“Why are you on the floor?” he asks, cocking his head to the side.
I forget how to answer him as I take in his bare chest and long legs encased in gray sweats. Gray sweats are one of the few things women can compare to lingerie. They have a casual sexiness to them, especially when a man doesn’t swear underwear with them and their bumps below the belt make themselves known.
Briar is not wearing underwear.Oh, fuck.
I swallow hard, taking in a happy trail which is as bright as the light copper of his beard. Don’t even get me started on the abs, defined and each one positively lickable. I want to drink my coffee out of his abdomen.
It takes me a while to notice he’s holding a plate of food. He’s brought me bacon and eggs with toast.
“Why am I here? And why am I naked, Briar?” I finally come to my sense, remaining on my knees, tucked behind the bed. The sweater might be long but I’m still rather indecent.
“You left the pub and I think you were going to drive yourself home, but you drank a lot, Jordan. I intercepted you and took your keys, brought you here. When you got out of the car you yakked…then you slipped in it.” He rubs the back of his head with his free hand, trying not to laugh. “Your clothes are in the wash, but I don’t know if the white sweater will survive…eggnog is brutal.”
Mortified, I stare at him. I didn’t go home with a stranger. I went home with Briar…shit. This isn’t good. As much as I’ve thought about this moment, in the reality, it feels…overwhelming. I was in his bed! I am wearing his sweater.
“Oh God, did we do anything?” I groan, burying my face into the bed.Can I suffocate myself this way?
He hesitates to answer, instead giving himself a moment by setting down the breakfast on the bed by my head.
“We kissed,” he says.
I peek out, tempted by bacon and the truth that maybe I didn’t absolutely humiliate myself.
“Just a kiss?”
“Kisses.” His cheeks turn a little pink but he’s unable to hide his smile at the memory of what we did.
I bite into bacon, relishing its greasy goodness and don’t even ask for a fork as I use the toast to spoon eggs into my mouth. I might not have a headache because my stomach needs settling.
“How do you feel?” he asks me, sitting on the edge of what I can now assume is his bed.
“Surprisingly okay,” I mumble between bites.
“Ah, good, I tricked you into taking some pain reliever last night and drinking some water.”
My eyebrow curves upward.
“How?”
“Hm?”
“How did you trick me?” I ask to clarify, motioning with the toast for more information. I need to know what I did and didn’t know.
“Remember how I said ‘kisses?” He smiles wider than I’ve ever. “I shouldn’t have done it. I mean I wasn’t trying to take advantage,” he backtracks. “But you refused the pain relievers. And you were so eager to kiss me some more, so it was easy to slide them into your mouth that way.”
I stop eating because I might choke on the bacon. My face heats and I bury it in my hands. He fed me medicine with his mouth?AndI was drunk enough, probably stupidly eager for any drop of affection from the man I was secretly pining over?
“Yo, Bri!” a shout beyond the bedroom door makes me go stiff.
“Fuck,” I whisper. “It’s Kaidan.”
“I’ll distract him, stay here, I’ll send him on his way,” Briar reassures me and disappears from his room.
With no clothes and my brother here, this situation couldn’t get any worse. I pull open all the drawers and find sweats in the bottom one. I dig out a pair and sling them on, once again snug, but long enough I can manage.
At least I’m dressed now, and I can escape. I press my ear into the wood of the door and listen intently.
“Last night was crazy man,” I hear Kaidan say. “Mom did shots with me this year!”