Page 14 of Next to You

I burst out laughing. “Are you serious?” Immediately, I felt relief. I felt bad for her that she had to deal with a fool like him. But I felt great; that narcissistic asshole was not a threat. He was a pompous dick when he was on TV reporting the weather, so even if he went crawling to her on his knees full of apologies, he was no competition.

“We matched one of the dating apps I’m on. We’ve been texting for the last few days, and he invited me out tonight for tacos. I was bored, so I said yes. He assured me we would only get a light dusting of snow and that I’d be fine driving down to Sweetbriar to meet him for dinner. In retrospect, I think he was probably just trying to get into my pants.‘Come on, Lucy. The weather is fine, and I’ll buy you some tacos.’” She mocked his on-air voice, and I chuckled at how accurate she was. “As if that would be all it took. I’m not that easy, Spencer.”

“The dumb fuck said it on air, too—insisting we were only going to get a light dusting of snow.” I threw a hand out, gesturing to the window where the snow was still falling in earnest. “Unbelievable. And as for the rest, you were right—fuck that guy. He doesn’t deserve you. You’re much too beautiful, funny, kindhearted—I could go on, but you get my point. You don’t belong with a man like that.”

“Oh.” I grinned as her cheeks turned pink. “You’re sweet. I always knew you were nice. But I didn’t know you were sweet too. I like it.”

I leaned closer. My voice was rough and low, gritty with lust that I couldn’t manage to completely hide. “Then I’ll be sure to keep it up.”

“Like I said earlier.” She sucked in a slow breath as our eyes locked. “Trust your instincts.”

Something hit the side of the cabin with a dull thud, and she flinched, shaking the whole bed and snapping us both back to reality.

“What the hell was that? Bigfoot? A serial killer? Good lord, it’s demons. I know it. We need salt, Spencer. Is there any salt in the kitchen? I’ve been binge-watchingSupernaturaland?—"

Her mood changed so fast it was as if she got whiplash. It was probably for the best, even if she was about to freak out. It wouldn’t be right to take things too far tonight.

What had I been thinking?

I could not allow myself to go too far.

This was Lucy Darlington.

I would not be flirting, flattering, or fucking her in any way, shape or form while we were here.

I was currently in bed with sweet, good-girl Lucy Darlington and I needed to maintain control over myself.

But god damn it, how I wanted her to bemygood girl…

Knock that shit off.

“We don’t need salt.” I sat up, squinting into the dark outside the window. “It’s just the wind. We’re okay. It was probably a fallen branch.”

She sat up as well, leaning into my side to follow my gaze. “Are you sure,” she whispered, clutching my arm.

Her soft breasts pressed against my bicep, and all the blood in my body rushed south. I grabbed a pillow, shoving it in my lap to hide the fact that I was now hard for her.

So what if I kissed her?

My hands shook from fighting the urge to pull her close.

Just one kiss. What could it hurt?

I knew it would be good. She had the prettiest lips. Soft and full. Pouty and a deep rose-petal pink?—

No.

“I’m sure.” I struggled to speak, my voice strained as I tried to hide my racing thoughts about her and me, about being alone together, and the fact that we were attracted to each other and?—

Fucking stop it.

Think of something to say and quit looking at her chest.

I slammed my eyes shut and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I don’t thinkSupernaturalis a good choice for entertainment when your mind jumps to demons before the weather. Also, Remy and those ranger guys are full of it.”

“He’s seen some shit out here, Spencer. You know it’s true.”

“Maybe a quarter of it is true,” I conceded, subtly leaning away from her.

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