Page 66 of Lovesick
I grab her a glass of water and three pills of ibuprofen, offering them to her. “I know, Mer. Can you take these for me please? They’re going to make you feel better.”
She spies the small respite in my hand with a slitted gaze. “Do you promise?”
“Pinky promise,” I swear, sticking out the pinky on my free hand.
It takes her a second to warm up to the idea of putting anything else in her belly, and then she interlocks her pinky around mine. Acquiescing with a sigh, she throws the painkillers into her mouth and chases them down with a hearty gulp of water.
“Atta girl.”
Merit—even on the verge of passing out—still blanches at the praise. “This wasn’t how I wanted the night to end.”
“You mean you didn’t want to spend it with your head over the toilet?” I jest.
She glances up at me with her big Bambi eyes, wantondesire swimming in the rings of her irises. “We were supposed to have the sex.”
A chuckle loosens from my chest, and I wrestle back a smile. “‘The sex?’”
“Yup,” she says, popping the “p.” “We were going to kiss, and you were going to put your beef thermometer inside me.”
My…what?
I know getting physical should be the last thing on my mind—and trust me, it was until Merit brought it up—but now my…soldier…is standing at very obvious attention, more than ready to fulfill her wishes. “Wait, you wanted to have sex again? Even with your dad complicating everything?”
Merit nods and brushes her hand over my leg. “Duh. You’re the best I’ve ever had. You knew just how to make me feel good. My bean machine doesn’t even compare to your tongue. It’s like you’re—hic—the God of orgasms.”
Bean machine? I don’t even have the bandwidth to unpack that.
Fuck. Why is she telling me this? Why couldn’t she be a quiet drunk? As much as I’d like nothing more than to give her as many orgasms as she wants, I’d never take advantage of her when she’s this incapacitated.
But my body doesn’t seem to be getting the memo because all that her loose-lipped confession is doing is inflating my cock. I need to get myself under control.
I try to cross my legs discreetly, mentally picturing my grandmother in a bikini.
Saggy grandma boobs. Saggy grandma boobs. Saggy grandma boo?—
“Aw, look! He’s happy to see me,” Merit coos, gesturing to the bulge in my shorts. “We should just fuck right now. Get it out of our systems. Wouldn’t you like that, big guy?”
Jesus Christ. She’s talking to my dick.
It feels like she’s triggered this entire room with bear traps,except I’m blindfolded and one step away from getting my ankle gnawed off by metal teeth. That honestly sounds less painful than the boner I’m experiencing.
I redirect her attention by plugging in her heating pad and placing it over her belly. “Not tonight, Princess. Not when you need to rest.”
She frowns, all her deceptive shyness sheared away. “Don’t you want to fuck me?”
A malaise of guilt sinks its claws into my thrashing heart, leaving me winded and short a few brain cells.
Is she serious? Merit Lawson is the most irresistible woman in all of Minnesota, and I’d give up one of my goddamn kidneys just to kiss her again. You can live without a kidney, right?
“You have no idea,” I breathe. “But your wellness is my first priority, and when we do fuck again, it won’t be some spur-of-the-moment decision brought on by one too many drinks.”
With a half-hearted whimper, she stops pushing, going boneless against the mattress as she struggles to keep her eyes open. God, she’s stunning. With makeup, without it. I normally never see her without a full face, but I’ve been gifted with one of the best blessings in the entire universe—witnessing her raw beauty for everything that it’s worth. The clearness of her skin, the beauty mark peppered above the right corner of her upper lip, her long lashes that skirt the hills of her cheekbones. I could stare at her for eternity, and it wouldn’t be long enough.
“Will you…will you stay with me tonight?” she asks quietly.
I give her arm a little squeeze. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She wears a satisfied expression, burrowing further underneath her covers. “I thought for sure that I’d scare you away with all my emotional baggage.”
