“Seriously?” I lifted an eyebrow at him and glanced at the window. Then the open door. “Go to the bathroom to change.”
“What for?”
“What if someone sees us in here with you naked?” I hissed.
“We’re staying in the same bed. What do you think they expect, Pix?”
“Oh, no. You’re sleeping on the floor. I told your mother.” I grabbed a white fluffy pillow and threw it down. “You can have the comforter though.”
He grabbed the pillow off the floor and the comforter from my hand to shove them back on the bed. “Not happening, Pix.”
“We’re not sleeping in the same bed, Jett. It’s disrespectful to come into your parents’ home and do that when we’re barely together.” I tried to snatch the pillow again, but he shoved it further onto the queen-size mattress.
“If you’re in the same house, building, or even on the same fucking block as me, we’re sleeping in the same bed.”
“I don’t want to disrespect your parents.”
“Technically, they aren’t even married. They can’t be mad at us. And I don’t care about disrespecting them. I have been for years,” he retorted and grabbed his bag to unpack.
My chest flared at his confession. If he was saying he’d been bringing women here for years, it meant I wasn’t anywhere near as important to him as he was to me.
I told myself to accept that. I grabbed one of my suitcases and moved toward the bathroom. “I’m just going to freshen up.”
He let me go. In the bathroom, I remembered I was here to enjoy myself, enjoy him, enjoy what I had for the time I had it. I grabbed some of my makeup remover and took a cotton wipe to rub it over my face. I wiped away the layers that held my happiness in place. I peeled away my clothes and slipped into soft cotton pajamas with long sleeves.
After tying my hair back and packing away my belongings, I sighed at the reflection in the mirror. After long work days and long hours searching for the joy in everything, there were these moments where I felt exhausted and all I wanted was to just be.
I didn’t want to be happy or sad. I wanted nothing but to relax and let time pass instead of worrying that I wasn’t reveling in the gratification of being alive.
I fisted my hands and then grabbed my suitcase.
When I reemerged into the bedroom, Jett was under the comforter and sheets, laptop open, typing away. He looked up and smiled. His broad chest was free of clothing, his abs defined even though he slouched, and his biceps looking bigger without a suit jacket hiding them.
“Ready for bed?” his voice rumbled softly. He licked his lips as he looked me up and down and I watched the motion, knowing how much pleasure they alone delivered.
“Sure.” I ground out because I knew I wouldn’t be getting any of that pleasure while we were here. I wouldn’t try anything with his family under the same roof. I set my suitcase down harder than I intended and got to my side of the bed. I slid in and stayed on the very edge.
He clicked off the light. “Vick,” he whispered.
“Jett?” I whispered back.
I heard a soft laugh from him before one of his powerful hands grabbed me around the waist and pulled me close to him. “You belong here. Next to me.”
My heart thumped.
It didn’t sound like abeep. It was raw and low and powerful, like the muscle somehow knew it had a fresh purpose: to beat and live on for something that felt a lot like love.
30
Jett
She cameout of that bathroom like a spirit stripped bare. When I pulled her close, she didn’t fight me. Asking her if something had changed or was wrong wouldn’t have worked.
Her happy wall would fly back up, and I didn’t want it between us in the dark of the night. I’d opened the window so the cool breeze rustled in. The air in this town smelled greener, like fresh-cut grass and forest. If I could smell that mixed with strawberries, I’d contemplate giving up just about anything to keep it forever. I buried my nose in her hair and sighed.
She turned to me, her whiskey-colored eyes as dark as chocolate in the night and murmured, “I think I might be falling in love with you.”
Those words should have scared me. They would have coming from any other woman. I had become more attached to this woman than I’d ever planned and knew that meant one thing. Something else would suffer. Relationships were give-and-take.