Page 26 of Against the Clock

Adrenaline shoots through me as memories of the previous night tumble through my brain.

Oh my god. I had sex with Daniel Harrison.

“Hey baby,” he says softly and I blink, only to see him fully dressed in another suit, looking handsome as hell. “Sleep in. I have to go to work.” He gestures next to him and I realize he has a small carry-on-sized suitcase. “Away game.”

“I don’t have a car,” I manage, still groggy. “What time is it?”

“It’s four AM. I have to be on a plane in a couple hours to fly out. Stay here.”

“Stay here?” I echo, pulling the covers up to my chin. I’m naked. I had sex with Daniel Harrison on a first date, and now I’m naked in his bed.

“Stay at my house for the weekend,” he repeats, grinning down at me. “I have food in the fridge, so many streaming services that I don’t even know what I have, and a whole roomful of my favorite books. I even have a Nintendo Switch with whatever games you’re into.”

“I have to get my car,” I say stupidly, trying not to panic.

“You don’t like Animal Crossing? Everyone likes Animal Crossing.”

“I don’t have a toothbrush.”

“I keep extras in the guest bathroom,” he says, some of the smile fading now. “You don’t want to stay?”

He asks the question like he can’t quite believe it, can’t quite believe a woman wouldn’t want to stay in his bed and wait for him to get home from getting beaten and bloodied on the football field.

I close my eyes, biting back what I want to say. That this shouldn’t have happened. That I made one choice, and it didn’t mean anything. It was nothing but scratching a very sexy itch.

“I can’t stay here this weekend,” I tell him finally. “I have things I have to do. Work.”

“You can borrow my laptop,” he says.

“Daniel, you can’t be serious. You can’t really want me to stay here. You hardly know me. What if I’m a thief? What if I…” I squint my eyes, my brain stumbling over a good reason why he wouldn’t want me here. “What if I’m just here because I wanted to nail a football player?”

“If you were a jersey chaser, I would pop a ring on your finger right now and you’d let me lock you down,” he answers cheerfully. “But I can tell from the freaked-out expression on your face that neither of those things are true.”

His smile fades and he closes his fingers around my chin. “Stay here. Get some sleep. But first,” he dips a hand into his pocket and retrieves the newest iPhone. “Give me your number.”

Numb, I take the phone from him, typing in my number.

He squints at me while I do it, like I’m a puzzle he hasn’t quite figured out how to put together. Well… that makes two of us.

He takes the phone from me before I can close the screen, tapping the call button.

My phone vibrates across the nightstand, and I notice it’s even plugged in.

“I got it from the truck last night while you slept,” he explains. “I figured you’d want it. Your clothes are in the dryer. Feel free to steal a pair of sweatpants.” He jerks his head towards a door on the other side of the room. “Help yourself to whatever your sticky little fingers want, and when I get back, I’ll make it worth your while to stay.”

“No,” I tell him, even though throwing all my responsibilities in the garbage for one wild weekend shacked up at his house is pretty appealing. “I can’t.”

Daniel scratches his scruff, which is well past stubble now and on to beard, looking confused.

I wonder if it’s the first time he’s heard the word from a naked girl in his bed.

“Please?” he asks. “Please stay.”

I don’t know what to do. Part of me loves the idea of it. Of being here when he gets back, of having sex with him again.

But that part of me isn’t rational. It isn’t who I am.

“I’ll call an Uber.”

---