Page 23 of Locking Down Qetesh

"Definitely not," I promised. "I can promise you that my hands will stay to themselves."

Indecision warred on her face. "Are you sure? I don't want you to be uncomfortable either."

"I'm the one inviting you," I reminded her.

"All right, but you're going to have to lend me a shirt, too. This dress makes me look good, but it's not exactly great for sleeping."

I laughed. "All right, you can borrow a shirt."

"I'll wash it before I give it back..."

"That's really not necessary," I said, digging my key out of my pocket and letting us both into my room. I held the door open and let her inside, realising that there was surprisingly little about this that actually felt uncomfortable. I liked that. But it wasn't a huge surprise. Tesha had made me feel like that almost since the moment we met.

"I know this is a really strange question, but you don't happen to have a spare toothbrush, do you?" She looked at me with large, dark eyes that didn't seem nearly so drunk any more.

"Would it surprise you if I said I did?"

"A little." She looked around the room, but I doubted she'd find anything of interest. It was likely the same as hers.

"My toothbrush ran out of charge this morning and I couldn't find my charger, so I just bought a packet of toothbrushes from the supermarket on my way here. You're free to take the other one."

"Thank you. I hate trying to sleep when I haven't brushed my teeth. And even if we're not going to have sneaky sex in the middle of the night that we pretend didn't happen tomorrow, I don't want to offend you with my morning breath."

"You think we'd regret sex in the morning?" I asked curiously.

She shrugged. "I didn't say we'd regret it, I said that we'd pretend it didn't happen. Those are two different things."

"I suppose that's probably not what Ella wants to hear when she asks if we had a good time tonight."

Tesha laughed, a beautiful sound that lit up the room. "Either that, or she'd love it and start planning our wedding."

"Are you not married already?"

"Not last time I checked. You shouldn't believe everything you read about the gods online."

"You'll have to tell me what's true and what isn't." I dug a clean t-shirt out of my suitcase and held it out to her. "It's nothing fancy."

"I appreciate it all the same." She took it with a genuine smile. "Mind if I use the bathroom first?"

"Knock yourself out." I gestured in that direction.

She set her bag down on the bedside table and headed into the bathroom with my shirt.

I sat down on the bed and let out a sigh. This wasn't the kind of situation I envisaged getting myself into when my sister had invited me on this weekend. And yet there was a tiny part of me that was excited at the prospect of getting to spend a little bit more time with Tesha, especially when we'd be truly alone this time. There wouldn't be anyone we worked with waiting tables nearby, or my sister planning some kind of thing to get us to spend more time together.

It was just going to be the two of us, and I definitely liked that more than I wanted to admit.

Chapter 10

QETESH

It should feel strange to lie in a bed with someone for the first time, but that wasn't what it felt like to have Jacob beside me. I could hear him breathing, and knew that he wasn't asleep.

But did that mean he'd want to talk to me?

"Thank you for letting me stay in here tonight," I said softly.

"It's no problem," he said.

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