He doesn’t keep me waiting long. "Warned me about the shotgun under his bed."
A smile creeps across my face. “You know he’s joking, right?”
"About the shotgun, no. I’m certain he has one. About shooting me with it. . .I’m hoping for some leniency," Alex answers without delay, his grin as intoxicating as his confidence makes me. "But even if I’m off the mark with your dad’s protectiveness, I know I don't snore."
I roll my eyes. “I might have elaborated on that part of my statement, but I’m sticking with my original complaint. Even if my mom thought we were hot for one another, what gives you the right to share my bed without asking? You could have slept on the floor.”
A bucket of water is thrown over my fire-hot attitude when Alex removes a strand of hair from my face. It isn't his caring nature causing my heart to stutter; it's what he says while doing it. "I know. But just like I'm aware I don't snore, I wasn't joking when I said you talk in your sleep." My throat dries when his eyes dance between mine. The lust holding them hostage earlier has dissipated, leaving nothing but respect and understanding. "You called out for Luca a few times last night. That settled once I hopped into bed with you."
I try to deny his assumption. I try to fire off a witty remark that will have him chewing his words like Clancy chomped on his hand yesterday. But with nothing except integrity beaming from his eyes, I’m void of a comeback. I dream of Luca often, so Alex’s revelation isn’t surprising. There is just one piece of the puzzle he failed to notice. Last night’s dream also included him.
After settling my heart rate, I murmur, "So you used a dead boyfriend as an invitation into my bed? Not very diplomatic of you, Mister Fancy Pants." I use his loathed nickname in the hope of easing the tension between us.
It works—somewhat.
“I don’t need to use Luca to get to you, Rae.” Alex says his comment without the jealousy usually present when I mention Luca. “Apparently, I only need to sidestep these.”
The seriousness fueling our conversation is doused when he yanks open my bedside table. “You weren’t joking when you said you had a lot of free time when you were younger. I don’t even know what half these gadgets are. Like this one. . .” He grunts as if he is lifting a car with his pinkie. “It looks like an unopened tulip, although I’m fairly certain it isn’t.”
He holds a six-inch clitoral vibrator with fluttering tips an inch from my eyes. I want to pretend my flaming red cheeks are because I'm mad his snooping ways unearthed my extensive collection of sex toys, but it has nothing to do with that. I'm hot from having his body pressed so intimately close to mine.
He seems more concerned with evading our second deep and meaningful in less than twelve hours than maintaining a respectable distance between us, to the extent that we've practically become one. He just needs to insert his extremely large column throbbing against my thigh into my aching column holder, and we'd be perfectly aligned.
Happy to use his skirting skills to my advantage, I say, “That’s a multicombination vibrator. It’s perfect for vulvar, clitoral, and nipple play. Do you want me to show you how it works?”
The vital organ in Alex’s body, which I’m striving to ignore, flexes halfway through my question. He stares down at me with a range of emotions in his eyes.Excitement. Envy. Lust.. .and remorse?I don’t know why the last one bothers me as much as it does. I’m accustomed to the pity stares, and the “oh, look, it’s that poor Myers girl Luca left all alone.” I just hate seeing it in Alex’s eyes.
"I meant a store clerk demonstration—not an in-depth rundown on how itworks. Look. . .” I snatch the plum purple vibrator out of his hand and switch it on. Shockingly, the batteries are still fresh. “See. The tips flutter to boost arousal and sensitivity.”
If I ever have kids, can I please be excused from giving the birds and bees talk? I’m a grown woman who has used sex toys as long as I’ve been sexually active, yet I’m stammering like a sixth grader who took his mom’s butt plug to school for show and tell.
I’m not the only one riding the uncomfortable train. Alex’s Adam’s apple bobs up and down as his eyes continuously dart between the vibrator and me.
I realize I still have a lot to learn about the man pinning me to a bed for the second time in under twenty-four hours when he asks, "Does this device get you off?"
"Most of the time," I answer with a concealed smirk.
The plump curves of Alex’s mouth are showcased in a brilliant light when he licks his dry lips. “Most of the time? Why only most of the time?”
“Well, nearly all the time. It has only failed once.”
Something in my tone must give me away. Either that or Alex is a mind reader. “By any chance, was that one-time failure on a Friday night? Say earlier this week?”
His smug tone makes me want to punch him in the stomach. Regrettably—and thankfully—it is plastered too close to mine for me to act on my desires.
With a wink exposing he is a mind reader, Alex places my vibrator back in its rightful spot.
Incapable of letting him think he has won, I say, “Hold on a minute. Don’t put it away. I need it.”
“Youneedit?” When I nod, Alex chokes out, “Right now?”
I breathe through the fire roaring through my midsection from his cock dangerously thickening against my thigh. My struggle for air is evident when I breathlessly quote, “They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but all I need is an orgasm.”
With a wink as daring as the one he awarded me mere seconds ago, I shove him off me, throw my legs off the bed, then dart for my attached bathroom. When I slam the door shut with me and my fully charged vibrator on the other side, Alex’s groan vibrates through both the door and my core, making the need for any gyrating equipment unnecessary.
Chapter Twenty-Three
My steps out of Regan’s bathroom are slow and sluggish. It is barely 5 AM—I kid you not! With all the blood in my body rushing to my lower extremities, I had no clue my interaction with Regan this morning was happening before the sun had even risen. Who bothers looking at a clock when you’re awakened by a woman as beautiful and captivating as Regan? Not anyone sane.
