“It’s more like…you could probably do whateveryouwanted, and I’d happily go along with it…”
The air sizzles between us, and he flashes the full force of his smile again before his eyes drop to my mouth. “Like this?” he asks before closing the distance and searing my lips in a scorching kiss.
His hands remain fisted, pressing into the mattress on both sides of me while my fingers grow bold, raking through his hair.
He tastes like cinnamon and new dreams. I’d told myself that this feeling was a myth or something that wasn’t in the cards for me. Yet here I am, being devoured by the man I’d convinced myself I couldn’t have.
A knock on the door finally cools the heat simmering between us. Jack inches away, his jaw pulsing as he swipes at my bottom lip with a low growl.
And now I’ll be adding that sound to my list of weaknesses.
“We may need to come up with a no-kissing-near-a-bed rule,” he breathes, and I hum a reluctant response. It’s probably a wise boundary, because I can see how things between us can heat up pretty quickly.
“This is going to be the best-tasting bolognese of my life.” I smile coyly, giving his chest a gentle shove. I place my palms on my heated cheeks while Jack wheels in a food cart with multiple covered plates. My mouth waters when he hands me a steaming bowl of bolognese, the savory aroma of hearty meat and Italian spices making my toes curl. I scoot back against the headboard, using up every bit of my manners in waiting for him to join me instead of inhaling my food like Garfield with a bowl of lasagna. Jack grabs the TV remote before nestling beside me, his thigh pressed against my knees.
I groan after my first bite, wondering if the chef would sell me his recipe. When I look up, Jack is frozen, his eyes heated as they fall to my mouth. “Looks like I’ll be starting my own kryptonite list,” he says, his gaze not leaving my lips.
I lower my bowl, clearing my throat.
“I know we have stuff to talk about…about what happened. But for tonight, can we just enjoy our dinner and fall asleep watching old movies? My brain is fried, and if this food wasn’t so delicious, I’d be at risk of falling asleep with my face in the bowl.”
He slides his empty fork into his mouth before pointing it at me. “So you’re asking if we can snuggle and pretend I didn’t lose another ten years off my life when I saw a gun pointed at you again?”
“Exactly. And you’ll look hot with salt and pepper hair, don’t worry.”
He nods, eyeing me while he chews. “Saying no to you is gonna be a problem, isn’t it?”
“It’ll certainly make your life easier if you stick to yes,” I say with a grin.
He hums an acknowledgment, warming me with joy as he scans through TV channels, settling onCasablanca. I can’t help staring at him, though, even with my favorite movie playing. I’m sitting beside the most handsome man I’ve ever seen, and he choseme.
“Watch the movie, Lo.” He nods to the TV, a new kind of smile making its first appearance.
Rick is murmuring his famous last line to Captain Renault when my eyes blink open. Jack has cleared the bed of our dinner, and I can’t fight the call of sleep as he pulls the blanket up over my shoulder. Warm lips pressed to my forehead are the last things I feel before falling back asleep, wishing we could stay in this bubble between his world and mine for eternity. ButI have a huge mess to clean up and my own bomb to drop when I get back to reality and face my parents tomorrow. Who knows how they’ll handle it when I tell them I’m changing my career path again and that I’ve fallen in love with someone in only five days.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
I pull the duvet over my head when the second clank rudely interrupts my peaceful, sleepy state. “I knew you had a red flag,” I moan from under the not-quite-fluffy-enough blanket.
“Oh yeah, and what’s that?” Jack chuckles, his voice distant.
“You’re a morning person.”
“I think I could convert you.”
Emerging from my duvet burrow, I scan the room through bleary, slitted eyes. The space is empty, but then he steps out of the bathroom in nothing but a pair of dark jeans, and it’s a sight that simultaneously makes my mouth dry while also needing to swipe the drool from my chin.
“Yeah?” I swallow, clearing my throat and faking a level of confidence I don’t possess. The man has been hiding some hard-earned muscles. In my defense, I fell for his grumpy personality before I saw the full extent of the sexy packaging.
And that frowny, tight-jawed face is currently moving closer as Jack stalks toward me, the warm scent of shower gel following him out of the bathroom. Like a stealthy cat, he lowers his hands to the bed, caging me in while a slow smirk curls one side of his mouth. I lean back, his head moving with me like a magneticforce between us, and his eyes do a lazy mapping of my face before landing on my lips.
“I think I could come up with the motivation to make you love mornings…” he whispers, nuzzling his nose against my jaw.
“Pretty sure of yourself there, cowboy,” I rasp, though he could convince me to join a cult and become a pyramid scheme saleswoman with the way he’s caught me in his snare. I’m a slave to this man and the torturous distance between our lips.
He moves closer, and I don’t retreat as his mouth ghosts the spot just below my ear.
“Don’t we have some sort of rule against this?” I whimper. Lord knows why I bring up the no-kissing-near-a-bed rule he threw out yesterday, because I want nothing more than for him to put me out of my misery and devour me already.
