“We shouldn’t.” I rolled her over so that I was at her back and we were facing the same way, and grimaced as skittering knives danced up my arm as the blood returned to my hand. I smoothed my palm up and down her hip as she relaxed into the bed. “We should stay right here.”
“The day’s already started,” she argued with a yawn as she settled on the pillow I had brought from home.
“You have the words, but you don’t have the music.”
Willow lifted a lazy middle finger, and I laughed.
“Just a few more minutes.”
She huffed. “Fine.”
“Nah,” I said with a chuckle as I tucked her head beneath my chin. “You don’t get to act inconvenienced. Not when you were cuddling me like I was your personal teddy bear for the last twelve hours.”
Her body tensed. “Sorry.” The single word was clipped and curt.
“I didn’t mind in the slightest. I’m just surprised. You didn’t strike me as the cuddly type.”
“I’m usually not. It’s . . . it’s been years since I’ve shared a bed with someone. I don’t do sleepovers.”
“Then thank you for letting me sleep over.” I dropped a rogue kiss on the back of her neck. “How’d you sleep?”
“Surprisingly well,” Willow admitted.
“Why surprisingly?”
“I don’t usually sleep well with other people. I can’t relax. I worry about snoring, or having morning breath, or taking up too much space. If I have sex with someone, they never spend the night.”
I did not want to hear about her having sex with other men. Logically, I knew it had happened. I wasn’t a virgin either. Still, the idea of anyone having touched her in ways that...in ways that I wanted to.
Shit.
“Let me put your worries to rest, then. You don’t snore. Who cares if you have morning breath? I have it too. But that’s what spooning is for. You can take up all the space you want. I’m perfectly happy being your pillow.”
“Your pillow is nice. It’s not too fluffy. I hate fluffy pillows.” She sighed contentedly. “And it smells good.”
“Do I smell good?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Willow huffed.
I chuckled against her neck. "Why, ‘unfortunately?’”
“Because it would be easier to keep you at a distance if you didn’t. But I like your cologne.”
I wrapped my arm around her waist, my fingers grazing her soft stomach. “Noted.”
Willow let out a whispered sigh. “Ryan . . .”
“Hmm?”
“You’re pretending that this is real.”
“I’m not pretending anything.” I found her hand and intertwined our fingers and held them against her stomach. “Why do you think I am?”
I could feel each inhale and exhale as she thought about her answer. “Because I can’t tell if you’re playing me because you think this is a game, or if you’re going to be the one who gets hurt at the end of this.”
“You can’t hurt me, Wills.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”
