Page 63 of Holiday Love
“I promise,” she says, and it’s the last thing I hear.
Chapter twenty-six
Helen
My room is quiet except for the hum of the heating vent and the low sound of someone breathing in my ear. I pull the blanket up higher. It smells like fabric softener and home.
I’m still lost in a dream I was having, one involving a certain housemate and me doing very naughty, very naked things together.
It was a nice dream, no doubt the product of that kiss yesterday. The one that kept me up half the night, tossing and turning as I relived it. The one that had me lying awake, shamelessly watching Teddy sleep. My eyes had traced the curve of his lips, the rise and fall of his sculpted chest, the light sprinkling of hair on his muscular forearms. Ugh! Why are they so damn sexy?Flexor Carpi Ulnaris, Palmaris Longus, Pronator Teres,I whispered tomyself, naming the more than twenty muscles in his arm to calm down. That’s how I finally fell asleep.
Now I wiggle and stretch, waking slowly.
“If you keep pressing your ass against my morning hard on, I’m going to forgetrealquick that we’re just friends, Helen.” Teddy’s voice is in my ear, so close and loud and sleep-rough it makes me jump.
“Argh!” I jolt, my heart slamming against my ribs. We’ve moved in the middle of the night, shifting until we’re both lying on our sides, with his chest pressed against my back, spooning me. This is the closest we’ve been since the kiss yesterday, since that night a year ago.
That’s when I come to my senses, and I feel itall. His warm breath on the back of my neck. His hand, heavy on the bare skin of my hip. My nightgown rode up while I slept, leaving me exposed. I’m just absorbing the fact that I’m basically naked from the waist down and he’sdefinitelynaked from the waist up when his fingers tease the edge of my flimsy underwear and something firm presses against my backside.
Oh my god.
Is it possible to be instantly turned on and totally mortified at the same time?
Yes. Yes, apparently it is.
He shifts slightly and exhales a shaky breath that smells like the toothpaste he used last night.
Unfair. He doesn’t even have morning breath.
I turn my head into my pillow, breathe out, then sniff.
Good. Think I’m okay.
Wait…what’s happening right now?
It’s that damn kiss, I realize. The mistletoe one. It was too good. I want it again.
Without thinking, I arch back into him, and he groans.
“Helen.” His voice is a low growl. A threat, maybe a promise. “Don’t test me.” His grip tightens on my hip, fingers digging in. Sparks radiate out from that simple contact.
“What—what if,” I swallow hard and dare to ask, “we stopped being friends, just for a little while?” Thank God I’m facing away so he can’t see how hard I’m blushing.What am I even doing?This is a terrible idea, yet somehow, I don’t want to stop. Caught in the haze between my dream and reality, it hits me.
He’s righthere.
In bed.
Withme.
Teddy has gone completely still. As frozen as the ornaments on the Christmas tree in the next room. “What do you mean not friends, like enemies?”
“Yes!” I blurt out, grasping onto the idea like it’s a life vest and I’m drowning. With passion, I say, “Ihateyou.”
He flinches against my back. “Ow, harsh.”
“Oh!” My hand flies up to cover my mouth. “Sorry, you know I suck at this.”
“What’sthis?” He sounds genuinely baffled, and how can I blame him? I’m pulling a complete 180, blindsiding him before he’s even had morning coffee.
