Page 92 of Stay this Christmas
No. I definitely did not need to check them again.
“I wasn’t staring,” I said, ducking back into the bed nook.
“Sounds like something a starer would say.”
He moved toward the door.
“What are you doing?” My voice went all squeaky as if he’d brandished a snake at me.
He shifted back into view. I darted my eyes to the nook’s ceiling, examining my reflection in the window so I wouldn’t stare at his abs.
But holy moly, those abs.
“I’m turning the lights out.”
He sounded amused. Made sense, considering how weird I was acting. Still. I had good reason.
I pointed in his general direction. “You can’t come to bed wearing just that.”
He’d changed into thin, heather gray lounge pants that were even worse than his sweatpants for the way they hugged his butt and thighs. At the moment, he had nothing else on. Even his bare feet on the hardwood floor did something for me, one more sign I’d completely lost my mind.
“What happened to both of us being adults here?”
“That doesn’t mean you can get into bed half-naked.”
“Harps, normally, I sleep all-the-way naked.”
“Don’t tell me that!” I chucked one of the bed’s throw pillows at him. Busying myself with turning down the covers, I slipped between the sheets, keeping my eyes anywhere but on him. “Put a shirt on, please.”
Okay, fine. I peeked. He wasright there. And—oh, should not have looked.
He slid his hands down his chest, grinning wickedly. “Does all of this bother you?”
I rolled my eyes, clamping down on my laughter. Among other things. “How would you feel if I was wearing nothing but a tiny camisole and booty shorts in bed next to you?”
Dropping his hands, his teasing smirk disappeared. I made the mistake of meeting his eyes. The heat there started up an answering fire in me, shuddering its way out to my fingers and toes. Probably safest to make him sleep in the hammock, after all.
“Fair enough,” he finally said, his voice gone low. He found a T-shirt in his bag and pulled it on. “Better?”
Not really, no. Now that I knew what was under it, the thin fabric couldn’t hide anything.
Best be grateful, though. “Thank you.”
He switched out the light, and I blinked hard in the darkness. Settling down into the soft bed, I looked through the skylight at the stars while Sam crawled up next to me and tucked himself beneath the sheets. He laid down in mirror image of me, staring through the window above, motionless.
Minutes ticked by. Pretty view, but good Lord, the awkwardness.
Was this really how we were going to be? Lying side by side without touching? Clothing had seemed like a pretty big necessity, but I hadn’t meant to rule outeverythingjust now.
“Do adults cuddle while they look at stars?” he asked.
“Yes, please.”
He looped one arm around my shoulders, and I snuggled right up to him. My stand against him coming to bed shirtless had been for nothing. He could have worn a snow suit and I’d still thrill to be held by him.
Kissing my temple, he ran a hand over my arm. “This is better.”
After a minute, I had to ask. “Do you really sleep naked on your sister’s couch?”
