“Maisie, I’msosorry about that.” He says it slowly. “That was so inappropriate, and I know I made you uncomfortable.”
“You didn’t. It’s fine.” The words come out strangled, mostly because I’m resisting the urge to pull him right back into bed with me. To make him see that I was fine with what was happening. We just need to talk first.
“Don’t lie,” he says. “You can’t even look me in the eyes right now.”
I blow out a breath and slowly sit up, looking him right in the face. The desire I felt in the bed meets the fear that him running away was a rejection, and it sparks something new. It makes me defiant, something I am with so few people. “See? Fine.”
Nate doesn’t look convinced. He doesn’t look anythingother than guilty. His arms are crossed, his shoulders hunched. “I think we need better boundaries. No more sleeping in the same bed.”
“Wait,what? I’m not agreeing to that.”
“It’s for the best. We said we were figuring out what works for us, and we found that sharing a bed does not.”
“Speak for yourself. I slept great.”
“And then woke up to me going ...” He sighs. “Way too far with you.”
“You just got hard. It’s not the end of the world or anything.”
“Are you being serious right now?”
I make sure I don’t look away. “I am.”
He blinks and I know I’ve convinced him. “Why are you not more freaked out by this?”
“You’re acting like I’m blind to the fact that you’re a man. Men get hard.”
He only stares. “You didn’t think that was ... overboard?”
“Overboard. How the hell does morning wood equate tofalling off the side of the boat? I’d say you need to get your fears in order.” I make myself smile.
He still looks at me like I’m a bomb about to go off. “Was that a joke?” he asks.
“Kind of,” I reply with a shrug. “Water safety is no joke to me, obviously. But I could entertain some jokes about the hard member that woke me up, if you’re ...upto that.”
Nate blinks, and thenfinally, he huffs out a laugh. “Maisie, was that a double joke?”
“I’m a woman of layers. What can I say?”
“You’re being shockingly calm about this.”
The thing is, he’s right. If this had happened a week ago, I would have panicked just like he is now. But I’ve come to terms with my feelings and I know that they’re real. I know that there’s no avoiding them.
“Contrary to popular belief, I can be calm.”
“That’s news to me.”
I give him a glare. “I can pretend to be upset if you want me to.Oh no, your dick. It’s hard. What will I ever do?” My acting voice is purposely terrible. The second I’m done, Nate is laughing.
“All right, all right. I can see you’re not faking it this time. The vacation must finally be working on you.”
“Right before we get back too. Just my luck. I’ll have to travel more often to chase this. Or maybe you could get hard again. That might work.”
The tips of Nate’s ears go beet red. “Really? That’s your next joke?”
“What? Was it bad?”
“New rule. No more jokes at my expense before coffee.”
