Page 31 of My Begrudging Scent Matches

“Too tired,” Alice says, then pulls the blanket closer.

“You don’t want to sleep in jeans.” He’s stern, eyebrows set and face oh, so serious. His way or the highway, and all that.

Caleb laughs through his nose, a little huff at the words Alice didn’t think she’d spoken out loud. “Sure, sure, come on. Up.”

Alice groans but lets Caleb pull her to her feet, he steadies her with a hand on her waist. She blinks a few times, the grogginess lessening only to realize how very close they’re standing to each other. She watches his Adam's apple move down his wide throat with a swallow, and feels his thumb glide across a slice of bare skin exposed on her hip.

Her eyes are at the perfect height to stare right at his lips, which look smooth and soft.

“Thank you for coming today,” Caleb says, his voice tenderly quiet. He leans forward just a bit, enough that his mouth is practically hovering over hers.

“Thank you for having us,” she says. Her eyes flutter shut against her will and Caleb presses his warm lips to the side of her mouth before pulling away.

“You should change,” he says, voice lower than usual. Alice opens her eyes and nods, coming back to herself.

Damn hormones.

“Right.” She grabs the clothes from his outstretched hand, careful not to touch his skin, and retreats to the downstairs bathroom where she wets her hands with cold water and presses them to her heated neck. She’s fine. This is fine. They could sleep in the same house and not sleep together, they were adults after all, and Grant would be back with Olivia and Johnathan any second now.

It was good of him to pull away.

She repeats all this in her mind while pulling on a long sleeve and sweats, both belonging to Caleb, if the scent was anything to go by.

Because she can’t help herself, she takes a moment to peer into the drawers and under the sink. Sunscreen, towels, some boxes of toothpaste—nothing exceptionally interesting. Usual guest bathroom fare. What she really wants is to poke around their closet and bedroom. She wouldn’t dare though, she knows about curiosity killing cats and the like.

With her own clothes folded neatly in a pile—bra stuffed in between her folded-up jeans because the thought of him seeing her bra was laughably making her skin hot to the touch—she makes her way back to the living room where Caleb now sits on the edge of the folded-out couch bed, his elbows on his knees.

She’d already decided that Olivia and Johnathan would take the guest bed and she’d take the couch bed. The other bed in the house was not going to be an option.

“Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Hm?”

“In the bathroom?” Caleb looks like the question is genuine and not like he expects that she was snooping for no reason. “I heard the drawer.”

“Oh, definitely. Yes, I uh, just needed some floss,” she lies. “Stuck food, and all that.”

“Good. I hope that’s enough blankets,” he nods his head over at the made-up bed, the top two are ones she recognizes from her heat.

“Looks great.”

Alice holds her elbow, ever aware of the awkward air between them, but unsure how to address it. His phone rings before she has to, the ringtone breaking through the quiet making both of them jump. Caleb pulls it from his pocket.

“It’s Grant,” he says to Alice before answering. “You okay?”

Alice can’t hear what Grant says through the phone and she tries to make it look like she’s not actively trying to eavesdrop. Caleb gives a few one-word responses as Grant speaks before saying he’ll see him soon, he loves him, then ends the call.

“Your heater is fixed,” Caleb says.

“Oh,” Alice says. “That’s. . . good news.”

“It is,” Caleb agrees, then after a minute remembers to add, “Your sister and her husband said they wanted to just stay there for the night.”

Alice feels a longing pull to the sofa bed. She’s already so cozy and her bones are weary and exhausted, but if her heater is fixed then they probably want her to go home, too, right?

They remain standing there, so stiff across from each other.

Alice steels herself. “I’d like to stay. Since the bed’s already made up and everything.”

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