Page 179 of Out of Bounds

Ryan

Sleep Schedule

Shower—fucked Kassie again. Brushing teeth—slipped my hand under her shirt and got to feel her up. And then, there she was, with a Romans shirt on, her dark hair in braids down her shoulders, and myhickeyson her neck.

She backed up to my bed and held her arms out before she fell back. “God, this is so comfy. I could die on this mattress and I’d be happy.”

“Uh-huh.” I pulled the covers over and slipped into bed too. “We’re going to cuddle right.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m a big guy. We’re supposed to cuddle in specific ways.”

“Oh my god.” I knew she was rolling her eyes without even seeing it before she perked up. “Did I tell you Henry Miller sent me an email?”

Play it cool, Cross.

I made a noise at the back of my throat. “You’re not moving fast enough.”

Kassie could talk to me about the emailandlet me hold her. I looped my arm around her waist and pulled her up with me, making quick work of her. Her head needed to be on my chest, my hand needed to be at her back, and her legs were tangled up with mine, just the way I wanted her.

I picked up her other hand and laid it across my side but it hit the bruise.

I flinched.

“You okay?” she asked.

“It’s fine.” She didn’t need to worry about it. “What did you think about the apology?”

“It’s a…weird one,” Kassie said slowly. I couldn’t understand what that meant. I’d read it over twice myself, it sounded fine to me. But Kassie hesitated, humming under her breath. “The email feels…HR mandated? Does that make sense? But clearlynotwritten with HR. There’s spelling mistakes all over the place. And how would they have gotten involved? I don’t know. Weirdest email I’ve ever gotten.”

Shit.

“Do you want…another one?”

Kassie laughed. “That’d be even weirder, Ryan.” She dropped her voice in a mock impersonation. “Hey—sorry for being creepy—but you know what I’m sorry most about? Mistyping the word ‘assume.’”

That got me. I chuckled and Kassie smiled up at me. Goddamn, what a smile. There was a reason I had fifty sketches of it in my locker.

“Wait.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “Ididtell you about the email?”

I shook my head. “Nope.”

“But you knew it was an apology.”

Fuck.

For long seconds, I was silent, trying to think of exactly what to say. That was a fumble at the end zone if I ever saw one. Clearing my throat, I tugged her closer, and pulled up the covers to her shoulders. “What else would he be emailing you about?”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“You need to go to sleep,” I quickly reminded her. “We’ve got an early morning tomorrow.”

“Practice, practice, practice.” She poked me in the stomach. “You need to go to sleep too. Catch up on a tiny percentage of what you’ve missed out on.”

That got another chuckle out of me. “I’m not going to sleep.”

“Why not?”

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