Page 56 of A Little Bit Extra

She tiptoes back toward the bed, only looking up from the floor at me when she gets close enough to slide under the sheets.

“I won’t bite,” I say, but then my mind flashes to last night and my cheeks flush as I picture my lips on every available surface of her body. “I mean, I won’t bite right now. Maybe later, though.” I smirk.

Cassie rolls her eyes, laying back next to me. She rolls over on her side to face me, wrapping her right arm under her head.

“I wasn’t expecting you to wake up.” Cassie finally speaks to me, although it’s a whisper at best. She’s transfixed on a single thread that’s exposed itself from the edge of the sheet. She’s currently twisting it in between her thumb and pointer finger.

Gently, I place my hand under her chin, lifting it up to meet my gaze. “I wasn’t expecting you to leave without saying goodbye.” Cassie looks back down before returning her eyes to me. My thumb softly glides across her jaw as I wait for her to reply.

She bites her lip, and her eyebrows furrow. “I didn’t want to assume that you wanted me to stay. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect after last night.”

This girl. Have I not clarified that I’m infatuated with her? That last night was weeks in the making for me?

“I don’t want you to leave,” I say, pressing my lips against hers in a single kiss. “Isn’t it obvious that I like you, Cassie?” I press another kiss to her lips before letting her say something back. I lean back on my pillow, mocking her position.

“It’s… complicated?” Her left shoulder lifts in a shrug, her eyebrows following the same direction.

It is complicated. “No one has to know, if that’s what you’re worried about. I hope you know I wouldn’t tell anyone and risk anything with your job. I’ve been trying to be careful.”

“Flirting with me in public is being careful?” Cassie counters.

“Would you rather I ignored you?” I ask. Cassie lets out a small laugh, which I’m grateful for, because it helps lighten the conversation.

“I don’t think you could do that, even if you tried.”

“You’re right. Sure, it’s complicated, but I do like you. And I think you like me too?” I ask. She nods, tucking her left hand under her head and snuggling more into the pillow. “Then I don’t think it’s a complication between us. It’s things around us that make it complicated.”

We both sigh, showing that we share similar thoughts about the "no dating" rule and our forbidden romance.

“There is a way to avoid the complication,” Cassie says, and my eyes widen with curiosity.

“Go on…”

“We could do this—” she takes her left hand out from under her head and points from me back to her, “in secret.”

“In secret,” I repeat, thinking. It could work. I want it to work. We’ve already been public about our friendship, so it’s not odd to see us together at the studio.

“I mean, we don’t have to. I was just thinking out loud,” Cassie quickly says since I’m clearly taking too long to respond.

“You should know I don’t casually date. If we continue this,” I gesture between us, parroting what she did, “you’re mine. No one else’s.”

“I’m… yours.” My eyes widen, and I furrow my brow at her lack of confidence. “You’re insufferable. I’m yours, okay? Yours, no one else’s, secretly,” she adds, grinning at her response.

“I like when you’re extra sassy.” I extend my left arm and start sliding it under her arm and head, encouraging her to nest herself closer to me, which she does.

Just as I'm about to kiss her, the jarring sound of a phone ringing breaks the silence, pulling us back to reality. “I think that’s yours,” I whisper in her ear. She groans and boy, do I feel that way too.

Cassie rolls over, plants her feet on the ground, and walks over to the chair where her pile of things still sits. Miraculously, nothing has fallen over. She digs to find her phone, which was at the bottom of the pile. Everything is now back on the floor, surrounding the bottom of the chair. This time, she doesn’t bother picking it up.

“Hi, Annie.” She answers the phone with a smile, walking over to sit back on the edge of the bed.

As she talks, I sit up and move to sit behind her, leaning to kiss her neck. Distracting her. Taunting her. Torturing her. I know it’s working because Cassie keeps fidgeting and glancing back at me while still trying to remain engaged in the conversation with her sister.

“Annie, I need to go. I’ll call you later and we can chat about this.” She pauses. “Yeah. No, I will not tell Emmett you said hello.” I pinch her side. She whips her head back to me and glares. “Because Anns. Yes, I know him.” A pause. “It’s complicated.” She glances back at me again. I wink at her. “Love you too. Mhm, okay, fine, if I see him I’ll let him know your thoughts on his last movie. Great. Bye.” She takes the phone away from her ear and presses the end call button.

“Emmett…” she drawls. She sets her phone on the end table before turning toward me.

She surprises me by pushing me back on the bed, pinning my arms with her hands. She then crawls close enough to throw her left leg over me, straddling me.

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