Page 73 of Falling Overboard

My lips ached to touch hers. I had to know what it would feel like. My skin prickled with a need for her that made it painful to stay on my side of the bed.

“Lucky,” I said softly, hoping she would hear what I couldn’t say.

I leaned forward and heard the way her breath caught, saw her eyes widen. I went slowly, giving her the chance to stop me.

Which she did. “We should call it a night,” she said in a whisper that made my stomach clench.

Okay. Message received. I did my best not to look disappointed. “Good night.”

It was hard to let her go but I did and scooted to the edge of her bunk. To my shock she reached out and put her hand on my arm, sending a bolt of crackling pleasure through me. My pulse thudded at the contact. Had she changed her mind?

“Stay,” she said and it made that emotion from my chest head straight into my heart.

I must have misheard her. “What?”

“Don’t go.”

There was no more oxygen in this room.

“If you want,” she added, sounding embarrassed.

I wanted. I wanted so badly that I was nearly shaking from it. Desire curled and twisted low in my gut.

It couldn’t happen. I knew that. I stood up.

I saw on her face that she thought I had rejected her. Didn’t she know that I would give her anything she asked for? Would do anything for her?

I turned off the light and then locked the door.

She gasped when she registered that I wasn’t going anywhere. I lifted the covers and slid into bed next to her. It took every single ounce of willpower that I possessed not to reach for her. I had to take things slowly. I shouldn’t even be doing this at all. I should remember my plans and what I had promised to do.

But being this close to Lucky blocked all that out.

We faced one another. Her breathing still hadn’t settled and neither had mine. I wasn’t touching her, wasn’t kissing her, wasn’t doing anything that I wanted to do, but somehow this felt intimate to me. She was so sweet and warm and it was killing me to stay put.

“Good night, Lucky.”

“Good night, Hunter.”

I had no idea how I was going to survive this.

When I woke up the next morning, it was to discover that she was watching me. I wondered if she liked what she saw.

Then I realized my hand was on her waist. That had happened unintentionally.

Unintentionallyin the sense that I hadn’t agreed to it, but it was completely intentional on my body’s part.

That I had sought out a connection with her while we were sleeping. “Why do you always wake up so early?” I grumbled.

Her smile was pure sunshine and it chased away my grumpy mood.

“Maybe because it’s a day full of possibilities,” she said.

Then she leaned toward me, as if she intended to kiss me. Like it was something we had already done a thousand times.

At the last possible moment, she suddenly seemed to realize what she was doing and ended up smacking her forehead into my nose.

“Ow!” I took my hand from her waist and rubbed my nose. Like it already wasn’t bad enough that I couldn’t be with her—now I was getting assaulted.

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