The room is stillquiet when I let myself back in. I set the coffees and donuts on the table as quietly as possible and turn around.
Juliette is awake, sitting up in bed with the sheet pulled up. Hair an absolute disaster in the best possible way. Eyes still sleepy and soft.
She looks gorgeous.
“You left,” she says. Her voice is rough from sleep.
“I left a note.”
“I saw the note. You still left.”
“I got coffee.” I hold up the cups. “And Timbits.”
She pats the bed next to her. “Come here. You look like you’re freezing.”
I cross to the bed and she immediately crawls into my lap, sheet and all, and wraps herself around me.
“Hi,” she says.
“Hi.”
“You’re so cold.” Her hands slide under my shirt against my stomach and I suck in a breath. “Let me warm you up.”
“The coffee’s going to get cold.”
“I don’t care about the coffee.” She’s kissing my neck now. “Where did you really go?”
Busted.
“I got coffee and donuts. That part was completely true.”
“And?”
“And I may have made another stop.”
“What kind of stop?”
I pull the box out of my coat pocket and set it on the bed next to us.
Her eyes go wide. “That’s a lot of condoms, Romeo.”
“We have one more night in Toronto. Plus all day today. I’m being thorough.”
She bites her lip. “We’re not using thirty-six condoms.”
“Not with that attitude we’re not.”
“We have brunch in—” She checks the clock. “Two and a half hours.”
“That’s plenty of time.”
“Romeo—”
“JuJu.” I brush hair out of her face. “We fly home tomorrow. Back to real life. Back to my hockey schedule and your work. I want to spend every possible moment of this morning making you feel good. Can I do that?”
Her eyes go dark. “Yes.”
I kiss her slow and deep. The sheet falls away and suddenly she’s naked in my lap and my hands are finding warm skin.
