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“Good.” I fold my arms and sulk into the seat.
“Good.” He glances at me again. “But maybe leave the hot chocolates to me in the future, yeah?”
“Ha. Ha.” I curl my lip half-heartedly, embarrassingly stuck on the fact that he thinks there’ll be more hot chocolate drinking in our future. I am officially my own worst enemy. Man-ban.MAN-BAN. “I think I like old lady you better—resume pouting.”
By the time we make it back, he’s relaxed a bit. Something’s still definitely up with him, but I don’t push it again, just thank him for taking me and head inside.
A couple of hours later, I’m just sitting down on the sofa to get organized for my meeting with the council next week when there’s a knock on my door. It’s almost midnight. I close my laptop and put it on top of my business plans. Move to the door warily and peer through the peephole.
A beard is all I can see. It’s all I need to see. I pull the door open to my big ass neighbor.
Gray sweat shorts and a faded black Marine Corps T-shirt, he takes me in from the top of my half-hazard ponytail to my oversized green T-shirt nighty and right down to my pink and black fluffy slipper socks.
He rocks back on his heels and frowns down at me. “Couldn’t sleep. Figured, if you were still up, I’d take a look at this lock.”
I glance down at the old red toolbox on the floor by his feet. “You want to fix my doornow?”
“It’s not safe to have a door that only locks some of the time.” He pins me with serious eyes the color of steel.
He looks drained and—if I were being dramatic, going by the dark smudges under those eyes and the deep crease between his brows—I’d maybe even say he looks haunted. Stressed. Exhausted.
How’s a girl supposed to turn that away?
I sigh. Nod. Pull the door open and stand aside. “I guess you’re fixing my lock then.”
I breathe in deeply, the scent of freshly-laundered cotton filling my nose, pulling me a little more into consciousness. I hum and nuzzle my face against a solid warm—
A throat is cleared—I feel the vibrations in my cheek. I blink slowly, arch my neck back and come face to face with a pair of groggy gray eyes.
His cheek twitches beneath his beard, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Morning.” The gravel of his voice is even more pronounced than usual, rough, like he’s just woken up too.
“Morning.” I lick my lips. Blink again. Glance down to where we’re—snuggling. Seriously, there’s no other word for it. My arm is under his, my fingers loosely wrapped in the back of his T-shirt. Both of his arms are around me, one under my head, the other draped across my waist. We’re crushed together from face to feet. And don’t even get me started on the human pretzel that is our legs. “Erm…” I slip my hand from around him and attempt to roll back. To put some distance between us. His big hand stops me from rolling right off the sofa and onto the floor.
A few awkward seconds later and we’ve safely retreated to opposite sides of the sofa.
He scratches his chest.
I tuck my hair behind my ears. “So.”
“So…” His jaw clenches, his gaze moving over me as awkwardly as mine moves over him. “Wedosleep well together.”
SIX
Kenzi
If you do it regularly enough, even the weirdest of things can become normal.
Incessant buzzing intrudes rudely on my soft, cozy, deep dreams. I groan against the back my face is pressed against. “Make it stop.” I press my nose deeper into the dip between cotton covered shoulder blades and squeeze my eyes shut, trying valiantly to hold onto the now fuzzy fragments of my dream. My arms are tucked under Mylo’s armpits, my hands on his pecs. Comfortable. Sleepy. Big spoon mode.
His massive chest tenses with his rough growl. “It’s yours.”
His body shifts, and I remove my leg from where it’s carelessly draped itself over his hip. He twists onto his back, and I press my face into his bicep and wrap my arms around his forearm. “Don’t care.”
The buzzing is suddenly right against my ear.
“Bastard,” I mumble into his skin, grabbing my cell from my face before dragging myself up so I’m sitting up on the sofa behind his now stretched-out form. My sofa. Our bed. I swipe the alarm off and sigh, my eyes drooping closed again. Until my brain kicks into gear. Meeting. I have my meeting with the Council today.
Eyes closed, arms folded behind his head, sleeveless T-shirt crumpled up so much his abs are on show along with the ridiculously pronounced V of muscle that disappears beneath his jersey sweat shorts. His lips pout out. Sound asleep again.
