Page 78 of Home With You

She backs up even more, to the other side of the bed. "I just realized I'm not um..." She bites her lip.

"Wearing anything more than my shirt?" I ask with a smile.

"Yeah. And stop smiling like that!"

"Sorry, but a guy can't help but smile when a beautiful girl invites him into bed wearing nothing but his t-shirt."

She starts to smile but then shuts it down. "That wasn't supposed to happen. I thought I had them on. I forgot I'd given them to you to wash. Sorry about that."

"Don't be." I scoot closer to her. "I don't mind."

She glances up at the ceiling. "We didn't...you know...do anything, did we?"

"Trust me." I keep the smile going. "You would know if we did something."

Her face flushes and her neck moves as she swallows. "I didn't mean THAT, specifically. I just meant...never mind."

"Despite your lack of clothes, I was a perfect gentleman. If anything, YOU were the one taking advantage of ME."

"I didn't do anything," she insists. "I was sleeping."

"While rubbing your backside against the front of my shorts." I put my hand up. "Not that I minded. But a certain part of me isn't too happy with you right now."

She breaks into a smile. "Sorry. To both of you. I didn't know I was doing that. I must've been cold."

"Or you just like being close to me."

Her eyes lower. "Maybe a little."

"I liked it too."

"Liked what?"

"Being close to you." I slide up next to her and wrap my arm around her waist. "Having you in my arms."

"You do?” she asks, sounding surprised.

Does she not know how much I like her? How is that possible? I go to see her every night. I make sure she has plenty of food and bottled water. I help her with Gladys. How could she not know how much I care about her?

"Raine, when I said I was already interested in someone, you know who I was talking about, right?"

She shakes her head.

"Seriously?" I let out a laugh. "Raine, I was talking about you."

"But I thought—" She pauses. "I thought you changed your mind after we kissed."

"Are you kidding? That kiss was amazing. It made my feelings for you even stronger."

"Then why didn't you do it again?"

"Because you ran off like you never wanted to see me again. You made it clear you didn't want that. So I slowed things down, but Raine, I still want it. I still want a relationship with you."

She shakes her head. "We can't."

"Why not?"

She gets out of bed, yanking my shirt down and holding it there. "Where's your washing machine?"

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