Page 66 of The Rules

She didn’t have a bra on under the t-shirt she was currently wearing but it felt a little silly to leave the room to change after his intimate all-too-true tongue comment. She turned away from him and lifted her shirt over her head. She could feel Dylan’s eyes on her naked back, hear him breathing, but he stayed put.

When she was done, she turned around and held her arms out, his shirt billowing around her like a sail. If the nausea and bloating didn’t kill any misguided hopes on his part, that was sure to do it.

Though, for some reason, he looked… smitten.

“What are we watching?” she asked, turning away from that soft smile.

“You’re the patient.”

“I have my period, Dylan. I’m not injured.”

“I guess you won’t need my magic heating pad then?”

He lifted the pillow thing up and she eyed it curiously. “What makes it magic?”

“I don’t know, but I wrenched my back pretty bad one summer on a bad wave. Bought this thing online. I was back on the board by the next weekend.”

Dani examined the heating pad, then unfolded it, popping it into the microwave according to the instructions. “That was kind of you to think of this.”

“Yeah, well. I’m not that bad once you get to know me.” He was smiling, playing it off, but his eyes were searching. He did that all the time now—looked at her like he was sending her some esoteric smoke signal he was praying she’d see.

She’d felt something in that inlet last weekend. He was different.

It had felt so different that she’d considered whether she should stop all of this. Dylan was supposed to be consequence-free. She wasn’t naive enough to think she couldn’t form some sort of attachment through this whole ordeal, so she’d picked the one guy who she was sure would never form one back. Someone who, if she even looked at him wrong, would stomp that budding spark of intrigue with a heavy foot. But now she got the impression he’d taken his boots off.

“Go pick out something to watch, Dani-pie,” he said when she’d been studying him for too long. “I’ll get you some ice cream.”

“What’s going on, Dylan?”

“I’m feeding you comfort food. You demanded it, remember?”

“No. I mean what are we doing? We’re breaking every rule we set at the start of this thing. First you started staying over, now we’re doing this without sex. And camping…”

“What about camping?” Discomfort rolled over his features and he leaned against the counter, his fingers curling around the edge like he needed it for support.

“Dylan, please.” She couldn’t go on making herself crazy. Ever since that day at Cat’s house, she’d felt like she was sliding down a hill, clutching at the earth to keep from landing somewhere that would hurt. Or at the very least, would leave her a muddy mess. But looking at those eyes, tortured with whatever he wasn’t saying, but still utterly mesmerizing, she got the distinct feeling she was definitely in hurt territory. God, how did she get here?

“Look, Dans,” he said, squeezing the back of his neck. “I’ll be honest. I have no fucking idea what’s going on. I just know I wanted to be here tonight. When you said you had to cancel, I was disappointed. I didn’t want to spend the night without you. I guess I was kinda hoping you felt the same way.” Dylan raised his eyebrows and the hopefulness, that Good Boy grin, sent a shiver through her shoulders.

She did feel the same way. She wanted him there too, whatever that meant.

She twisted his shirt between her fingers. “You really just want to hang out?”

“Yes.”

“By ourselves, with our clothes on?”

“Completely.”

He smiled, all honesty and vulnerability, and she knew exactly what it meant.

They’d put on a movie after their ice cream and Dani had fallen asleep on his chest almost immediately. Her little cupid mouth puffed tiny staccato breaths of air while he watched her dream—her eyelids fluttering, her feet twitching under the blanket.

He reached around her for the remote to shut off the television and she pulled her legs into her tummy and whined. “Was I snoring?” she asked when he laughed beneath her cheek.

“No. Just drooling.”

She shot up and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, finding it dry. “Jerk.”

---