“Sopissed,” I agree.
“She’ll be more upset about us dating without telling her.”
I nod. She has every right to bemorethan just “upset” over everything we’ve done.
Because I’m a sadistic bitch, I slide my hands under his sweater and shirt, and plant my frozen palms directly onto his back.
He doesn’t so much as flinch.
I’m a simple woman. That was hot as fuck.
I flip my hands around to use his body heat to warm the other side. Still no reaction. How does something like that make my insides gooey?
He smirks like he knows exactly the effect he has on me.
I clear my throat in an attempt to cleanse myself of my impure thoughts.
“How long until you need to go?” A change of topic is my only solution.
Leo sighs and scrubs a hand down his face. “Not for a couple more hours, but I have work I need to do before the off-season.”
“Do you want to borrow my laptop? I won’t turn down an excuse to not work.” I’ve got approximately a million emails waiting for me because I’ve neglected any form of author work since... yeah.
If I really want to keep this career, I’m going to need to start working on a new book, like, yesterday.
Maybe I’ll read a book on my phone and tell myself it’s research.
Leo shakes his head and kills my dreams. Guess I have to work then. Ugh.
My yawn interrupts whatever he was about to say, and he chuckles. “You should take a nap instead. You didn’t get any sleep last night.”
“You’ve convinced me.” The answer is out of my mouth before I can reconsider it. “Join me?”
I’ve been awake since he broke into my room hours before the ass crack of dawn, and I can only assume Leo’s been up forlonger. The twenty minutes of sleep I got on the plane didn’t count.
He chuckles, planting a kiss on the top of my head before sweeping me into his arms like I’m his bride. A girl could really get used to this. It’s hard to feel anxious about the future when he’s looking down at me like I’m the only thing he’s ever wanted in life.
Through a feat of far more athleticism and dexterity than I hold, he manages to grab his backpack off the kitchen floor without dropping me, whisks me up the stairs, and sets me on the bed with so much care and gentleness that I could almost mistake myself for a priceless artifact.
Without a word, he starts tugging off my pants. My eyes bulge, and I’m about to point out that we have different definitions of sleeping when he tugs down the duvet and tucks me in. I frown at his sweats that are still on.
“You’re not going to nap too?”
His eyes find mine as he unzips his backpack. A satisfied grin lights his face. “We’ll compromise. I’ll work from the bed.”
Leo grabs his laptop and settles into the empty space beside me, and I place my glasses on the table, then shuffle right up to his side like it’s pure instinct.
That works for me. As he and I both know, I can sleep through almost anything. So the second my head hits the pillow, and I shut my eyes, I’m out like a light.
The last thing I remember hearing is my phone going off before I’m sucked into a plane without dreams.
Awareness pulls me out of sleep. It’s the same prickling sensation that someone is here, like when Leo woke me in the dead of night. The hairs along the back of my neck rise.
A sound comes from beyond the bedroom door. I peel my eyes open and squint to make sense of my surroundings. The glow from streetlights pours in from beneath the closed curtains. My gaze slides toward the open door and the darkness beyond, but the world is made up of blurry silhouettes and still shadows.
I reach for my glasses and slide them on, sitting straighter in the bed. The silence stretches. One heartbeat rolls into the next. It’s quiet. All I hear is the thrum of the heater and the distant sound of a car driving along the road.
And beneath all that, nothing. I rub my eyes and slowly wake up. Maybe I had a nightmare I don’t recall.
