Page 38 of Play Dirty

“It’s way better,” he stated. “Isn’t it?”

His arms and legs folded around me, and I didn’t object. It was like falling into pure bliss. We lay like that for a while, enjoying the fruits of our mutual body heat.

“Better?” he asked softly.

“Yeah.”

Outside the storm gathered strength, snow sweeping across the window in soft, relentless waves. But inside? Inside, we were insulated. Protected. Untouchable.

As of now, the storm could fuck right off.

“Haven?”

Without thinking, I spun to face him. Our arms and legs became a tangled mess of skin on skin, as our faces hovered together. Very quickly, I found I no longer cared.

“Yes?”

“How’d you end up here?”

I let out a quiet sigh.

“Which part?” I asked. “The freezing attic, or the house full of guys who’d happily vote me off the island at the next tribal council?”

He chuckled. “We have tribal councils?”

“Thursdays,” I nodded. “Right after your circle-jerk meetings.”

“I thought those were secret,” he played along.

“You can’t slip anything past this girl.”

He laughed again, softly, as I wondered if I’d stumbled into a double entendre.

“Seriously though,” Sebastian went on. “How’d you—”

“It was this or nothing,” I cut him off. “Budget cuts. Limited staff. They needed someone who could do the work without adding overhead.”

“So you volunteered to live in this place?”

I shook my head. “Didn’t have much choice, really. No savings. No backup plan. It was either take this job as it was, or don’t take it at all.”

He sat in silence, looking back at me from his pillow. His eyes were soulful. Searching.

“Besides,” I added, quieter now. “Coach wasn’t sold on the idea I could really know the team unless I was with the team.”

I shifted slightly, gesturing vaguely around us by moving my chin.

“And you don’t get any closer than this.”

Sebastian laughed, softly. He had a really nice laugh.

“No,” he said. “I guess you don’t.”

A sexy laugh, too.

He twisted a little, and somewhere beneath the blankets I felt his fingers graze my thigh. The shift sent a new wave of welcome heat flowing over me. But so did the incidental contact.

“Sorry,” he smiled.