The second his deep chuckle hits my ears, I can feel my body grow hot. Looking over my shoulder, I see a shirtless Lance leaning against the wall, his arms crossed as he smirks at me. I quickly stand, turning so my ass isn’t in his direct sight anymore.
“This is extremely inappropriate, Lance,” I sass, crossing my arms over my chest but making no move to put my pants on, even though I know it's my fault for taking the chance to change out here in the first place. Not sure where this newfound confidence came from, but I’m just going to roll with it for now.
“Hey now, this is my house we’re standing in. I have a bathroom right over there you could’ve easily changed in. But I feel like you wanted me to catch you, didn’t you?”
Can my cheeks even turn pinker? I fumble with the hem of my shirt, not knowing what to say. How could he read me so easily?
“What? Of course not.” I try to deny it, but part of me did want him to catch me.
He just laughs as he walks over to me, bending down and grabbing the silk shorts. “Mmm, these are soft.”
I just nod my head as he hands them over to me.
“Come on. Get dressed and come into the room,” Lance says, disappearing the way he came. I quickly work to pull my shorts up and follow behind him.
As soon as I get into the room, I can’t help but drag my eyes down his body. He has way more tattoos than I thought, a little worn from age but still amazing. His sweats hang low on his hips, giving me a direct idea of his—what seems to be a semi-hard cock.Oh God. I can see his straining erection through the sweatpants. I can’t tear my eyes away from it.
“Kallie—did you hear me?” I shake my head as my eyes snap to him, an arrogant smirk on his handsome face.
“No—what did you say?”
“I said we can just share the bed. There is no reason for one of us to sleep on the couch while I have a king-sized bed in here,” he says, pulling back one side of the comforter. “I promise I won’t bite.” He lowers his sweats to his ankles and pulls them off, leaving only his boxers on, and I almost drool.
Get a fucking grip, Kallie.
I stand at the foot of the bed, feeling a little out of place in this big room.
“Kallie, come on. I won’t touch you, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Lance leans back against the headboard, and it’s taking everything in me to not throw myself at him. I’m not worried about him touching me. The problem is, I want him to do way more than simply touch.
I make my way to the opposite side of the bed and pull back the corner of the blanket. Lance watches my every move, his hand gripping the comforter until his knuckles turn white, as if to stop himself from reaching out to me. I wish more than anything that he would. I can’t make the first move. I refuse. My dad will love me no matter what, but I can’t make a move if he’s not willing to take the chance of losing my dad.
I lay on the bed and have to stop myself from groaning at how comfortable this mattress is. My hair fans out behind me on the pillow, and I feel Lance move down into a more comfortable position before the room plummets into darkness. The only sound is the small fan in the corner that I silently thank him for.I can’t sleep without one.
The bed dips a few more times as he moves to get comfortable. He closes the distance between us, his body pressed against my back, but other than that, he doesn’t do anything else as I lay still as a statue. It doesn’t take long for his breathing to even out, and I know he’s asleep. Thoughts won’t stop running through my mind. My feelings towards him have shifted, morphing into something I dare not admit even to myself. Even though I know I’ve always had feelings for him, it was never our time. He didn’t see me the same way I saw him—rightfully so—and things never lined up until now. There was a reason I walked into his bar. There was a reason my power went out and forced us together. I just can’t help but wonder if this all happened for a reason.
Chapter Eleven
Lance
The snow falls outsideagain, coating my yard in a white silence. I glance out the window, watching as the flakes move in the wind, but despite the distraction outside, my mind is somewhere else. After what happened yesterday on the couch and watching her change, I knew I had to try and distance myself as much as possible. So far, I’m not doing a good job. I can’t forget about how fucking amazing it felt to have her cuddled up to me this morning.
She’s here, stuck with me. It’s only the second day, and I’m finding it to be much harder than I realized. It had been my idea, thinking it was safer for her to ride out the storm with me rather than risk getting stranded on the icy roads on the way to her parent’s house. But as I look at her sitting across from me,sipping her coffee and pretending to do the crossword puzzle I had on the table, I can’t help but feel a knot tighten in my stomach.
She’s so close, too close for comfort. Every quick look, every smile, sends my heart into a frenzy. I try to focus on anything other than her—on the crackling fire in the living room or the book lying forgotten in my lap, but no matter how hard I try, my thoughts keep going right back to her and how much I want to bend her over the kitchen table and fuck her until she’s begging me to stop.
I curse silently, berating myself for even entertaining such thoughts. She’s Robert’s daughter, for God’s sake. Even though she’s twenty-six, I’m still much older than her, and yet, despite all my efforts to convince myself this isn’t okay, the feelings remain, simmering just below the surface.
I stand abruptly, the chair scraping on the floor. I can’t handle another moment in here, where I can’t touch her.
“I’m going to grab some wood from the shed out back,” I mutter, not meeting her eyes as I hurry out of the room. The cold air hits me like a slap in the face as I step outside, but it’s nothing compared to the turmoil raging within me.
I walk through the snow, each step heavier than the last, as I try to outrun the thoughts. Yet, no matter how far I go, I can’t escape them. She’s everywhere, her laughter echoing in my ears, her smile burning into my memory.
I stop, leaning against the shed and running my hand down my face. How has it come to this? How did I let myself fall for someone I could never have? I know I have to push her away, distance myself before I do something unforgivable, but as I look back at the house, her silhouette in the window, her eyes meeting mine from across the yard, full of concern, I know walking away would be the hardest battle of all.
So maybe it’s a sign I shouldn’t.
After getting the fire going inside with some new wood, I argued with Kallie about cleaning up from breakfast. News flash:she won. So, I left her inside to do that while I went back outside to distract myself. I might have admitted my feelings for her to myself, but I shouldn’t stand there and stare at her ass as she does the dishes.
