“Stop apologizing. You felt unsafe, so you called. You did exactly what I told you to. I’m glad you did,” Clay assures me.
Xander nods. “Call usanytime,” he adds, his voice firm.
“I calledhim, and that was already bad enough. I’ll be hearing about this forever,” I say, causing Clay to chuckle. “I didn’t want to wake you, though.”
“Clay, can I borrow your phone?” Xander asks, and he hands it over without hesitation.
Xander quickly types on the phone, then hands it back to Clay and takes out his own phone, typing on it before mine buzzes with an incoming text.
“That’s my number. Next time, you call me. I promise I won’t make you hear about it forever,” Xander says.
“Hey,” Clay chimes in.
“No, I’m sorry. I don’t even know you guys, I was just scared, and?—”
Xander gently holds my chin with his thumb and forefinger, tilting my head up to him. “Just say, ‘Thank you, I will.’”
His intense gray eyes lock onto mine, and I feel my whole body wanting to comply and do whatever this beautiful man wants from me, so I say, “Thank you, I will.”
“Great, you broke her, babe,” Clay teases, and Xander releases his grip on me. “Anyway, Karen, it looks like we’ve got some time to kill because there’s no way in hell we’ll let you sit alone in a stairway all night. Tell us about yourself. What do you enjoy doing? Any hobbies?”
I turn my head from Xander to Clay. “I’m boring. I go to college, work, and sleep. Do you?”
“Now you’ve done it,” Xander whispers.
Clay grins at me. “Well, I do jump rope.”
I furrow my brow. “You’re kidding, right? Like ‘Down in the Valley?’”
“I wish he was,” Xander interjects, and as I look back at him, I notice the smile that tugs at the corner of his mouth.
“He’s just messing with you. He likes to watch when I do it. It’s not just plain jumping rope. I do the cool version with difficult steps to different songs,” Clay explains.
I turn my gaze back to him. “You lost me.”
“Wait,” he says, reaching for his phone again.
He opens YouTube and shows me videos of guys doing incredible jump rope routines to music. I have to admit, it looks pretty amazing, even though I’ll never admit that to Clay.
“And you can do that too?” I ask.
“Yes, he can. Even better,” Xander says, licking his lips, and I don’t miss the way his tone changes.
Dio,is it hot in here?
“Wait, let me show you some more,” Clay mumbles, fumbling with his phone.
Someone gently shakes me,and my eyes snap open to see Clay looking amused.
“You’ve got some drool there, Karen,” he says, pointing to the side of my mouth.
I blink away the remnants of sleep, feeling cozy and warm. It takes a moment for me to remember that I’m in the truck with him and Xander.
When I look up, I realize I have been leaning on Xander, and he has his arm around me. It seems I fell asleep on him.
“Hey, Sleeping Beauty,” he says softly in his deep voice. “We didn’t know when you needed to get to college, so we thoughtwe’d wake you and ask. If it’s too early, you can sleep some more.”
My consciousness slams back into my body at that moment, and I jerk away from him. “What time is it?”
