Page 25 of Empty Net

“Because I thought it would be a fun place to sleep.”

Someone is not a morning person. Noted.

“I fell out of bed,” she says with a frown as she sits up. “What else do you think happened?”

“I wasn’t sure,” I say honestly.

And I wasn’t. I had no idea what happened. All thoughts went out of my head the second I stepped into the room and got a peek at her ass in the air. Her round, very well-sculpted ass.Does she do Pilates?

You know what? It doesn’t matter. What matters is making sure she’s okay.

“Did you bump your head? Bruise anything?”

“Only my ego,” she responds, pulling at the white comforter wrapped around her. “The damn blanket got tangled around my feet.”

She huffs, giving up trying to wriggle free from it, and I’m grateful. I’m not sure I could handle seeing half-naked Lilah again today.

She squints up at me. “Why are you here?”

It’s a fair question, or at least it would be if she hadn’t begged me to stay for twenty minutes last night. She tried pulling me into her bed, but I refused, telling her I’d sleep on the couch.

“Come on. My bed is huge. We can share it, and I’ll be the little spoon.” She tugs on my dress shirt in an attempt to get me to slip into her bed.

It’s tempting, I won’t lie. But she’s drunk, and I’m not letting her make decisions like this when she’s not of sound mind.

“No,” I say.

“Fine.” She rolls her eyes dramatically. “Thenyoucan be the little spoon.”

I laugh, pulling free from her grasp and laying her hands gently against her chest. “I’ll stay, but I’m not sleeping with you.”

“Oh my god. Did you just ask me to have sex with you,Arthur?”

I choke on my own spit.What the hell did she say?

Lilah bursts into a fit of giggles. “Oh, Foxy, you should see your face. I’m teasing. I am teasing!” She stops laughing suddenly. “But not about you staying. You’re staying, right?”

I smile. “I’m staying, Lilah.”

She breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank gosh. No trying to feel me up in the middle of the night, okay? Because you’re cute, and I just might let you.”

Then she rolled over and promptly fell asleep. Our conversation now tells me she doesn’t remember a single moment, and I’m unsure if I’m glad or not. I’m curious what else she does or doesn’t remember, like me nearly kissing her.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay,” I tell her instead of relaying everything that happened last night.

I did want to make sure she was okay. Even if she hadn’t begged me to stay, I would have anyway, even if it meant I had to sleep in the hallway outside her apartment door.

That earns me a soft, sleepy smile. Even in her state, it’s cute.

“Such a gentleman.” She lets out a big yawn, then falls back onto the blanket heap on the floor, tugging the blanketup around her shoulders, dangerously close to showing me that she’s not wearing any pants again. “What time is it?”

“About seven thirty. I was just getting ready to leave, actually. Practice.”

She wrinkles her nose. “Ew.”

“Ew?”

“I can’t imagine moving right now.”

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