Page 9 of The Rules

She heard him laugh and if she wasn’t so damn comfortable, she would have retaliated. As it was though, a smart answer was far too much exertion. Her limbs were liquid and she was pretty sure her mouth was hanging open.

Dylan rolled toward her, hooking his leg over hers and trapping her in place. “Wake me up when you go,” he whispered.

She didn’t reply. Something deep inside her brain waved its hands and shouted at her but she imagined it sinking into the plush mattress, its voice muffled and muted.

Dylan flicked off the lamp on the bedside table. “That’s what I thought.”

Three

Dylan rubbed at his eyes,shielding his retinas with his hand as he forced them open. Painfully bright light streamed in through the curtains.Jesus—it had to be mid-morning, the sun was so bright. It had been a long time since he’d slept in this late. He sat up to read the clock and his eye caught on a mess of blonde curls buried in the pillow beside him.

Right. That’s why he hadn’t woken up with the sun. He’d been up half the night with Dani fucking Petrillo. What the hell had he said to her last night to end up here? He had no idea, but he wished he could go back in time and give last night Dylan a high five.

Dani made a little sleep sound, burying her face deeper into the pillow. His lower half stirred. The curve of her back, her golden skin contrasting against the bright white hotel sheets—could he handle naked Dani fully sober? Maybe not, but there was only one way to find out.

He trailed his finger between her shoulder blades, hoping to entice her into one more round before they had to be at brunch downstairs. She whined adorably, then tossed onto her back, throwing an arm over her eyes.

Perfect. He rolled onto his side and snaked his hand under the sheet, walking his fingers down her soft stomach, but when he got to her hip, she bolted upright.

“What time is it?”

“Ten-thirty,” he answered, pressing his lips to her arm. She smelled like the flowers from the chapel and the frosting from the cake. Delicious.

“Shit.” She rolled to her left, jumping out of the bed and yanking the sheet with her.

“Where are you going?”

“Shit. Shit. Shit!” Dani scrambled around the room tossing pillows and searching the floor frantically. Dylan grabbed a pillow, dragging it over his lap. No sense in letting her see how he’d assumed the morning was going to go. “We’re supposed to be downstairs.”

“So? We can show up a few minutes late.”

“Wecan’t show up anywhere, Dylan. Now I have to figure out how to get back to my room without anyone seeing me in the middle of the breakfast rush.” She sat down on the bed and pulled her panties on under the sheet. “Damn it! What the hell was I thinking?”

“Jesus, Dani. Way to make a guy feel good in the morning.”

“Sorry.” She paused her redressing to look him in the eye. “I didn’t mean that. This was… fun. But I don’t want it to be everyone else’s business, okay? Especially Emma and Sonya and, oh my God, Cat.”

Dani’s mascara had smudged under her eyes and her hair was a little on the wild side. Maybe she had a point about the optics of the whole thing.

“Look, I’ll check the hallway for you and you can make a run for it. Like you’re escaping a serial killer or something.”

“Don’t be like that, Dylan.” She hooked her bra behind her back and let the sheet fall away as she crawled over the bed. Heat burned down his neck when she knelt beside him. “It’s Cat’s wedding. I don’t want us getting caught in a compromising position to be the memory everyone takes away from the weekend. We should just chalk it up to a fun night and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

She had a look like pity in her eyes and it rubbed him the wrong way. It wasn’t like he was planning to make something out of this. Sure, it was fun, but he didn’t do a lot of second meet-ups. Not even for a woman like Dani. Usually he was the one who got to break that news, though. Today he was on the flip side, and he didn’t entirely like the way it felt.

He rolled out of bed and found his boxers on the floor, yanking them on. “Yeah, all right, Dani-pie. I’m not really too psyched about Josh finding out either. Or Shawn. I get enough shit from those two about this type of thing. You being Cat’s friend and all would probably piss Josh off, so let’s not mention it.”

“Dylan.” Dani sighed and came to stand in front of him. He’d never seen her like this. She was usually done up in heels and cleavage-baring tops whenever they were together. Here, barefoot and in her underwear, her hair sticking up in the back, she looked soft. Cute instead of like she was about to bite your neck and slap your ass. And he’d been right about that, for the record. She put her hand on his forearm, squeezing. “I’m not just Cat’s friend,” she said. “We’re friends too, right?”

“Yeah,” he muttered, a little bit like a child. She raised her eyebrows expectantly, and he shook off the pissy mood his ego had put him in, reaching down to give her a hug. “Friends.”

“Good.” She picked her dress up off the floor where it was still crumpled and stepped in, quickly fastening the halter behind her back. “Now, look out in the hall and give me the all-clear.”

Dylan gestured for her to wait behind the door. He patted his hair back into place before peeking his head out into the hall.

Where he came face to face with Shawn’s wife, Minnie.

“Hey, Dylan! I was just about to knock. Where did you run off to last night?”

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