Playing It Safe(72)

His arms encircle my waist, pulling me closer to him, and I weave my fingers into his hair until I’m cradling his head against my stomach. “I’m sorry I ruined this amazing dinner you made just for me with all of this, and that your stress ball exploded. I really should have told you sooner, and I feel terrible about it,” he says, his voice slightly muffled against my body. “Let me make it up to you.”

“The dinner can be nuked, so that’s easily fixed. As for the stress ball, it was about time I got rid of that thing anyway. So you see”—I stop and pull his face back to look into his questioning eyes—“you didn’t ruin a thing, and there is no need to apologize. But …”

“But what?” he asks with a smirk on his face.

“But I do know how you can make it up to me.”

“Even though you just said I have no reason to apologize,” he shoots back with a hint of sarcasm.

“Yup.” I bite my lip to keep from laughing.

“Go ahead, name it.”

Ah, this … this banter that I can do with my arms tied behind my back is definitely more my speed. I don’t regret the intimate moment, but I need to use baby steps with him because I know that I’m letting my guard down, and there won’t be any turning back.

“It involves the baseball hat and other things.”

Alex brings his hand up to hook his arm around my neck and pulls me down so my lips are level with his. His breath is warm when he speaks, causing all my nerve endings to prickle with delight. “Start heating up the food so I can show you other things.”

I whisper back to him, “With the baseball hat?”

“Most definitely with the baseball hat.”

I reheat our food, we eat, and move the evening along to other things that may or may not include him calling me Freckles in bed once.

Okay, okay, maybe twice.





CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

I wake up in Alex’s bed, and we make love in a semi-sleep state that feels as if I’m suspended in a dream.

This isn’t out of the ordinary for me, seeing as how I’ve been having sex with him on a daily basis for the last month. But the fact that I set his alarm to go off at the ass crack of dawn for Josie’s birthday party today and the alarm hasn’t gone off yet has me wondering what the hell is going on. Not complaining or anything, just slightly disoriented, but in the best way possible.

Afterward, when we’re both coming down from our high, he nuzzles his nose along mine and starts to press featherlight kisses across my cheek until he reaches my ear. “Good morning.”

“Good morning to you too,” I answer on a contented sigh. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but do you think you can wake me up like that every day? I’d be forever grateful.”

He rolls over onto his back and takes me with him. Smiling as his hand trails up and down my spine while he’s still inside of me, he replies, “I’ll see what I can do.”

I tilt my head over to peek at the clock and notice the time. Ugh. It’s five forty-five a.m. Seriously, if it wasn’t for Josie’s party today, I could easily stay in this bed all day with him after taking a nice long nap.

We kiss and I start to move off of him, but he wraps his arms around me and pulls me back down. “Alex,” I say through a giggle, “I have to start getting ready. Some of the deliveries are going to be here in about fifteen minutes.”

“Two more minutes,” he says, sounding muffled against my neck. “Then you can get out of this bed.”

I’m a sucker for his two-minute request, so I stay right where I am and let him hold me in his strong arms. My hair blankets each side of his face when I pick my head up to look at him. I cup his face in my hands as a lazy smile sweeps across his lips along with the dimples.

My finger traces the outline of one before I kiss it. “I really need to get moving here, Alex.”

He tilts my head and kisses me softly on the lips before letting me go. I nearly tumble out of bed in a dead sprint to the shower and hear him laughing behind me. So much for trying to be graceful, but I literally have just a few minutes to get myself in gear before the delivery trucks start arriving.

When I finish with my half-ass shower and go back into the bedroom, he’s making the bed while wearing a pair of dark pajama bottoms and looking as yummy as ever. I swear to Christ on a cracker, watching his lean and muscular body move around the side of the bed is a sight to behold, and I don’t think I could ever get sick of it.

“If you keep staring at me like that, you’ll only have yourself to blame for being late this time,” he says over his shoulder, catching me red-handed.


I scrunch my nose at him, making him chuckle, before I go to my overnight bag to grab my clothes and get dressed as quickly as possible. Since I’m setting up the party, I don’t have to go all out yet with the nice outfit, makeup, and hair. Which translates to I’ll probably have to shower again after I finish and before the guest of honor arrives.

I turn on my heel and head into his kitchen to turn on the coffee machine. While waiting for it to start brewing, I rummage through my purse and pull out my iPad. I’m checking off the items I can easily take care of when Alex comes strolling into the kitchen and wraps his arms around me from behind.

His stubble tickles my neck as he says, “I think you’re more excited for this party than my niece is.”