“Gotta pee,” he mumbled, pushing past me in a threadbare t-shirt and loose sweatpants.
I’d changed into basically the same thing, and I could still feel the cold.
Rather than hovering and getting colder, I slipped into the side of the bed Devin hadn’t picked and found the sheets already body-warm.
I tried not to think about the body that’d warmed them, and failed, and couldn’t help picturing Devin lying across from me, close enough to reach out to.
Yeah. This wastheworst thing that’d ever happened to me, hands down. And I’d volunteered for it.
Devin came back a moment later, crawling under the blankets on the other side of the bed and settling down, sighing softly.
“Glad I brought you along now,” he said, smiling a tiny, shy little smile I’d never seen on him before. “Kinda cold in here.”
“Want me to see about the heating?” I asked. “Or another blanket?”
I wasn’t especially cold, but I was also twice Devin’s size. He didn’t have a lot of padding to rely on.
Wasthat a nipple piercing? I never had gotten a clear answer, and his t-shirt was thin enough that I thought maybe I could see through it. Hard to tell in the low light, though.
I realized a second later that if Devin caught me staring at his nipples, I’d have some explaining to do.
“It’s fine, I won’t be able to sleep if it’s too warm,” Devin said, stifling a yawn. He snuggled into his pillow, watching me with hooded green eyes, eyes so pretty all the poets of the world couldn’t have described them well enough.
Aiden insisted that they were thefamilyeyes, that his dad had them too, but Devin’s were the prettiest, hands down. Framed with dark lashes and strong, neat brows, deeper and greener than Aiden’s were, sparkling and jewel-bright.
And when hesmiled…
I didnotneed to be thinking about how pretty Devin’s eyes were right now.
“What’re you smiling about?” he asked, eyes glinting as he looked my face over.
I really hoped it was dark enough that a blush wouldn’t show.
“Flowers?” I tried, figuring that sounded like the kind of thing I’d smile about.
“Uh huh,” Devin said, and evenIcould tell he wasn’t convinced. “Sure. Flowers.”
“I like flowers,” I defended.
Devin chuckled. “Fine, keep your secrets. But if it’s Chris, let me know and I’ll put in a good word.”
“It’s not Chris,” I said. “Besides, did youseehim with Alex? Even if itwas, I wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“I dunno.” Devin snuggled a little further under the covers. “He’d be lucky to have you. And you heard him, he gets off on smart.”
“I’m really not that smart,” I said.
“Yeah you are,” Devin responded without missing a beat. “You don’t want people to knowhowsmart, but you are. Like, I don’t getwhyyou hide it, but you do.”
“I’m not hiding it,” I said. “I’m just… not making a big deal out of it. It’s not like I’m a doctor or anything. I just like poetry.”
“And that’s adorable.” Devin grinned.
“I amnotadorable,” I objected, internally filing that grin away so I could enjoy it later.
Devin was beautiful. I melted every single time he smiled at me, and sometimes I wanted that to stop, but most of the time all I could think was how lucky I was to be on the receiving end of one of those smiles.
“Sorry, I don’t make the rules.”
