Page 112 of In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes

I couldn’t tell him. It would change things. It would mean something.

So I shook my head. “I’m just tired.”

He nodded. “Have a bath and then I’ll tuck you in.”

I laughed quietly. “Always taking care of me.”

“Mhm. Always.” He dropped another kiss on my cheek and left the room, closing the door behind him.

When I stepped into the tub, I let out an embarrassing moan. A moan similar to what had slipped out of my mouth when Holden and I were in my bedroom. The water was the perfect temperature, just a little too hot, and my cold feet stung. I sighed and slipped down until the water hit my hair. I pulled my hair tie out and tossed it onto the floor, closing my eyes and inhaling the clean cucumber scent.

Even with the bathroom fan on, I could hear rain still pounding on the roof. I traced the edges of the tub with my pointer finger, studying the small room.

There was so much more to Holden Rhodes, and I wanted to dig it all up, inspect the information piece by piece like I was collecting pretty rocks at the beach. Every rock I turned over, every new piece of information about Holden made me fall harder for him.

I shouldn’t be here, in his gorgeous home. Just like I shouldn’t have let him stay over. I couldn’t help myself, though.

Holden was special, and when it was time to go home, every piece of him I had collected would weigh me down, making it harder to leave.

For the first time, I wished I could stay.

41

Sadie

After my bath,I padded downstairs and wandered into the kitchen. A record spun circles on the record player. Holden filled a kettle with water while watching sports replays on the TV in the living room. His gaze flicked to me, then my bare feet, before he hit the remote on the counter and turned the TV off.

“It’s fine, you can watch your own TV.”

He shook his head. “I’m just filling the silence.” He tilted his chin at the bar stool across from him. “You want to go to bed?”

Maybe it was the adrenaline rush from earlier still coursing through my veins or the stimulation of being in Holden’s home, but a jumpy twitchiness coursed through me.

I shook my head. “Not yet.”

I slipped up onto the stool and he turned and opened a cabinet. As he reached for a tin, I studied his back muscles and the fascinating way they moved.

“Holden,” I started.

He turned and placed the tin in front of me before retrieving two mugs.

“Your home is beautiful.” I leaned my chin on my palm. His hair was starting to dry all unruly. My fingers twitched, remembering how it felt to drag my hand through it. I rolled my lips together and watched him.

He set his hands on the counter across from me, watching me with an unreadable expression. “Peppermint or chamomile?”

“Peppermint.”

He picked two packets out of the tin, ripped them open, and dropped the tea bags into the empty mugs.Queen’s Cove Accountants—your money will make cents!was printed on one of them. The other was for Disneyland. I slid the accounting mug closer to read it again before I shot Holden a curious smile.

“Are they saying you’ll lose money if you go there?”

He winced. “They were going for a play on words. No one had the heart to tell them.”

I grinned wider down at the mug. His gaze moved over my skin and sent a shiver down my spine. When our gazes met again, my stomach rolled forward.

The air crackled, like the moment before we kissed at the art rave.

The kettle switch popped up and Holden blinked and turned to pick it up before pouring boiling water into each of the mugs.

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