Page 84 of Bad Run

“I don’t know.”

“Are you scared?”

Of course I’m scared. Sleeping in the same bed with him will only blur the lines of our deal. I don’t know if my heart could handle his rejection when he realizes I’m not worth the trouble. I’m already terrified my father will go after him as some sort of punishment.

As if he can read my mind, the cocky jerk flashes me a smug smile. “You are scared.”

I cross my arms. “Am not.”

“Then prove it. Stay,” he demands, striking a chord inside me.

I hate showing weakness. I grew up with three older brothers, and as soon as they’d smell blood in the water, they’d attack. Not in a bad way, per se, but in that annoying older-sibling–rivalry way that pushes you to compete. To refuse defeat. To fight.

Here I go, breaking my rules on the first day.

“Fine, I’ll stay. But you better stay on your side of the bed.”

Lance holds three fingers in the air and salutes. “Scout’s honor.”

“Were you really a Boy Scout?”

“Eagle Scout, actually,” he says cooly.

“Of course you were.” I roll my eyes at him, making him chuckle. Lance really is a real-life superhero. Helping people in need, however he can. “No funny business?”

“No funny business.” Lance agrees easily as a wide grin spreads across his face.

The temperature in the room shoots up ten degrees as he stares at me with those all-knowing cornflower-blue eyes of his.

A chirp echoes in the room, breaking the intense hold he has on me. Lance reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone to check the screen. “Dinner is here. Put your bag back in the closet and come meet me in the kitchen.”

“Okay.”

Lance closes the space between us and presses a kiss to my forehead before he struts out of the room, leaving me speechless and confused by what just happened.

Did I just agree to share a bed with Lance?

You totally did. My brain cackles.

The spot where his lips touched my skin prickles with awareness. My heart pinches, and I can’t tell if it’s from excitement, fear, or a mix of both.

We’ve broken two rules in the span of a week.

There is no way things between me and Lance could get any more complicated.

twenty-seven

Lance

Present

Cold water rains down on me as I rinse off in the shower. I’m normally a hot water guy, but if I plan on making it the entire night without touching my dick while Gwen is in bed beside me, I need to freeze the fucker off.

Today was the hardest day of my life. Pun intended. I’ve been reminded what it’s like to be a raging hormonal teenager again. Every little thing Gwen does turns me on.

I watch her eat; I’m hard. I hear her laugh; I’m hard. I smell her perfume; I’m hard.

My balls have never been so blue.