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“Not for another two months,” Patrick said grimly, reaching out his hand for her to take. His other hand was balled up by his side, as if he was using pure force of will to keep from picking her up instead of just offering his assistance. Lexie kind of wilted, as if just realizing how drunk she really was. His voice softened, turning coaxing and gentle, almost tender. “Come on, little pixie.”
“Okay.” Lexie finally gave in, practically melting against Patrick as he slung his arm around her, supporting her. Wrapping both of her slim arms around his waist, she nuzzled her face into his chest.
Seeing Patrick’s clenched jaw expression, Rick knew for sure, for the first time, that Patrick definitely no longer saw Lexie as his little sister. But Rick didn’t comment. Just held the door open for them. That was going to be complicated as fuck when Jake finally came home.
Rick also didn’t mention the specks of pink glitter clinging to the back of Patrick’s neck.
Shutting the door behind him, Rick turned to face his own troublemaker. She was sitting on the couch, hands in her lap, fingers wrapped tightly together, and looking up at him with a worried expression as she nibbled on her lower lip.
“Are you mad?”
“Nope. Just tired. Come on,” he said, walking over to her and taking her hands to pull her up. Like Lexie had with Patrick, Maria practically fell against him. “We’re going to bed.”
“Okay...” Maria instinctively started toward the front door, but Rick tugged her around to head down the hallway. “Oh… We’re...”
“Going to sleep,” he said firmly. There was no way he was going to do anything with her but sleep tonight, but he also didn’t like the idea of her going home alone when she was this drunk. Better to have her here where he could keep an eye on her. “Tomorrow morning, we’re going to have the talk we should have had either last night or today.”
“Mmmmm kay.”
Getting her undressed and into one of his t-shirts was a process. Not just because he would have been turned on anyway, but because she kept giggling and trying to snuggle up against him. Which was definitely testing his self-control. He ached to press her breasts into his hands, to run his hands all over her smooth skin... but he fought the impulses down. Not going to happen. Not like this.
Finally he got her situated in his bed, wearing a t-shirt and a pair of his boxers over her underwear. Sleepily, she tried to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him, but he managed to veer off enough to give her a kiss on the forehead instead, ignoring her mumbling complaints. Hopefully tomorrow she’d remember and be appropriately grateful for his restraint. Because he should seriously get some kind of award for being such a fucking boy scout.
Stripping down to his boxers, Rick felt the most incredible surge of rightness seeing her in his bed. Another emotion he needed to tamp down until they’d talked.
Sliding in beside her, he wrapped his body around hers, snugging her curves up against him. He groaned softly as she wiggled her bottom into his crotch, his dick snuggling into the warm cleft of her ass. Tightening his arm around her, he tried to breathe through the fairly painful ache in his lower body and relax himself. Which was pretty much a useless endeavor. He knew he would probably relax better if he moved farther away from her... but he didn’t want to.
Closing his eyes, he breathed in the warm, womanly scent of her and focused on relaxing his muscles one by one. Surprisingly, even though he was horny as hell, with Maria safe in his arms, he found himself drifting easily to sleep
It was a combination of things that woke her. The awful taste in her mouth. The throbbing in her head. The nauseous gurgling of her stomach. And the nagging instinct she wasn’t in her own bed.
Oh God... what did I do?
Warily, Maria opened her eyes, whimpering a little bit at how bright and piercing the light seemed to be, even though there wasn’t very much of it. It took a couple of moments for her eyes to focus and a few more to recognize she was in Rick’s room.
Okay, seriously... what the fuck did I do last night?
Immediately she put her hand under the covers. Shirt... shorts... panties... yeah, they hadn’t had sex. Relief and disappointment swamped her, although there was definitely more relief than disappointment in the mix. For one, if they’d had sex, she’d really want to remember that. For two, they really needed to talk before they had sex.
Rolling onto her back, she looked at the other side of the bed which was rumpled and empty. So they’d slept in the same bed at any rate. She put her hand over her eyes, blocking out the light while she tried to remember exactly what had happened last night.
Going to Olivia’s for girls’ night and having a blast, she remembered. Lots of girl talk. Lots of insight into what the other girls were into. Angel telling her that Rick thought she didn’t want him—as if! Then Lexie suggested... aw shit. Well that explained how she’d ended up here. Although she couldn’t really remember what had happened once they got here. Everything was kind of fuzzy and disjointed by then.
Very faint sounds were coming from the other side of the door, which meant Rick was both awake and moving around. Sneaking out probably wasn’t an option. Maria moaned as she pushed herself up to a sitting position. It wasn’t just her head that hurt; her whole body ached.
“I’m getting too old for this shit,” she muttered. She could remember a time, heck five years ago, when she could have gotten shit-faced, stayed up all night and then been at work with just a headache the next morning. One of the hazards of getting older. Or maybe it was just that she didn’t do it as often anymore. No tolerance. Either way, it sucked.
Her clothes from the day before were folded on top of Rick’s dresser. Maria reluctantly took off what were obviously his t-shirt and boxers. She’d have to wait till she got home to change her panties, so she left those on and put on her bra, pants, and blouse. Wearing her dirty clothes made her feel kind of grimy, but she just couldn’t face Rick while she was still wearing his. Yanking the rubberband out of her curls, she grabbed the heavy mass and put it up into a messy bun. There was no point in trying to do anything more with it right now.
Opening the bedroom door, the faint sounds resolved into the familiar clinks and sizzles of someone cooking. It smelled delicious. Even though she was still kind of nauseous, her stomach perked up.
Taking a deep breath, she made herself shuffle down the hallway to look into the kitchen. Seeing the movement, Rick looked up from the pan he was pushing eggs around. If her body didn’t hurt so much, she would have appreciated the view a lot more. Sexy bare chest, pajama pants hugging his hips, ruffled morning hair, and cooking breakfast; he was like a woman’s wet dream. Maria didn’t even want to think about what she looked like.
“Good morning,” Rick said, his lips curving into a grin. “How are you feeling, sunshine?” Maria just whimpered, and he chuckled sympathetically. “Come on and sit down.” Setting down his spatula, he reached out and she automatically took his hand, allowing him to lead her over to the table. When she winced at the sunlight, even though he had the shades down, he sat her down at a seat where her back would be facing the outdoors.
“Coffee?” she asked, a hint of begging in her voice.
“Water first, you need to be hydrated before you have something that will dehydrate you further. Eat the banana.”
