Page 45 of Lawless in Leather

“It’s late,” she said.

“It is,” he agreed. His eyes had gone intent again, though he hadn’t moved from his position slouched against the arm of the couch, body turned to face her.

“You don’t have a car.”

“Also true.”

The ball was obviously in her court. “I have a bed,” she said after swallowing. “You could stay. Sleep, I mean. That’s all that’s on the table.”

“You want me to keep one foot on the floor at all times?” he asked.

“That sounds uncomfortable. No.” She shook her head. “No, I trust you to be a gentleman.”

He smiled then, that delighted heart-stopping smile, and she wondered if she had completely lost her mind. “In that case, Ms. Easton, I accept.”

There was an arm around her. Raina’s eyes snapped open. Malachi Coulter’s arm. Heavy and warm and just as weirdly comforting as it had been when they’d fallen asleep.

She had no desire to free herself of that weight. Not just yet. The clock on her nightstand told her it was a little after five. Which meant she’d only been asleep a few hours.

But somehow she felt wide awake. As though she’d slept soundly for eight hours rather than a quarter of that.

Maybe Mal gave off magic sleeping fumes?

She wouldn’t put it past him. The man did everything well.

He even slept well. No snoring. No thrashing around. No, he’d just put his arm around her waist, pulled her close back against him, and promptly fallen asleep. A skill learned in the army, perhaps? In a war zone, it was probably pretty handy to be able to sleep wherever you found yourself. She’d lain there for a minute or two, not really believing that he really did want to sleep and trying to make up her mind exactly how she felt about the fact that he could just fall asleep with her lying next to him—and then, to her surprise, she’d drifted off, too.

But now she was awake.

Awake and humming with awareness of Mal warm and solid behind her.

The room smelled like him. Smelled like male and good things and suddenly she was achingly aware that she wasn’t happy with him just sleeping beside her.

But was that fair?

Most guys she knew wouldn’t say no to sex if it was offered, but Mal was more complicated than just sex. Because she didn’t know if it could be just sex with him. And didn’t know if she wanted it to be anything more than that.

But even as she was trying to figure out what she should do—what she wanted to do—she couldn’t help pressing a little closer against him.

Which led to the discovery that parts of him were wide awake. And very … tempting. She took a breath, which somehow pressed them closer still

“If you keep doing that then I’m going to have to assume that we might be redefining ‘see what happens.’” Mal’s voice rumbled in her ear.

She froze. “You’re awake.”

“Light sleeper,” he said. “Particularly when a gorgeous woman starts wriggling around in bed with me.”

“I didn’t wriggle.”

“It felt wriggly to me,” he said with a chuckle that sent his breath dancing warmly across the back of her neck. She shivered from the sensation. “So did that,” he added. “Do it again.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “It might inflame your imagination.”

“Darlin’, I think we’ve already gone beyond my imagination being inflamed.”

So the pleasingly hard erection pressing against her butt was informing her.

All that just waiting there for her. The thought of it sent a pulse of heat to her crotch. The warmth spread and bloomed across her skin from there. Mal had been the perfect gentleman all night. He was still being the perfect gentleman. Erection or no erection he’d made no move to take the lead.

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