He chuckled. “Good?”
“I’d give you a standing ovation but I’m too tired. Maybe tomorrow.”
His smile stretched and he pressed a kiss to her temple before disappearing into the bathroom. Once he’d cleaned himself up, he turned off the lights and returned to her, pulling her into his side and just holding her. “Time to sleep.”
She nuzzled into him. “You want to know somethingreallygood?”
“Always.”
“I just said I love you to a man, and it didn’t scare me. Not even a little bit.”
His heart punched at his ribs. “Good. You’ve realized your love is safe with me.”
“Yeah, I think I have.”
It didn’t take long for her breaths to even out. He needed to get up and check the house. But he didn’t want to move. Not yet. He wanted to hold her for a bit longer. Being apart from her had been hard. He couldn’t let that happen again.
22
Polly’s eyes snapped open. It was bright. Well, the beam of light poking through the curtains was. What was the time?
She turned her head to look at Joel—or more accurately, stare at him. Yep, he was just as perfect as he had been last night. His eyes were closed, his long lashes splaying over the bottoms of his eyes.
Why was it that men always got the long lashes?
She mentally shook her head. This was not the time for that. She had to get to the church before the service finished, and if Joel worked out why she was going, he wouldn’t let her leave this house.
She wasn’t doing anything dangerous,per se. She just wanted to know who attended.
She rolled out of bed.
Second time sneaking out and second time not waking him. Well, hehadwoken last time, but that was only because she’d changed inside the bedroom. This time she was smarter. She was going to take her clothes with her and change in the bathroom off the hall.
She rose to her feet and, yet again, looked at him. Mistake. Big mistake.
He was beautiful. His muscular arm stretched over the white sheets, the tattoos up his back and down his arm giving him that edge of danger. Even his back was sexy. It was almost comical that she’d thought she could avoid falling for him.
With a silent sigh, she crept to her dresser, where she pulled out clothes for the day—leggings and a sweatshirt. Nothing fancy. All she’d be doing was sitting in a locked car and spying on churchgoers.
She was going to hell.
When she stepped into the hall without waking him, she almost wanted to give herself a pat on the back.
Success.
She took the quickest shower of her life. Yes, it was a risk, but after a night at the bar then everything she and Joel had done, a shower was necessary.
Then she stepped out of the bathroom and almost jumped out of her skin at the sight of her mother. Her mom obviously wasn’t expecting to see her either, because she screeched.
“Mom!” It was a shout-whisper from Polly. “Shh!”
Her mom frowned. “Honey, you scared me. I didn’t know you were in there. You usually shower in your bathroom. Why are you looking at me like you’re going to kill me?”
“Because I’m trying not to wake Joel.”
Her mother’s eyes bulged. “Joel’shere?”
Jesus freaking Christ. “Could you have said that any louder?”
