Page 124 of Holidating
“Hi.” I clutched the sheet against my chest. I was feeling very naked all of a sudden.
“I thought if I trapped you in here, you wouldn’t go.”
“You’ll want me to, eventually,” I pointed out. “If I’m still here a week from now, that would just be weird.”
“Well,” he cleared his throat. “If you say so. But we could probably compromise on tomorrow morning, no?” Beneath the sheets, his toes wandered over to be with mine. He trapped the arch of my foot between both of his and gave it a squeeze.
I didn’t know what to say. My football player boyfriends had always complained that they couldn’tpossiblyspend eight hours crammed into a tiny bed with me. “You won’t sleep well. And there are exams to study for.”
He gave his head a shake. “That’s not the point. I want the whole package. We’re supposed to have that tricky night’s sleep, where I’m trying not to give you a black eye when I roll over. And I believe I’m entitled to some awkward conversation in the morning.”
“Seriously?” I fought off a grin.
“Seriously.” He leaned over to kiss my eyebrow, and then had to turn away so he could yawn.
It was catching, so I yawned too. “The problem is that I only have a dress to wear. Walking home tomorrow morning…” I let the sentence trail off. Because he’d understand what I meant. Anyone who saw me would know I was doing the Walk of Shame.
It was called that for a reason.
Andy frowned. “I have sweats you could borrow.”
I pointed across the room at my spike heels, lying on the floor where I’d shed them so hastily a little while ago.
He chewed on his lip for a second. “Okay. I’ll walk you home right now, if that’s what makes you the most comfortable,” he said. “Otherwise, I can set my alarm for seven. But we’ll probably wake up then anyway, after elbowing each other all night.” He gave me a shy smile. “And we could walk you home before anyone else even thinks about waking up. Then I could wait at the coffee shop while you shower and change. Andthenwe’ll get the earliest possible start on memorizing two hundred European paintings.”
“Hmm,” I said, as my heart gave a little flutter. That all sounded too good to be true.
“There won’t be a soul outside at seven in the morning. Especially during exams,” he pointed out.
“You really want me to stay?” He was probably just being nice.
He gathered me up in his long arms. “I really, really do.”
CHAPTER 20
ANDY
I found a t-shirt for Katie to wear. Actually, I picked out my favorite one, which had an X-wing fighter on the front of it. And that made her laugh. And Ilovedher laugh, because it sounded a little bit out of control. Here was a girl who usually matched her hair band to her sweater. She looked pristine and put-together every time I saw her. But the sound of her giggle gave her away. It was riotous.
Andman, my X-wing t-shirt had never looked so good as it did with her long legs sticking out from under the hem. I found her an extra toothbrush, too. And then I checked to see if the bathroom was empty, and it was. So Katie did the mini Walk of Shame into the bathroom to brush.
“Do you want the inside or the outside?” I asked when she returned, pointing at the bed.
“You first,” she said.
I shut the lamp off and then climbed in, scooting all the way over to the wall. She got into bed then, gingerly. First, I pulled the covers up. Then I put my hands on her hips and pulled her closer to me. “Let me show you how this works best,” I said, angling the pillow just so. I positioned Katie’s back against me so that her head was level with my sternum. That way we both had some breathing room.
“Mmm,” she lazed against me. “Okay. I think I get it.”
Luckily it was dark, and she was facing the other way. So she couldn’t see how big my dorky smile was just then. Seriously,you could probably see my teeth from space. Because I’d never been happier than I was right then. I had the girl of my dreams in my bed, curled up against me. I was optimistic that maybe this would become a thing. But that was probably getting ahead of myself, right?
I wasn’t going to lie here and worry about it, though. No matter what happened tomorrow, I would always have this night.
“So,” I prompted. “Which European paintings are we going to memorize first?”
“The medieval ones,” she said immediately. “There aren’t as many of those as in the Renaissance section.”
“Good point,” I whispered, smoothing my hand down her hair.
