Page 57 of The Very First Night

So, I do what any reasonable woman would do…I pretend I’m still sleeping.

As I sink back into him, allowing myself to fall into the sated state between sleep and awake, I feel his muscular arms tighten around me. My heart nearly leaps out of my chest as my stomach erupts with butterflies, but I’m far too tired to delve into the implications of what that could mean.

Warmth washes over me as I close my eyes, the sun’s gentle rays warming my skin. I drift back to sleep, the room fading away behind my closed eyelids.

“Kat.”

A groggy whisper ghosts past my ear and the warm breath causes goosebumps to erupt all over my skin.

I ignore the voice in an attempt to hold tightly to my last bit of sleep.

“Katarina.” The voice is playful, amused, and says my name in an almost singsong tone.

I groan, lifting my arm to cover my eyes, a flimsy attempt at hiding myself from the day, the sunlight impossible to escape now.

He laughs. “It’s noon—we should get up.”

“Noooo…we sleep,” I mumble through a yawn, inching back against him without much thought for the action.

This time, he groans. “Kat, we need to get up.”

The pained voice urges me into consciousness as I remember exactly who is in bed with me. Not some guy I met at a bar, not even Elijah in a drunken, terrible decision, but…Tanner.

Go figure: this is the exact moment I realize that, while Tanner is clearly as awake as the sun, so is…little Tanner. His morning erection is pressed firmly against my ass, and if I were more awake, I would probably jerk away. However, my sleepy state and lack of awareness leaves me with no filter.

“You have a boner,” I say matter-of-factly, not even bothering to open my eyes. I expect him to jerk away at my spoken observation, cower into the teenage version of himself, humiliated by his morning wood, but he does none of those things.

He…he…laughs. Not in a mocking way, but with pure, unadulterated amusement.

Tanner releases his hold around my waist before messing up my hair—which is more than likely already catastrophic—and gets out of bed.

I sit up and glance around the room. I know I should feel weird about waking up in Tanner’s arms; I should be reiterating that it can’t happen again. And yet…it felt good to be held, far better than I’d like to admit.

As if he can hear my thoughts, Tanner looks down at me with his brow quirked.

“What?” I ask.

“Are you spiraling right now?”

I definitely feel like I should be spiraling, or at the very least verbalizing that it meant nothing—because it did mean nothing. However, I simply shake my head. “I’m fine. We fell asleep together. I’ve done much more with Jenna.”

If I thought his brows were strained before, they now nearly hit his hairline as his mouth splits into a shit-eating grin. “Please, do elaborate. I’m a visual person, but a very detailed description would do, given that Jenna isn’t here…”

When I swat his arm, he breaks into a bellowing laugh, and I can’t bite my own laughter back any longer. “You’re an idiot!”

I stand up, adjusting my shirt to cover my partially exposed stomach. I don’t miss the way Tanner’s attention lingers on my navel. We both look away awkwardly.

My cheeks flush as I peer around the room before grabbing an oversized flannel out of an open box. I feel like I need to cover up, put a barrier between us—as if I wasn’t nestled in his arms only seconds ago.

“I’m gonna head down and grab some food. You in?” he asks. He’s so casual—a level of casual that I can’t seem to muster.

“Sure.”

Tanner leads us out of my room. As we start to walk toward the stairs, Elijah exits his room. I instantly clam up at the proximity and the pinched expression on his brow, fighting back the urge to inform him nothing happened between Tanner and me. Frankly, it’s none of his business.

So I do what any rational—but maybe a little petty—woman would do…I pretend we didn’t make eye contact as I follow Tanner.

As we descend the staircase, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and sizzling bacon wafts up to greet us. We reach the spacious kitchen, where Brendan, Regina, Aaron, and Jenna are gathered around the massive island in the center.

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