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“Of course you’re allergic to something with calming effects.” She tosses the packet and cleans the residue off my skin. “Come back to bed. I’ll get you some ice, and we’ll watch another movie until the swelling goes down.”
* * *
“Good mor—”One of my hands spreads across the bed, feeling around the sheets for her. Except the spot where Lily was nestled last night is cold and empty. I drag the covers off the mattress, searching for her between the bundles of blankets.
She’s not here.
“Lily?”
I could’ve sworn we’d made progress. For fuck’s sake, she was the one who cuddled up close to me and dozed off halfway intoMisery.
My feet march across the hall and into her bedroom. She’s splayed across the mattress, scrolling on her ancient laptop.
“You’re up.” She smiles, but it flattens as I storm toward her. “What are you doing?” she yelps as I scoop her into my arms. Her limbs lazily attempt to fight my grasp. I loosen my hold around her and meet her glare with my own.
“Why’d you leave?” I snap, entirely not meaning to have my words strike her like a frying pan.
She rolls her eyes at me. “We said we aren’t going to sleep together—rule number one.”
“We already slept together,” I remind her.
“Come on, don’t do this, Nico.” Lily attempts a slothful wiggle out of my arms. “We agreed.”
“Before you fell asleep in my bed,princesa.”
“It was an accident. Blame it on exhaustion. I’ve had a long twenty-four hours.” She glances away from me, staring at nothing particular.
“Don’t give me that bullshit.”
“It’ll complicate things between my book and seeing Avery next week and every other reason beneath the sun. Everything will turn complicated, Nico. We aren’t even together like that.”
The words hurt more than I care to admit, but her defenses flare anytime she lets me in.
“Are we really living in a time when I can spend hours inside you and get a matching tattoo with you, but asking you not to leave after we fall asleep together is too fucking much to deal with?”
She frowns. “That’s the problem. We didn’t even have sex. We just fell asleep.”
“I can rectify that right now.” I yank her over my shoulder, which, as expected, only annoys her more.
She kicks and shouts a string of colorful names for me.
“We shouldn’t do this, Nico.” Lily’s body gently lands on my mattress, and she sits up, straightening her spine. False defiance paints her face as her fingers run over the cover’s soft texture. “It’s all becoming too messy to manage.”
“You can try and lie to me all you want, pretty girl.” I lie down beside her, and the stiffness in her posture loosens immediately. “But I’m not convinced you don’t want to be in my arms right now.”
“It’s not about what Iwant.” She sighs. “It’s about everything else.”
“Slow down, love.” I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her close.
Lily shuffles into a comfortable position, tugging a pillow beneath her head and scooting her back against my chest.
“I just want to feel you close,” I say. “Is that alright?”
“Just this once.”
Yeah, I’ve heard those words before.
Chapter32
