Page 77 of All I Feel

She nodded and climbed in beside me. “Yes.”

“If you’re having second thoughts about me being in this bed with you, Tessa, you can tell me. I’ll be more than happy to take the couch.”

Her lips curved into a smile as she scooted closer. Then she proved just how comfortable she was. In true Tessa fashion, my girl reminded me just how much she liked having contact. She curled her body into mine, resting her hand and her cheek on my chest. I curled my arm around her back and held her close.

It was easily the single best moment of my whole life.

“Goodnight, Ace.”

I reached out and turned off the lamp on the nightstand. Then I gave her a squeeze and closed my eyes with a smile on my face. “Goodnight, Princess.”

Moments later, Tessa hooked her leg over my thigh and cuddled even closer. We fell asleep just like that.

I was convinced there was nothing better.

Until I woke this morning and realized there was something at least as good. We’d shifted during the night. Tessa was on her side, her back to my front, and I had an arm hooked around her waist.

Everything about waking up like that—her soft body pressed close, her hair on my pillow, and the scent of her surrounding me—was all I ever could’ve wanted in my life. As I stayed like that with her, giving her time to sleep, I fantasized about what it could become. What it’d be like to open my eyes, feel her there, and find ways to wake her up using my mouth between those remarkable legs of hers.

By some miracle, I’d managed to keep myself in check this morning, and after some breakfast, I dropped Tessa off at the salon before coming to the shop.

And although I had plenty of work to keep me busy, my first order of business was bringing Phoenix up to speed on everything. I’d just told him about Tessa and me making the decision on Friday evening to give this thing between us achance. Then I shared what happened yesterday at her place with the gas.

As I expected he would be, Phoenix was only happy about one thing. “Well, I’m relieved to have your blessing.”

“You already knew I’d be happy for both of you. But I’m furious about what happened at her place. Is Tessa certain the stove wasn’t left on for any reason?”

I nodded. “That’s why I had her stay at my place last night. She’s going to be there until I’m certain there’s nothing shady going on. I’m calling Cunningham Security this afternoon to have them look into Hastings.”

“You think he did this?” Fury was emanating off him.

I shrugged. “I don’t know him well enough to make that determination. But nothing else makes sense to me.”

“How’s Tessa holding up?”

“She was upset last night when I got there, but a few hours later, she was much better. By the time I dropped her off at work this morning, there was no evidence she’d ever been upset.”

Phoenix let out a frustrated sigh. “I agree that something doesn’t seem right here. The road rage was a possibility. But adding this to the mix makes me think there’s something more nefarious going on. And I think you might be right about her ex. Tessa’s a sweetheart; she’s never had problems with anyone before him.”

“That’s why this whole thing makes me feel uneasy. Plus, his unwillingness to accept that things are over between them. He might’ve appeared reasonably level-headed while they were together, but people have lost their minds and gone crazy over stuff like this before.”

“Yeah. And the only reason we know about it is becausethey usually wind up on the news for murdering someone,” Phoenix muttered.

I’d kill the man myself if he laid a single finger on Tessa. “That’s why I’m not messing around. I’ll get this taken care of and figure out what’s going on.”

My best friend walked toward me, slapping a hand on my shoulder. “It kills me that you and Tessa finally found something special and are now having to deal with this. If there’s anything I can do to help, you know I’m here.”

“I do. Thanks. And when the time comes for you and Faye, I’ll be there for you, too.”

Phoenix shoved my shoulder and let out a groan of frustration. “I’m not sure if that’s ever going to happen. That woman is so damn stubborn.”

“Or maybe she’s just not interested,” I suggested, my lips twitching.

He rolled his eyes and walked away to get to work. “She’s interested. She’s just fighting it for some reason.”

Laughing, I did the same. And the hours flew by.

I’d managed to make the call to Cunningham Security during lunch, but otherwise, I didn’t have an ounce of downtime throughout the day. Now that I had Tessa’s car thrown into the mix, there was even more work to do.