Page 26 of Pack Apollo

When I look at him, his grin is wider than ever. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. You're more than welcome here anytime. Even if you just come for that reason and not to see me."

I snicker, "I don't think that'll ever be the case."

Laughing with me, he asks, "Well, want me to grab your bag so you can work on what you need to?"

I shake my head. "No, not exactly."

Crawling up onto the side of the bed, I crash down against his pillows and mumble into them, "I don't know why I'm suddenly so tired, but I'm pretty sure you put some kind of sleeping potion in that bath."

He laughs again. "No, but I should've warned you that it does seem to have that effect on some people. You'd think Roz was a different person entirely when he gets out."

"Maybe we should leave some of the girlie stuff in there for him," I snicker into the pillow. "I could totally see him using a face mask lying back against that pillow."

His laugh is louder this time. "Actually, I've seen him a time or two with a face mask on. And, that's his pillow, so he does use it."

I laugh until a few tears roll out of my eye and absorb into the pillow. Once I can catch my breath again, I mutter, "I think I'm going to take a nap now, if that's okay."

I'm not sure he understands the muffled words that seemto merge into each other as the sentence continues. He must catch part of it because I feel a light blanket being tossed over me as the weight of an arm presses down on my side.

Could be minutes or hours later, Brent's soft murmuring pulls me out of the warm cocoon of a dreamless sleep.

"That's fine," he's saying. "We'll meet you over there."

Lifting my head, I do a quick swipe of my robed arm on my mouth to make sure I don't have any drool dripping down anywhere before I turn over to face him.

He smiles softly at me. "Sorry I woke you."

"It's okay," I tell him honestly. "I don't normally take naps during the day anyway. I think that bath just got me good today."

Quietly laughing, he says, "You're not the only one it's gotten. Besides, maybe you needed the rest more than you think."

"Maybe so," I admit with an accidental yawn. "I'm not sure my roommate wouldn't kill me in my sleep given the chance."

His lips drop into a frown. "Are there problems with them?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary for two people who are different and come from completely different upbringings forced to share a space together," I answer. I could tell him the whole thing about my psycho roommate, but I don't. Not only because I don't want to ruin the moment, but it's nothing serious that I can't handle.

I can tell he has more questions, but I don't give him the chance to ask them. Scooting closer, I press my lips against his. I don't know what drives me to do it, but it's too late to take it back. There's absolutely no hesitation from him as he tilts his head further to slant his lips over mine completely. One of us parts them for the other, and that's all she wrote. Our tongues clashing works us both up until we're breathing hard. His sweet,fruity-cereal scent grows stronger and seems to envelope me until I don't know where he begins and I end.

His arm sneaks around my waist to my back, and he uses it to tug me closer to his body. I toss a leg over his hip as one of his slides between mine. The robe restricts how close he's able to get where I need him so desperately to be. If it wasn't for a pesky beating at his door, I would definitely slide the offensive material out of the way, giving him access.

We ignore another knock, and the door pops open right before a person strolls inside.

"What are you doing, sleep...?" Palmer trails off as we lock eyes.

"Oh!" he exclaims, clearly as surprised by me as I am of him. He saunters over to the bed, almost bouncing as he does before hopping up on it. "Hey, it's a great thing you're here. We're going to dinner tonight to celebrate Roz winning his big case he's been working on for months. Are you hungry?"

"For sure," I tell him without even having to think about it.

"Well, get up and get some clothes on so we can go," he says, playfully swatting at my ass. "I'm starving."

"You're always starving," Cordell informs him. "I'm going to pick up Jake and meet you guys there."

"Oh shoot, I'll need to go back to the dorms real quick to grab some nicer clothes," I tell them.

"You don't have to dress fancy for where we're going tonight," Brent reassures me.

"Yeah," Palmer adds, "you're going to love it."

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