Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
“He let you sleep in his bed?”
“No, he made me sleep on the floor.”
I laughed. “Did he at least give you a sleeping bag?”
“Nope. Just a pillow and a blanket. But it was still better than being in my room alone.”
I glanced at the bed. Swallowed hard. “Do you want me to sleep on the floor in here?”
“You’d do that?”
Realizing I still held her arm, I took my hands off her warm skin. “Sure.”
“There’s not much room.”
“It’s more room than I have on the couch.”
She paused. “Do you want to just sleep in the bed?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Xander, come on. Don’t you trust me?”
“I trust you. Myself? Not so much.”
She laughed softly. “Okay, fine. You want the floor, it’s all yours.”
“Give me a minute. I’ll be right back.”
I left the room and made my way out to the living room in the dark, my heart racing. Was she nuts? I couldn’t sleep in her bed. It was hard enough keeping my tongue in my mouth when she was standing next to me, fully clothed. How was I supposed to behave when she was lying beside me, wearing next to nothing?
Fuck no. It was out of the question.
My eyes had adjusted well enough to find my duffel bag and root through it for some sweatpants. After trading my jeans for the sweats, I grabbed the little leather pouch with my toothbrush in it and used the bathroom. When I came out, the door to her bedroom was open, but I knocked anyway.
“You can come in,” she called softly.
I entered the room and stood at the foot of the bed. She was already under the sheets, and my entire body yearned to join her, to hold her close during the storm. Take her mind off it with an orgasm or two. “Can you spare a pillow?”
“Of course.” She sat up and handed me one. “There’s an extra blanket in the closet.”
“Thanks.” Tossing the pillow to the floor, I opened the closet and pulled a thick fleece blanket from the shelf. Then I lay down on the rug between the dresser and the foot of the bed, spreading the blanket over my legs and tucking the pillow behind my head. “Night,” I said.
“Night,” she whispered back.
For a few minutes, I just lay there staring at the ceiling, listening to the steady hum of the rain on the roof, punctuated by the occasional rumble of thunder.
“Xander.”
“What?”
“This is silly.” She crawled to the foot of the bed and peeked down at me. “Just come up here.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You can’t be comfortable down there.”
“My comfort isn’t the issue.”
“Come on, we can put all the pillows between us. The Great Wall. The Iron Curtain. Want me to see if there’s some barbed wire lying around?”
“Yes.”
A piercing crack split the air, followed by a roar of thunder that made the floor growl beneath me.
Kelly thumped the mattress. “Get up here, you big lummox. Or I’m coming down there.”
Exhaling, I said a quick prayer asking for strength, then sat up. “Start building the wall.” I grabbed my pillow and walked around to the empty side of the bed.
She placed pillows in a line down the center of the bed, on top of the covers. “There. See? You have your side, I have mine.” She lay back and pulled the sheet up to her chin.
“You decent under there?”
“Define decent.”
“Pajamas. Top and bottom.”
She peeked under the covers. “Then I’m halfway decent.”
I groaned. “What do you have against pants?”
She laughed. “Xander, I’m all the way over here! My leg isn’t going to stray beyond the wall. And you’re all covered up with sweats and a T-shirt. Just get in.”
Taking the edge of the sheet in my hand, I hesitated before peeling it back. Because I knew—I knew—that if I got into that bed with her, something was going to happen. A fucking line of pillows wasn’t going to stop me.
I got in anyway.
Laying on my back, I pulled the sheet to my waist and put my arms at my sides, stiff as a mummy. “Happy?”
“Yes.” She rolled onto her side and propped her head in her hand. “Now let’s stay up late and tell each other secrets.”
“I told you, I don’t have secrets.”
“Oh, that’s right. Xander Buckley: no secrets, no fears. Just telling it like it is.”
“That’s me.”
“You should put that on a T-shirt. XB merch.”
“Maybe I will. I could sell it at the bar.” I stuck my hands behind my head.
She giggled. “So were you born fearless?”
I thought for a moment. “Maybe. Or maybe I was molded that way because I was the second kid. I was always trying to keep up with Austin. That meant I couldn’t be scared of anything he wasn’t scared of. And if he was scared of something, I had to prove I wasn’t.”