Page 33 of The Crush Next Door

Devon yawned, and I knew he was about to pass out like he always did immediately after sex.

"Hey," I said, "before you fall asleep, I had the best night with you."

"Me too, love. Me too."

"I love you so much."

"I love you so much," he mumbled, his eyes already closing.

Watching him for a moment, I saw his breathing slow down, my smile slowly fading because I missed the cuddling. Yep, I was not ashamed to admit it. I adored the cuddling. And it hurt my heart not to get it afterward. It almost wasn't even worth it. Damn.

Feeling more alone than ever, I hung up my phone, went to the bathroom, and put some comfortable clothes on.

Ice cream. That's what I needed.

Not even bothering with a bowl, I settled in on the couch and watched mindless TV while mindlessly eating my favorite chocolate peanut butter ice cream.

There, that was better. Honestly, the whole thing had been so sweet. Just the fact that he had remembered the day in the first place and went to all the trouble of having my favorites delivered. And then stayed up late with me. I was so damn lucky.

Several episodes and an empty carton later, there was a soft knock at the door.

Oh, it had to be Josh bringing over Magic. Still, I checked the peephole only to find a shirtless Josh standing there, waiting patiently.

"Hey," I said as I opened the door.

Magic ran right in like he lived here. "Hey," Josh answered. "Sorry to bug you. Maybe we should set a time or something."

"Oh, that's a good idea. And you're not bugging me."

"Well, good."

We stood there awkwardly for a moment, watching Magic scratch himself.

"So," Josh began, "for tomorrow's game, I'll take care of the food if that's cool."

"Uh, sure. But please no hot dogs."

He laughed. "You don't like wieners?"

And there went one of my infamous eye-rolls in the silence that followed his ridiculous question.

"All right," Josh said. "I'll get going. Sleep well."

"Thank you. And thanks for bringing over Magic."

"No problem. It's actually nice for me to stretch out completely on the bed."

I couldn't help giggling because Magic did take up a lot of space.

Stepping onto the landing, Josh turned back towards me. "Oh, hey," he said, placing one big, bare arm on the doorframe. "So I used to be friends with a girl who worked in the lingerie department at Nordstrom's."

My jaw hung open in shock at this very strange thing to say while my heart started to beat wildly.

"And she had some good stories." He grinned. "But they were nothing compared to yours."

I was going to fucking kill him. "I hate you."

"Next time, close your window, bro."

Laughing, he turned to leave, jogging down the steps and dodging a flip-flop I threw at his stupid back.

Slamming the door shut, I wondered if a person could actually die of embarrassment.

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