Page 43 of Visions of You

I wasn’t ready for the mood to turn serious. “Well, you’re safe on that front. Because it’s my bed, not yours.”

My ploy worked because April grinned as she rose, resting on her elbow with her head in her palm. “Did you make this? It’s the most beautiful bed I’ve ever seen!”

“Yeah, Hailey and I spent a month here last summer. I made it then.”

“Why didn’t you take it with you when you moved to the cottage?”

I knocked on the headboard. It made a solid thump. “That’s one-hundred percent teak. It weighs a ton. I pretty much attached it to the wall permanently. And the rest of the bed is solid mahogany.”

April stared at me, a line between her brows. “I feel bad that I displaced the two of you. I didn’t know.”

I ran my fingers through her silky hair. I could get used to this. “Don’t feel bad. It was all Maia’s fault. She demanded I move out as a condition of bailing me out of jail—so you could have the Barn.”

April sucked in her bottom lip, her face carefully blank. Then her shoulders started shaking and she broke into laughter. “God, no wonder you were so grouchy when I first met you.”

That made me laugh too, and it wasn’t lost on me that I’d laughed more with this woman in a week than I probably had in a year. “Fair warning—I don’t have the sunniest personality on the best of days.”

She snuggled closer and pressed her naked body against mine. “Maybe I can lend some of my optimism to you.”

I stroked my fingers down her back, then rested them on one soft cheek. “Right now, it’s not your optimism I’m interested in.”

I leaned in and kissed her. Once again, intense desire flamed over me—the need to know all her secret places, what made her cry out, and what she didn’t like. Maybe it was because we’d just been talking about Maia, but my sister’s warning about April being treated badly by men ran through my head.

I wasn’t known for being a tender lover. But that second time—for April—I had been. And in the silent room, we’d both discovered something neither of us had been looking for. Peace. Acceptance.

Now I stood from the bed and grabbed my wallet, which was on the nightstand. I padded across the room and pulled on my underwear and shorts. The bottle of Macallan still stood on the floor. I lifted it to eye level. It was a quarter full. I capped it and placed it on the mantle before glancing around the room for my shirt.

I couldn’t find it anywhere. I didn’t remember taking it off downstairs, but last night I’d been so turned on it easily could have slipped my mind. I descended the stairs, automatically stepping on the side of the squeaky one to keep it quiet.

As I reached the floor, my gaze dropped to the couch where we’d sat. No shirt. Then a thump from across the room drew my attention. April stood in the kitchen, facing away as she poured coffee from a glass carafe into a mug.

And she was wearing my shirt.

I stumbled to a halt, frozen in place. The oxygen was sucked from the air as I stared at her. I’d seen plenty of women dressed in my shirts before, but this was different.Feltdifferent. Right now, she was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. The dark-orange shirt hung to mid-thigh on her.

Why the hell does April affect me like this?

I couldn’t answer that, and it made me nervous. I didn’t like the feeling of not being fully in control of myself. Plus, she probably didn’t want me jumping her bones first thing in the morning. After twice last night. And I had only brought two condoms.

I took a deep breath, willing my molten core to calm the hell down. April finished pouring her coffee and placed the carafe back in the coffee pot. She turned around and saw me, her eyes going wide. “Oh! You’re awake.”

That’s the understatement of the year.

But I kept a tight rein on myself and forced my feet to move forward, sending an appreciative glance up and down her body. “I was looking for my shirt. Apparently, it’s been claimed.”

She broke into a grin, sending my pulse further skyward. “I wanted to wear it. It smells like you. Coffee?”

I blinked several times, as if she’d asked me if I was from another planet. “Uh, yes. Thanks.”

Another mug sat on the counter, and she filled it for me. “Cream or sugar?”

“No. I drink it black.”

I took a long sip, trying to keep my eyes off her. She stepped forward and ran her hands over my bare chest, which didn’t help the situation.

“I suppose you want your shirt back. I could give it to you now.”

“No. Keep it. I like seeing you in it.” Her lips looked swollen in the morning light.

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