Page 70 of Game Plan

He traced the contours of my face with his fingertips. “Calm down. We just slept.”

“Nothing happened?”

“No. You fell asleep. I tried to wake you up many times, but in vain. You kept saying you wanted to stay because, and I quote, ‘the bed felt like a cloud compared to your mattress.’”

“I said that?”

He nodded.

“It’s true your bed is really really comfy. I have no clue how you do this, but I’ve always preferred your mattresses to mine. What time is it?”

Mason craned his neck and looked at the alarm clock set on the bedside table. “Fuck, it’s twenty past nine. I’m really late for everything I had planned to do today.”

I facepalmed. “I told Don I’d meet him at the gym at eight. I so overslept.”

“Don?”

“Donovan. He’s on the swim team with me. One of my best friends on campus. We usually train together. He’s gonna kill me.”

“Don’t do that to yourself. You always spread yourself too thin. We both deserved a late morning.”

“But…”

“No but. Anything else than snuggle with me you gotta do today?”

He lowered his hand and trailed his fingertips over my bare arm. Goose bumps blossomed under the feather-like caress. Despite myself, I leaned into his touch, wanting more. No, scratch that. Needing more.

“Huh.” I closed my eyes for a split second, steadying my breathing and trying to regain some control over my body and detangle my thoughts. “Oh yes. A reading for one of my classes and a bit of grocery shopping. That’s about it.”

His gaze captured mine, and I felt very weak as I lost myself in the pools of his blue irises.

“I guess we should spend the day in bed then. Get as much rest as we can.”

“We can’t… It’s not… We shouldn’t…”

“Fine.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead, and I melted a little more inside. “We can get breakfast, and then I’ll drive you to your dorm. Sounds like a plan?”

“One problem, though. I’m still dressed like a cop.”

“Huh…not really.”

“What do you mean, not really?” I lifted the covers to check the state of my clothes. “How did I end up wearing your sweatpants and T-shirt? Did you undress me?”

His lips curled up. “No. You fell asleep all dressed up, but in the middle of the night, you stated you were burning up and started kicking the sheets. You undressed and tossed your clothes across the room.”

“Ohmygod, I stripped naked. Almost. I’m so mortified.”

“Mel. Stop. I gave you a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants to change into. You were out cold seconds later. For the record, I’ve missed this—us.”

I didn’t want to admit out loud I indeed missed this too. I tried to change the subject to avoid answering and giving him false hope. “Hey, quick question. Do I look like a raccoon? My mascara must be smudged all around my eyes.” I wiped under one eye with my finger and took in the black residue on the tip.

“A little bit, but you are a very pretty raccoon.”

“There’s no such thing.”

“I beg to differ. Anyway, I can check if Amber has left some makeup remover in the downstairs bathroom.”

“Amber?”