were hot and they were ready.
“The bad news is, I do believe you might be sore in the morning.”
Without any more teasing or talking, he thrust inside of her with a nearly overwhelming force.
Nearly.
Rose took him in with a moan that would have made her grateful that house was empty.
That moan was one of many that afternoon as his good news really did pan out. They stayed tangled in his sheets until the sun started to set. Once they had exhausted themselves and Rose lay there trying to catch her breath back, she already knew he would be right about the bad news.
Though, to her, what she had just done with James could never be counted as bad.
A belief she took into that night when round two started up in the shower.
By the time they had found themselves truly, truly exhausted and back in bed, Rose didn’t have the stamina or focus to remember what it was she wanted to talk about with James before this all had started.
Maybe if she had, what happened next might have gone a whole lot differently.
* * *
JAMES ADDED Aset of blackout curtains to his online shopping cart the second after he woke up the next morning. The sun wasn’t completely out—the rain was being lazy in its walk across Seven Roads—but there was enough of it to make Rose start stirring from her own sleep.
James hovered his hands over her eyes, cutting off a beam that was particularly precise, but it wasn’t enough to keep her in her dreams.
Rose’s eyes fluttered opened a minute or two into his attempt. When she saw his hand, though, she only laughed.
“Not even the mighty James Keller can compete with the morning sun.”
James felt the vibration of her stretching out her legs before that vibration ran up to her arms. She didn’t go for the normal starfish pose since she, as per her usual habits over the last several days, was already wrapped tightly around his bicep.
She shook him lightly, then became nosy about his phone.
“Don’t tell me you’re the kind of man who shops online all of the time, even in bed.”
James snorted.
“Only when I’m buying the necessities,” he countered. He held his phone closer so she could see it more clearly. “Iamthe kind of man to be generous, though. Need me to get anything for you? Say the word.”
Rose rubbed her forehead against his arm as she shook her head.
“I’m pretty happy with what I have already, thanks.”
James wasn’t sure if that was a nod to him, but he felt the warmth of it anyways. Confessing his feelings to the deputy the day before had been a spur-of-the-moment decision made from a spur-of-the-moment realization. But he didn’t regret it. He certainly didn’t regret what had come after either.
Now, however, he was realizing that Rose hadn’t returned those feelings. At least not in words.
But who was he to nitpick?
Surely she felt enough of something for him to do what they had done multiple times the day before. He didn’t need the words.
At least not now.
“I’m starting to think you’re a pretty relaxed woman. At least, when not on the clock. Then again, I still have never seen someone as calm as you when you were staring down at a seat covering a bomb.”
James regretted the mention as soon as he said it. He didn’t want to remind Rose of the close calls they had encountered, not when the last week had been so kind to them, but he felt her tense and knew it was alreadytoo late. The damage was done, and the damage was Rose pulling away from him.
“I’m sorry,” he hurried. “I didn’t mean to bring any of that stuff up. It’s just one of those once-in-a-lifetime things I can’t believe happened.”
