He’s not Nathan. He’s just doing it because you stole his blankets.Blade’s bed was, hands down, the most comfortable bed I’d ever slept in. I wanted to quit my job and spend all day in it with wine, snacks, and a good romance novel.
Why take the novel when you could have the real man?the sex-starved part of my brain shrieked.Look at him. LOOK. AT. HIM.
I looked. Blade’s face was smoothed in sleep, his muscular arm flung over me, his normally neat hair tousled. The faint light that came in through the half-drawn window curtain played along the ripples of muscles on his back that curved slightly to that very nice ass. The soft cotton pants were just low enough to give me a hint of what was below the waist. He was basically artfully arranged to resemble my fantasies of what having a man in my bed would be like.
“Why are you awake?” Blade murmured, eyes still closed. “It’s Saturday.”
“I have to wedding plan.”
“Stay in bed with me. Then we can go get married this afternoon. No macaroni salad, no crazy family members.”
“I want a beautiful dress and nice flowers,” I said.
“That doesn’t mean you can’t stay in bed with me.”
“For someone who claims to be a rational software engineer,” I grumbled, “your dick sure has hijacked your brain.”
Blade sat up. “I wasn’t thinking we were going to have sex!” he said, horrified. “I was going to bring you breakfast in bed, rub your shoulders. You could watch a movie.” He smiled at me. With his tousled hair, he looked devilish and playful.
“And after I’m good and marinated in wine and romantic comedies and feeling slightly horny, you’re going to conveniently be there to scratch the itch.” I struggled out of the blankets and dumped them on him.
“Shirley and Edward will be here soon. Put on a shirt.”
* * *
I hadn’t botheredto shower the previous night. Blade had made me so wet that any cleaning up I would have done would have quickly gone to shit. When I came out of the bathroom feeling more clearheaded, the room was empty and the bed made. It was too bad Blade wasn’t sprawled out naked on the duvet. I wanted to straddle that muscular form and—
Think of Nathan.
No, let’s actually not. Sex with Nathan had been disappointing. And the fact that the disappointing sex had led to him throwing himself into my life like a suicidal moth just made the whole thing even worse. The reason I had slept with Nathan was the same reason I was seriously considering sleeping with Blade. I was sex starved, and it was making me irrational.
As if the thoughts of him had conjured him, my phone beeped.
Unknown contact:I saw you at the proposal yesterday. I know you don’t love him. He’s trapped you. Just tell me what he has on you. I’ll save you from Blade. You and I are meant to be together.
Block and delete.
“This is why we don’t sleep with fake boyfriends, Avery.”
I looked down at the ring on my hand. To be fair, Blade was now my fake fiancé. I guessed the ring didn’t look that bad in the daylight. It wasn’t great, but it could be worse, right? And a potluck could be…fine. We would just pick some nice-looking dishes and have those photographed. Maybe I could spin it like a charming small-town thing.
It wasn’t as if we could do a sit-down dinner with that many people, though I had wanted nice themed buffet stations.Think positive.Control the things you can control, like the dress, flowers, and décor. Really, if those were on point, what did the rest matter?
There were voices in the kitchen, and I walked out, Cesario padding behind me. Two caterers were laying out the nicest breakfast spread I’d ever seen.
“I thought you and your friends might want some refreshments,” Blade said as he took a vase of flowers from one of the caterers and set it on the long reclaimed-wood dining table.
“Thank you,” he told the staff as they wheeled the cart out.
The spread wasn’t just some stale muffins. There was orange juice and champagne for mimosas, a warming tray of eggs Benedict with a porcelain gravy boat of Hollandaise sauce, another warming tray with cream cheese-and-raspberry-stuffed French toast, mini omelets, sausage, bacon, and bagels with cream cheese, lox, and capers. It was so nice and so thoughtful that I started tearing up.
“What’s wrong?” Blade asked in concern. “You don’t like it? I can have them bring something else.”
I waved him away, grabbing a napkin to blot my eyes. “It’s just…” I blew my nose. “It’s just a really nice thing to do.” I sniffled then spontaneously hugged him and wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. He wiped away a remaining tear on my cheek. “You’re a really good guy.” I kissed him again. “I should make some coffee. Edward was probably out all night.”
There was annoyed banging on the door. Shirley and Edward were standing there when I opened it. Edward had his dark glasses on and was carrying a large container.
“I have goldfish crackers and stale Coca-Cola for sustenance,” Shirley said, hugging me in greeting. “Edward’s in a bad mood because his hookup yelled at him when he tried to make coffee this morning and said they weren’t like that.”
