Feeling silly for fighting it now, I let him adjust the shirt until it was the right way around my neck. But when he reached for one of my dress straps, I balked. “Close your eyes!”
With a sigh, Cade dutifully shut his eyes. I drunkenly worked on sliding my arms free of the dress and into the shirtsleeves, but Cade did most of the work.
He was surprisingly efficient without being able to see.
I didn’t have a bra thanks to the backless dress, but I kept my panties on because even drunk me knew it was a bad idea to get naked in front of Cade right now.
His shirt was soft and cozy, and I never wanted to take it off.
Once it covered everything from my collarbone to midthigh, I fiddled with the hem and cleared my throat. “Okay. I’m decent.”
Cade opened his eyes, and a low groan immediately escaped him. “This was a mistake.”
His voice came out all gravelly, and I swallowed, feeling fluttery. “It was?”
His gaze slid lower to where goose bumps formed on my thighs, making my toes curl. “You look way too good in myclothes. Get under those covers before I forget why taking advantage of you is a bad idea.”
Tamping down a shiver, I climbed across the bed to my side, and Cade disappeared into the closet to change. After popping my pillow chocolate into my mouth and moaning in happiness, I slid under the covers and got situated. The worst of the dizziness had passed, but it felt impossible to get comfortable. Giving up, I flopped over to face Whiskey and the open window.
Not long after, Cade climbed into bed behind me. There wasn’t any hesitation before he banded an arm around my waist and tugged me backward. “Here. Let me do the cuddling tonight.”
Chewing on my lip, I fought a smile. “That sounds nice.”
It wasn’t until Cade pulled me flush against his front that I frowned. He was warmer than usual.Muchwarmer. I reached back to investigate, blindly fumbling until my fingers met his shoulder.
…His bare, shirtless shoulder.
I swallowed and forced my hand to retreat.
“You’re breaking the Cuddle Code,” I whispered.
He squeezed my waist. “I think we’re past that code, but I can take my shirt back if you’d like.”
My eyes bugged out, because then I’d be left in just a slip of underwear. “No, no. That’s okay.”
“Good. Go to sleep.”
I snapped my eyes shut, but my brain was too overloaded to sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about how nice his arms felt. Or how fun it was to be the little spoon.
Or how good my chocolate tasted.
“Cade?” I asked into the silence.
“Yeah?”
I paused before asking, “Are you going to give me your chocolate again tonight?”
His chest rumbled with a soft laugh. “You probably shouldn’t eat sweets right now.”
“Right. Of course,” I agreed, wetting my lips and wisely not mentioning I’d already eaten my own pillow chocolate. “But…I guess I could save it for tomorrow. Only if you don’t want it, though.”
He laughed harder. “If I say you can have it, will you go to sleep?”
“Yes,” I answered immediately. “Definitely.”
Cade pulled me even closer, until his lips were dangerously close to my ear. “You can have all my chocolates, Darling. Now go to sleep.”
My chest grew all warm and fuzzy at the simple promise, and I smiled into the darkness. Lying in his arms wasn’t only nice because he was as warm as an oven. I felt safe, too.
