Page 67 of You Spin Me

There’s no way I’ll ever get enough of this man.

CAL

I don’t know if I can do this.

I mean, obviously, I can. My dick’s harder than it’s ever been, and she’s soft in every way that I’m not.

But this feels like driving off a cliff.

So I hit the brakes, breaking the kiss before I do something she’ll regret.

“Did I hurt you?” she pants.

I have to grab onto the counter to keep from grabbing her.

“Cal?”

God, I love how she says my name. Unable to get words past my lips, I shake my head. When that doesn’t wipe the concern from her face, I take her hand and press it to my chest, even as my heart threatens to break free of its cage. Begging it to trust me—trust her—I ask, “Would you stay here tonight?” Before she can say no, I add, “Not to have sex. To sleep, to… be together. In person.”

“Okay.” Her smile is shaky, but what I hear is relief.

“Good.” Nodding, I take purposeful strides across the loft to hide my disappointment. Did I really expect her to rip off my shirt and demand to be ravaged? After she screams in horror at the scars on my back and sides, which make the ones on my face blush in comparison.

Taking a deep breath, I corral my words into submission. “The facilities are in here.” I rifle through the cabinet in the tiny bathroom. “I’ve got an extra toothbrush, courtesy of the dentist, that hasn’t been opened.”

“Thank you.”

I hustle to clean up the kitchen while she’s doing her thing. Then I go through my drawers to grab pajamas for me and a soft T-shirt for her. I let her know it’s there and that I’m taking the dog out.

After Blondie and I have both taken care of business and I reappear, pajama-clad, she’s snuggled up in bed. My cat, who hates everyone, purrs loudly as she strokes him from nose to stumpy tail, a sound I’m not sure I’ve ever heard from him before.

I pause at the edge of the bed, the “One of These Things (Is Not Like the Others)” song fromSesame Streetrunning through my head. She’s too damn beautiful to be here with us.

When she turns my way, a sleepy smile on her face, I do my best to accept that she seems to think otherwise. “You, uh, got everything you need?”

She nods and lifts the covers.

Fuck it. It is my bed. I climb in.

She tries to kiss me, but a yawn gets in the way. “I’m sorry. It’s way past my bedtime.”

I kiss her on the forehead. “Go to sleep, princess.”

She turns over and curls into a ball. “Good night, Cal,” she sighs.

I turn on my side to face her back, close enough to share my warmth but far enough away that she can’t feel how much I need her.

JESS

“Are you hiding an elf who really wants to be a dentist somewhere?”

Cal blinks at me as I take the bowl he’s handed me and hold it up to the others in his cabinet. None of them match and most of them have chips or cracks. Like he found them on the side of the road.

“It’s like the island of misfit toys in here. A one-eyed dog, a three-legged cat. What else have you got?”

Even though he’s obviously not a morning person, he grants me a lazy half smile. “I don’t think you need any coffee, missy.”

“I’m sorry; that was probably rude. I tend to wake up in go mode.”

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