I wake slowly, feeling warm and fuzzy-headed and safe. It’s funny, because normally, I have to be yanked out of sleep by the harsh braying of my alarm clock just to make sure that I can get to work on time. But a quick glance to my left confirms that it’s only eight o’clock, and I’ve got time. So I curl tighter into a ball before stopping because my pillow feels harder than usual.
The thought makes me stop and actually wakes me up, because I’m not in my bed. I’m on my couch underneath one of my throw blankets, the clock I saw was my microwave, and I’m curling up to a hard body . . . the very hard body of Shane.
His breathing is even and slow, still asleep, so I take stock. He’s lying half reclined on one end, his boots hanging off my couch and his muscular left arm lying across the back of the couch in a protective position, like he wanted to hold me but didn’t. Meanwhile, I’ve got my cheek pressed against one nearly iron-hard but delightfully warm pectoral and my left leg’s half draped over his like the world’s biggest body pillow. It feels . . . good. Safe.
I hum softly, and Shane stretches slightly in his sleep, his muscled arm descending slowly to lie on top of the blanket, almost instinctively cupping my butt.
I have a momentary freakout as my body thrills and fully wakes up in a lot more ways than just shaking off the last cobwebs of sleep. Did we? No, no. We’re both fully dressed, and I’d definitely remember that. I have no doubt that having sex with Shane would be something a girl would never forget. Considering I’ve had a few fantasies about him over the past two months . . . yeah, I wouldn’t forget it.
At that thought, my core fills with warmth, making me squirm slightly. The leg I have thrown over his lifts, and I feel the hard fullness of his dick. Sweet mama’s fairy tales, he’s . . . I don’t think I could even fantasize about someone this amazingly put together.
Shane moans lightly in his sleep from my pressure, pulling me to him and grinding against me ever so slightly, and I gasp as electricity shoots through me. Unfortunately, the sound seems to wake him and he stirs beneath me. He rubs my butt, pressing into me again as he stretches and groans. The sound alone turns me on, and I bite my lip, lifting my head to look at his face.
Shane blinks and smiles sleepily back at me before I get a close-up view of the second his face goes from smiling ‘good morning, sweetheart’ to frowning ‘oh, shit.’
Sigh. I never should’ve even pretended he’d be happy to wake up here with me, even if we didn’t do anything. I mean, I’m just a nerdy girl next door, and he’s so far out of my league it’s not even funny. He’s the sort of guy who has girls like Allie and the other dancers drooling over him.
It’s only because Shane’s so nice, and that I basically begged him to stay like a little girl last night, that he’s here. But I was truly scared after the parking lot incident.
I can feel the blush rushing across my cheeks, and I do my best to try and smooth all this over before I die of embarrassment. “G’morning. Guess we fell asleep?”
Smooth one there, Maggie. State the dang obvious, why don’t ya?
Shane smiles back softly, though, lifting an eyebrow. “Guess so.” Suddenly, he notices his hand on my ass and maybe the feeling of his morning wood against my thigh, and his smile disappears in an instant. “Oh, uh . . . sorry.”
He lifts his hand off my butt, and I lift up, trying to disentangle myself from our compromising position before my heart fails. “Thanks for staying last night. I was pretty freaked out after everything. Think that guy will stay away?”
Shane’s face hardens, and it’s reassuring to see absolutely no doubt in his eyes. “He’ll stay away, or he’ll wish he had. But you’re safe, okay?”
I dip my chin, feeling silly that he’s still reassuring me, and deciding I need to act a bit more blasé about the whole thing, put it in my past and move forward. I’m supposed to be a tough girl, not a scaredy cat.
Decision made, I stand and straighten my back, rolling my shoulders back to look as tall as I can, which isn’t much considering my petite five-foot-nothing self. “Let me put on a fresh pot of coffee—”
Shane interrupts, straightening up himself. “Thanks, but I’d better get going. Need to get my truck before tonight’s shift starts.”
A tough ball of disappointment forms in my gut, but I plaster a fake smile on my face anyway. I mean, I was pathetic enough to almost beg him to stay last night. I shouldn’t keep the streak going. “Sure, of course. Want me to give you a ride back to the club?”
“No, thanks, I’ll grab a cab. I’m sure you’ve got plans today,” Shane says, getting up. I do have plans. I mean, I have to go to my other job, but he doesn’t know that. And there’s something about the way he says it that sounds like a dismissal, not like he’s fishing for me to hang out with him.
“Yeah, busy.” He folds the blanket and lays it on the arm of the couch, and something about that strikes me as so domestic, so tame considering he’s a wild beast of man who didn’t hesitate to put the beat-down on that guy last night.
The contrast makes me feel dizzy, or maybe that’s just him and how he makes me feel inside. I walk him to door, one hand on the doorknob as I turn and look at him again. “Thanks for last night.”
Shit, that sounds like I mean something else, something decidedly more vulgar, and I can feel the blush warming my cheeks. Even Shane smiles a little, and I quickly try to get myself out of this quicksand I’ve stuck myself in. “I mean with the guy at the club. And bringing me home.”
I know I look like a total fool, and Shane seems amused by my awkwardness. He gives me a little grin that leaves my heart hammering even more in my chest and chuckles. “You’re welcome. Just doing my job. Well, mostly,” he says with a pointed look at the couch. “But I’m glad I was here.”
I think he’s trying to make me blush more, and to be honest, he’s succeeding. “Uh . . . me too.”
Shane clears his throat, and I have a half-second to wonder if he’s serious that he liked being here. “I’ll see you tonight?”
I nod, thinking that I wouldn’t miss a shift at Petals for the world right now. “Yeah, I’m working dinner to close tonight, so I’ll see you later.”
There’s a moment where it seems neither of us knows what to do, so I finally lean in for a hug.
I mean, heck. I slept draped over the guy like he was a body pillow last night. A hug doesn’t seem all that intimate, right? And we’re colleagues, work buddies even. And work buddies will sometimes give each other a hug.
Except when I reach up and wrap my arms around him and press my chest toward his, all I can think about is how good he feels. My breasts tingle as they smoosh against his hard chest muscles, and my body feels every bit of his hand splayed on my back. I can almost read the way his fingers adjust their pressures, his thumb pressing against one of my ‘dimples’ for a moment before his fingers take over, alternating like he’s playing a piano before he pulls me tighter and his musky-manly scent fills my senses. I have to bite back the moan in my throat.
“You be good,” Shane says with a tantalizing ghost of huskiness in his voice that makes me think maybe he liked the hug as much as me. With one last full, white smile and a little two-finger wave, he steps out. “And take it easy.”
As soon as he’s gone, I melt back to the couch, a wistful sigh mixing with the floomp of my cushions as I flop.
“Damn, that man is hot with a capital Oh, yeah!” I sigh, knowing that he’s also incredibly off-limits, for so many reasons. First, there’s my waitress job where the no fraternizing rule is strictly enforced.
Second, there’s the fact that I’m undercover for the tabloid and he doesn’t even know my real name. He thinks I’m Meghan, not Maggie. Major buzzkill to be mid-flagrante delicto and for him to cry out your name, except it’s not yours but rather the alias you gave him.