“Ryan,” I hear her call from the other room. “Do you have an extra toothbrush I can use?”
I chuckle when I enter the room and find her rummaging through the drawers of my vanity. She glances up at me under her bangs and stands up straight when she hears me enter the room. Coming up behind her, I place my hand on her hip and open the top drawer and grab one.
“Is this what you were searching for?” I ask, holding it in the air.
“I don’t know how I missed it,” she says sheepishly, meeting my eyes in the mirror. I see emotions quickly pass over her face. Embarrassment, shyness, longing, desire. All those things and maybe more.
Pushing down my own yearning, I step beside her, and we brush our teeth. A simple act that feels intimate and familiar, as if we have been doing it together for years.
We need to go to sleep before I do something stupid, like strip her down, bend her over, and fuck her in front of that window she loves.
What is wrong with me? I need to get a handle on these feelings quickly.
“Come on.” I lead her from the room when we finish. “I bet you’ll feel completely better after another night of sleep.”
Pulling back the blankets, I encourage her to get in.
“You know what I think?” she asks as she watches me round the bed and climb onto my side.
“Tell me.”
“You lured me here with the promise of a bath just so we could have another sleepover. I think you enjoy using me as a human pillow.” She laughs, giving my chest a soft push.
I clasp her hand and hold it in place. “Maybe that’s it.”
Twenty
Today is the third time recently that I have woken up in a tangle of limbs. But who’s counting? Ryan is breathing softly with his head on the pillow behind mine. With his arm draped around my waist and his knee resting between my thighs, he couldn’t get any closer to me if he tried. Well, I guess that’s not exactly true.
We never start this way. There’s always a respectful distance between us when we fall asleep. But sometime in the night, he finds me and pulls me close. I should probably question it, but I won’t. I’m not complaining. A girl could get used to this.
The last man I slept beside was Braden, and he was never a cuddler. He frequently passed out on his recliner in the living room. If he made it to bed at all, he slept on his side with his back to me. I’m not sure when it started or if it was always that way.
But all good things must come to an end. I should go home—alone. Ryan has been stuck with me since Friday night, and I’m sure he must have things to do. He seems like the kind of man who would have a regular Sunday reset to get ready for the week ahead. I feel bad that I have already taken up so much of his time. Hopefully, he didn’t cancel any plans to look after me.
“I can hear you thinking,” he mumbles into the back of my neck, his voice gruff with sleep.
Wiggling to dislodge myself, I feel him release me and move back, so I can roll towards him.
“Hi,” I whisper, peering into his sleepy eyes. They appear more blue than grey in the early-morning light. Fine laugh lines crease the corners. His hair is messy from sleep, and his dark scruff is longer than I have ever seen it. How does he wake up so ridiculously handsome?
“Hi,” he murmurs back, reaching up and softly wiping the bangs from my face. “Did you sleep okay?”
“Yeah,” I say, leaning my cheek into his palm. “How about you?”
“Really good. Better than I have in a long time, to be honest.”
We lie there for a moment, watching each other silently. I don’t know what is going on between us, but I like it, even if it’s scary. If someone had told me a month ago I would wake up today in Ryan’s bed, I would have laughed in their face. But somehow it feels natural—right.
“I should go home soon.” I pout. “I have laundry and stuff to catch up on before work next week. You probably have a lot to do…”
Part of me wishes he would ask me to stay or come back to my place so we can spend more time together. “Sure,” he says, rubbing his eyebrow. “Before I drop you off, do you want to make a quick trip to town and get something from Maggie’s? I could use a cup of coffee.”
“Really?” I roll my eyes towards the ceiling. “I would never have guessed that about you. But I find it hard to believe that you don’t own a coffee pot.”
“It’s too early for your sass, Trouble. I have a coffee pot, but I enjoy coffee at Maggie’s more.”
“Is that so? Funny, when I said I enjoy Maggie’s coffee more, you gave me a hard time and bought me a coffee maker. Double standard much?” I tease.
