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The first thing I noticed was how warm he felt. The next thing that hit me was his scent. Salty, soapy, fresh. Undeniably Lucas in a way I couldn’t explain or understand how I’d missed earlier, when he’d squeezed me against him like he hadn’t been able to help himself. But now, it was all I could think of. All I could smell.
“Ehm, Lucas?” I stuttered, trying to hold my breath so I wouldn’t dig my grave a little deeper, because dammit, how could he smell so, so freakinggood. “What are you doing?”
He stretched over me, as if he was looking for something somewhere on the other side.
“Lucas?” I repeated, my voice barely there.
He shifted so he could look me in the face, bringing our noses inches apart. “Did you hide it?”
“Hide what?” I thought I asked, but in all honesty, I couldn’t think straight with Lucas’s face so close to mine. Oh God, were those little, tiny freckles on his nose?
I sensed his hand moving around the pillow I was sitting on. “The remote. You’re about to pass out, so I’m putting you to bed,Bella Durmiente.”
His tone was teasing, friendly. And I couldseehow unintentional and harmless his actions were. Heck, apparently he was just looking for the remote and I happened to be in the way. But all I could think about was him, right there, smelling amazing and so close that if I moved an inch to my left his chin would graze mine and I’d feel the stubble covering his jaw. All I could focus on was him, calling me things in Spanish. Or him being so sweet, that he wanted to put me to bed.
Ugh. I probably was better off finding the remote for him, smacking myself with it, and putting an end to this.
“Ah, here!” I watched him extract the black device from the pillow tucked against my side, holding it in the air as if he had just found the Holy Grail. “Got it.”
“Thank God,” I croaked.
Lucas laughed, and before moving away, he tapped the tip of my nose with his finger. “Next time, hide it better.”
“Trust me, I won’t hide anything around you ever again.” Regaining a decent amount of space between us, I took a deep breath and ordered myself to get a grip. I couldn’t act like this every time Lucas got within a foot radius if we were going to share this apartment.
“Sounds good to me, roomie,” Lucas said, standing up and stretching his arms upward. “You know, I don’t think they’ll find the cure in time. I think they’ll…” His shirt rode up, revealing a strip of tan skin and distracting me from whatever he was saying. And just like that, the two- or three-inch section of flat and hard-looking stomach I’d seen in all its glory that morning sent all my plans to get a grip down the drain.
Cursing myself silently, I closed my eyes.
“Rosie?”
“Yeah?” I answered, eyes still shut.
He waited a few seconds. “Did you… fall asleep while I was talking?”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “Just resting my eyes for a second. It’s like a night routine. I always do it for a few seconds every day.” I waited one, two, three beats and then added as I sprung off the couch, “Okay, done!”
And because this was me, and Ihadto fail at acting normal around this man, I miscalculated the distance to the coffee table and banged my knee against it.
“Por Dios,”Lucas muttered, rushing to my side. He leaned down as if he had every intention to check the bump on my knee. “Let me see—”
I stepped back before his hand ever made contact. “I’m fine,” I reassured him. “It was nothing.”
Lucas straightened, coming to his full height. He looked down at me as if he was trying to piece something together. Then, he leaned his head to one side slowly, and to my utter surprise, he chuckled. “Yeah, notBella Durmiente. You’re a tougher princess.”
And that unexpected observation, for whatever reason, made my heart do a cartwheel in my chest.
Perhaps I wanted to be tough. Or maybe, I simply wanted to be called a princess by someone. Or not just someone, but Lucas. And that— That was something I shouldn’t have been thinking of in that moment. Or any moment. So, I answered with the cheeriest “Thanks!” Then I grabbed my sleeping clothes and sprinted to the bathroom.
When I reemerged, all those dangerous, dangerous thoughts parked aside, I found Lucas leaning against a kitchen cabinet as he typed something on his phone.
“You can go in now,” I told him. “I’ll pull out some blankets and a pillow for the couch. I know where Lina keeps everything.”
Lucas looked up from the device, zeroing in on my face. He nodded, and his mouth opened with words that never left him. His gaze descended, as if compelled by something, making its way down my body while I stood there in nothing but a sleeping tee, shorts, and all the glory of my messy hair. One pass, that was all he did. One single, leisurely pass of his eyes as they traveled from my head to my toes and then back up again.
His gaze met mine again, and he said in a voice that sent a tiny shiver down my arms, “Thank you, Graham.”
Graham. I couldn’t remember if he’d ever called me just by my last name. Maybe earlier today? After the hug attack.
