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My heart flipped backward, off a cliff, like a total freaking idiot, because when Ryan snorted, it was the cutest damn thing in the universe.
“After that, I was asked to drive across the resort to do pool duty at another pool, then I had to vacuum the tennis courts. It was like a hazing event or something, I swear.” I shook my head, still staring at the ceiling.
“Why on earth would you have to vacuum the tennis courts, and did you use a regular vacuum?” Warm fingers tugged on my heel, pulling me closer. It wasn’t a hard tug, just gentle, almost like he didn’t think I’d notice.
“It’s this massive industrial machine thing, and because the tennis balls leave behind all those fuzzy green bits. After enough time, it gets really bad, so we have to vacuum the entire thing.” I toyed with the hem of my oversized pajama shirt because it was getting more difficult to keep my eyes off the man touching my skin.
“Wait, isn’t it a double court?”
“Yeah, it took forever.” I heaved a pitiful sigh, wishing I could go back in time and ignore the stupid job listing that had popped up in my email when I was job hunting.
“Oh, baby, you’ve got to be exhausted.” My left foot dropped gently to the bed while he grabbed for my right and started over on that one.
I ignored his baby comment because, again, zero energy to fight this man tonight.
“Yeah, but honestly tonight helped a ton. Thank you for the bath and the foot rub.” I lowered my gaze and smiled at him. His fingers might have been on my feet, but I swore I could feel them grasping at my heart—which wouldn’t do. Not at all, especially not with how wide he smiled, or how dark his eyes went as he stared at the boxers covering that tiny space between my legs…the space he had access to with how close I was to him now.
“How about you? How was your day with the kids?”
His smile transformed from dark and sexy to happy and playful. “Good…your kids are amazing.”
If any man were to try to date me or get into my pants, it would best be done by complimenting my kids. Pride swelled as emotions fluttered in my chest, irrationally straining for something familiar and safe. Someone who knew how to hold me, make me laugh, make love to me.Someone he used to be.
“Thank you, they are pretty great.” I hushed the thoughts bombarding my mind, focusing instead on how tired I suddenly was. “Thank you for watching them—I know they had fun with you,” I added, trying to make sure he knew how much I appreciated that he wanted to be near them.
“Thank you for trusting me.” He met my gaze.
Dark aqua eyes drowning in the most exotic, brightest parts of the sea, froze me in place, silently reminding me that our entire past was there just hanging in the balance, still unresolved, still unfinished.
“Well, I should probably go down and get my bed set up on the couch.” I pulled at my foot while smiling at him so he knew how much I valued him, but if I kept staring at him, I’d sink.
“Stop it—you aren’t sleeping down there. Sleep here, with me,” he offered, moving off the bed, heading toward the bathroom.
This was ridiculous; I wasn’t going to sleep in the same bed as him. I twisted to get off the bed and veered toward the hall, knowing there was likely extra bedding in one of the closets.
“Seriously, Bex?” Ryan stuck his head out of the bathroom with his shirt pulled off.
Holy lord.
“Ryan, I’m not sleeping in the same bed as you.” I crossed my arms to cover the fact that my nipples were begging me to stay.
“Why not?” He leaned into my space, his minty breath teasing me to get closer.
“Because we’re not together.” I lifted a shoulder, like it was as simple as that.
“So. We’re friends…or friendly, at least. We’ve known each other long enough not to get caught up in all that.” He lifted his shoulder with an equal measure of nonchalance.
Caught up in all that.
Right.
I narrowed my eyes, so exhausted that I didn’t care if this hurt him. “You just ignored me for almost a week after telling me we needed to leave things the way they were…”
His wince was nearly covered by his hand running over his mouth, his eyes trained on the floor. “You need me to apologize? Fine, I’m sorry I said that. Obviously I didn’t mean it.”
I shook my head in disbelief then decided I would need to give a direct message in order for him to understand. “Would you sleep in my bed, knowing Logan had slept in it with me?”
He clenched his jaw, and that dark gaze turned from heated to glacial.
