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He chuckled and lifted her slightly, hugging her gently to his chest, her hands trapped between them.
“Can I stay?” he asked softly against the shell of her ear, and she drew back, looking at him steadily. She looped her arms around his neck and hugged him close.
He mentally prepared himself for her denial when she said, “Yes, Viking. I give up. Stay. If you still want me tomorrow, Barrett, if you’re sure, I’m willing to try.”
He crushed her to him, and she grunted at the force of air expelled from her lungs, then laughed.
“Okay, okay, don’t squeeze me to death. At least keep me alive until you get laid.”
He would have laughed but he was too focused on not crushing her under the weight of his relief.
Chapter 19
Decisions
Willa
Waking up Sunday morning tucked against Barrett’s wide chest did not suck.
I thought things would be awkward between us in the morning, but he made it so they weren’t. Mostly I was concerned about being sober, and about him wanting to finish what we’d started the night before, but he made no move in that direction. I was both relieved and disappointed.
His morning voice, the heat of his skin, his beard against the back of my neck, all combined to give me a morning braingasm.
Too bad I didn’t have the first clue how to move it a couple of feet lower for both of us. It wasn’t that I was so inexperienced, just that it had never been more important.
I’d slept in my panties and the tank top that I’d worn the night before. I probably needed a shower in the worst way. While I was pondering over my faults, he splayed his hand over my stomach and dropped a kiss on my bare shoulder.
“You want coffee, curly?”
“Mm-hmm.”
He stilled. “You nervous?”
I paused. “Mm-hmm.”
He sighed, dropped another kiss on my shoulder and pulled me back tighter against him.
“It’s just me, curly.”
I brought my hands up to wrap around the arm that was slung over my waist and tethered to my stomach.
“Lie with me a while longer?”
He settled in behind me. “That I can do.”
He cuddled me closer so that the backs of my thighs aligned with the front of his and my ass rested lightly in his groin. I felt him twitch, but he seemed to have locked it down.
“You want to take a drive-out today?” he asked.
I loved going on a drive-out. The destination didn’t matter, it was the escape that beckoned. Usually, when I needed to escape everything in my life I hunkered down at home by myself.
Barrett’s escape was infinitely better. There was something about being enclosed in his vehicle with him, his hands on the wheel taking us away, his hand holding mine so that I knew I was not going alone.
I twisted to look at him over my shoulder. If there was ever a time he looked like a plundering Viking it was at that precise moment. Eyes lazily perusing my face, long hair a mess, his beard wild, his massive shoulders looming over me.
I grunted and turned away. “You really are lethal,” I complained.
He laughed, his body vibrating over mine. “I’m glad you think so,” he murmured.
