Awk-Weird (Ice Knights, #2)(37)

“I hadn’t thought about it like that but yeah, it makes that itchy feeling creeping up the back of my neck go away. I like knowing where things are and that they’ll be there tomorrow and the day after. That and the people who’ve known me forever—like Coach Peppers and Marti—they’re my constants.”

Marti. Perfect girlfriend Marti. He hadn’t mentioned her much around Tess, but she was there anyway, along with Lucy’s words from the wedding about how they always ended up back together.

“Change is uncomfortable,” she said, scooping up a bit of cupcake frosting with her finger and sucking it off. “But sometimes it happens just when you need it.”

His eyes darkened as he watched her lick the last of the frosting from her finger. “Thinking about the baby?”

“Of course.” Because it couldn’t be the fact that a little nugget of hope was growing along with their little peanut.

If there was anyone out there who should know better than to hope for a happily ever after, it was her—but here she was with Cole, baking cupcakes together and wondering if this was what her life could be like. The little teasing touches, the air of anticipation making her heart beat faster, the sense that this could be real if only she was brave enough to go after what she wanted for once in her life instead of resigning herself to the fact that everything was temporary. It was a heady, dangerous thing, and she’d thought she was only gonna help him make cupcakes.

Cole cleared his throat, his body tense and hard, then started to pour the batter into the cupcake tins. “So why did you move around so much growing up?”

All those light and bubbly feelings went flat in an instant. “It’s a long story no one really wants to hear.”

He looked up at her and for a second, the world stopped moving. “I do.”

She gripped the counter, white-knuckling it, tethering herself to reality when all she wanted to do was float away on the fantasy of him. “Next time.”

“I’m holding you to that,” he said as he slid the filled cupcake tins into the oven.

While they baked, she washed the dishes and he dried and put them away. By the time the timer went off, she was stifling her early-afternoon post-lunch yawns.

“So what now?” she asked when he took the cupcakes out of the oven and put them on a cooling rack.

“We nap while they cool, then I frost them and leave for the rink.”

“We nap?” Of course she’d get caught up on that one word because napping was pretty much the last thing she thought about when it came to Cole Phillips and a bed.

He flipped the tea towel he’d used in place of an oven mitt over one shoulder and gave her a slow up-and-down. The move should not have been sexy. It should not have made little bubbles of anticipation pop like champagne in her chest. It should not make her catch her breath while her mind played a mini-movie about what happened last time she and Cole slept together.

Good Lord. If she didn’t watch it, she’d be clutching the countertop to keep herself upright and calling for her smelling salts.

He snorted. “You’ve yawned five times in the past six minutes. Pretty sure you could use a snooze.”

“I’ll just sit in the living room and binge some Netflix.” That would be much safer.

“Your body is saying you need your rest, not couch cramps,” he said, his palm going to the small of her back as he led her out of the kitchen. “What you need is a real stretch out. I have a system.”

Somehow, she wasn’t sure how they ended up just inside his bedroom. There was a whole room full of furniture but she only noticed the California king.

“Which side do you sleep on?” he asked.

“The right.” The answer was out before she could even think.

“Perfect.” He grinned at her. “I’m a left sleeper.”

“So we’re doing it together.” Doing it? Doing it? Oh my God. She needed someone to save her from herself. “You know what I mean. We’re sleeping together.” Heat burned her cheeks and blood rushed in her ears. She was so smooth. It was a nap. Just a nap. He wasn’t interested in her—they’d just gotten weddinged. He wanted Marti. There was nothing to this—for him, anyway. “I’m just gonna shut up now.”

“Good thing being quiet is part of the routine. Now, come on.” He flopped down on top of the covers on the left side of the bed. “Kahn is going to somehow magically know that I’ve gone to sleep and then try to strangle me before you tiptoe in and retrieve him anyway, so you might as well stay.”

This was not a good idea. It was a bad idea—a little bit of the feel-good kind of bad and a lot of the bad-decision kind of bad. Yet she strolled right over to the bed anyway and lay down. The bed was huge, so there was enough room between them for at least two more people.

She let out a shaky breath and stared at the ceiling because looking over at Cole seemed too close to the feel-good kind of a bad idea. “What now?”

“Close your eyes.”

Okay, it made sense. Lessons in perfect napping would include closing her eyes. She could do this. So why was she scared? Not of him but of what she’d picture as soon as her lids came down. It wouldn’t be Cole as he was now in workout pants and an Ice Knights T-shirt. Nope. She’d be picturing the muscled expanse of his bare chest, because taking a nap with Cole Phillips was pretty much anything but innocent for her.