Chapter 12
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I’m an attention hog, too.
Clara
Crossing my legs over Lukas’s lap, I smile at the stupid cuteness taking place on the pages before me. My toesmightbe wiggling, and I might be far too engrossed to realize the possessive hand on my thigh is a little less-than-friendship-levels-of-friendly.
It’s not uncomfortable, though. Not even a little bit.
Or else I would not still be merrily reading.
Obviously.
I gasp, clapping my hand to my mouth when the male lead drops to hisknees, bows his head, andbegs. Yes. Please. Fabulous. Thank you, ma’am. I’ll have another.
Lukas’s thumb moves against me, mindless, as he scrolls on his phone, and I catch the edge of his smile when I look up off my book. He’s not paying attention to my leg in his grip. He’s not even paying attention tome. At all. He’s focusing entirely on his phone.
As though I’m not sitting here. On the couch with him in his bedroom. Wiggling my toes adorably.
That he hasn’t thrown his phone across the room, reeled me in closer, and demanded a play-by-play of my book yet is actually impossibly offensive.
Twisting my left wrist toward me, I look at the feathering ink of his signature. Then I subdue a very real, very aggressive need to march from his bedroom, gather my glitter pens, and return the favor with sparkly vehemence all over his body.
Glittery muscles. Speckled inClara’s. Dappled in hearts.
Obviously, I have lost my mind.
Still in his little phone world, without me, Lukas splays his caress higher, dipping fingers beneath the skirt of my nightie toward the skin-tight shorts that spare me from chaffing. He then rides his touch back down to my knee. The motion repeats, and I watch over the pages of my pink paperback.
Up, up, up.
Down, down, down.
Scroll, scroll, scroll.
This feels…wonderful. It sends a frisson of heat rippling through me.
His fingers begin kneading into my muscles, and I settle, pampered, drowning in the incredible sensations. I wish I had another book. I’ll be done with this one in a few minutes, and then what will I do? Pretend I haven’t finished so I can stay right here for several more hours?
Maybe I’ll pretend to fall asleep.
I know I’ve seen him bench over twice my weight before, so he could absolutely relocate me with ease, but maybe he’ll contend to stay trapped all night instead of trying to move me. Curling up to enact my heinous scheme, I yawn and let my book slip from my fingers.
“Tired?” Lukas murmurs. Immediately. As though heispaying attention to me. At least a little bit.
Who?Me?No, no. I’m nottiredat all. I am passed out. Gone from this world. Sorry, mister, you are too late.
Already very clearly asleep, I make a tiny, asleep person sound.
He chuckles. “Staying with me tonight?”
My heart flutters. What a lovely idea. Will you pay attention to me if I stay with you, I wonder?
“Want me to carry you up to the loft?” He kisses my temple. “Tuck you into bed with me?”
That sounds terrifying.
