Page 69 of The Roommate Remodel

“What are you waiting for?” he asks.

“I don’t want to mess it up. I’ve never seen such a neat bed. It should be on the cover of a home and garden magazine.”

“The guys give me flack about it,” he admits. “Leo tries to jump on it whenever I’m not looking just to irritate me.”

I stay at the side of the bed, still unsure whether this is a good idea. My bed is a happy place where I can laze around in pajamas and eat cookie butter from the tub while I escape in a messy pile of soft blankets. But Brax clearly has different standards.

He grabs my hand. “You can mess up my bed any day, Princess.” Then he pulls me onto the comforter, sending butterflies floating through my body.

I sink into the pillows, the feather kind that feels like a cloud. He hands me a neatly folded throw that’s made of the most sublime material I’ve ever touched, so soft I want to pet it like an exotic animal.

“You pick out soft throws?” I ask, open-mouthed. “What kind of tough hockey player are you?”

“One with a preference for things I like to touch,” he murmurs, tucking a wisp of hair behind my ear with such tenderness, I’m not sure he’s even the same man I’ve seen smashing guys in practice.

Even though my body is tingling, I rub the blanket against my cheek. “What is this made from? Magical unicorn tail knitted by fairies?”

He smirks. “No idea. How about we just call it magical Not Fur?” He spreads the throw over me so that no part of me is cold while keeping some space between us.

“Now that you’re warm and comfortable, do you mind if I pick the movie for you?” he asks.

I look at him skeptically. “Nothing that will give me nightmares for the next week.”

“So Hallmark meets Nora Ephron?” he asks with a lifted brow.

I blink. “I can’t believe you even know who Nora Ephron is.”

“I’m exceptional that way,” he says with a knowing grin, reminding me of our wedding reception conversation.

When he picks my favorite rom-com,When Harry Met Sally,and opens a tub of Cherry Garcia ice cream, I can only think,This is what love must feel like. All my favorite things that make my heart happy.

I sink into the blanket and pillows in a state of ice cream bliss until my eyelids are so heavy I can barely keep them open.

It’s not until I hear the door creak open and I wake up that I realize the movie is almost over and I’ve fallen asleep under the Not Fur blanket of silky softness.

Vale peeks his head around the door with Tate and Leo just behind. They almost stumble into each other like the Three Stooges when they realize Brax isn’t alone.

Vale looks between us with a mischievous glint. “What are you two watching?”

“Nothing. Now get out of here,” Brax instructs, throwing a pillow at them to get them to leave.

Vale tosses it back lightning fast, almost nailing me in the head. Luckily, Brax blocks it with his hand, keeping it from smacking me in the face.

I swear this guy has superhuman reflexes.

I prop myself on an elbow, suddenly aware of how my body has shifted during my nap. I’m curled toward him, my head nestled inside the curve of his muscular arm. At some point, I must have rolled closer to him. But the last hour is a hazy blur of soft blanket, the allure of Brax’s yummy scent, and the black hole of his super-magnetic galaxy.

Brax is sitting comfortably, the same way he was when the movie started, except now his arm is propped up behind my head, cradling me protectively.

We’re not exactly cuddling. But we’ve certainly lost the distance we started with at the beginning of the movie.

Leo arches an eyebrow. “First dinner, now a movie in your room?”

“What dinner?” Vale asks, looking glum. “Did I miss food?”

“Never mind,” Brax says. “This was the only quiet place since your party took over the living room.”

Leo shrugs. “Convenient excuse to get a woman in bed.”

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