I’d never considered myself a leg guy, but I couldn’t stop staring at Lennox’s. She constantly fidgeted, causing her muscles to ripple beneath her tanned skin. There were a few scars from accidents over the years—some I remembered and some I wanted to explore.
We’d started out with an arm’s length of space between us, but Lennox had been right; her damn dog hogged the fuck outta the couch. Our bodies had been touching for the past hour. I felt every single twitch she made, every small sigh, or scared gasp.
At one point, she’d screamed and gripped my thigh so hard that it nearly took my breath away. Not because it’d hurt, but because I was surprised by how much I liked it. And then I’d started thinking about what it would be like for her to slide her hand up to my cock, for her to stroke and squeeze me until I felt like I was ready to come in my goddamn pants from a daydream like a teenager.
It didn’t matter what I thought about—apparently, reciting football teams didn’t work like they said it did in movies—I was still rock fucking hard. I laid one of her fluffy pillows in my lap to hide the bulge threatening to break free, hoping it would be enough to keep her from asking too many questions. After the first movie ended, I should’ve called it a night and walked home. It was late enough. We both had work tomorrow, and it sure as hell would’ve made me feel like less of a creep.
But here we were.
“You’re good to start the second one, right?” Lennox asked, snuggling into the couch. She reached for the blanket that’d fallen to the floor earlier and draped it across her body. “I know it’s late.”
“Yeah, it’s fine,” I said, laying my arm along the back of the couch. I tried to convince myself it was comfortable, but it wasn’t. The angle was all wrong and way too high. It did, however, mean that every now and then, when one of us moved, my fingertips grazed her shoulder.
I’d call that a win.
“You sure?” she asked, raising her brows. “I know how grumpy you are on a normal day. I shudder to think what you’re like sleep deprived.”
I snorted. “You’ve seen me running on a couple hours of sleep more times than you think.”
“Is that the secret?” Lennox turned to face me, plopping her hands in her lap. Her knees brushed my thigh. “You’re just always running on E?”
“Naw, killer. I’m just a dick who is easily annoyed. I can’t stand ninety-five percent of the people I’m surrounded by.”
“Five percent are in your good graces? They must be important. Who makes the cut?” Lennox looked so eager. I didn’t know how she had so much energy all the time. It was almost exhausting.
Yet another reminder of the thirteen years between us. She was so young and had her whole life ahead of her, and I was an old bastard set in my ways.
I shifted under her gaze. My arm dropped lower, skimming her shoulder. “I don’t have a list. I was just pulling numbers outta my ass.”
“But there has to be a list. Like, if you were trapped on a desert island and could bring any five people with you, who would they be?”
A question like that wouldn’t stump most people, but I wasn’t most people. I didn’t have anyone who didn’t already belong to someone else. No one for me to put first or vice versa. It felt pathetic to admit that.
“Are we gonna watch this movie?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
Lennox pushed out her lower lip in a pout. “Why won’t you tell me?”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because I want to get to know you,” she said matter-of-factly.
“You’ve known me damn near your whole life. I’d say you know more than most,” I sighed.
“But I don’t know you, know you. Like I don’t know what your favorite color is?—”
“Red.”
“—Or if you prefer sweet or savory foods?—”
“Always savory. Sweets upset my stomach.”
This time, she reached out, placed her hand on my chest, and gave me a small shove. “Okay, smartass, can you let me finish a sentence?”
I waited to see if she’d move, but she didn’t. Her touch lingered, fingers absentmindedly fiddling with the buttons of my shirt. If I was smart, I’d have told her it wasn’t a good idea totouch me, that I was barely holding onto my restraint as it was, but she didn’t need to know that.
And selfishly, I liked the way it felt.
“I’m just telling you the things you said you wanna know,” I said, peering down at her.
