Page 54 of When Our Stars Aligned

“Aly?” Jax says once he reaches the foot of the bed.

“Yes?”

“I stole your cookies.” And with that, Jax belly flops onto the bed and instantly begins to snore. I grab a blanket and cover his naked self…but not before I take a moment to appreciate the gorgeous body before me. With a nice mental image burned into my mind, I head for the couch to get some sleep.

31

Jax

I wake up feeling like I was hit by a truck. My head feels heavy and I groan in pain with every shift of my body. I slowly open my eyes and realize that I’m not in my bed. I’m in the guest room, the guest room that Aly should be in. I sit up and look around me. Everything seems normal, but Aly isn’t in here. I grab the crutches that are propped next to the nightstand. I wonder if Aly left them here for me. I hobble to my bedroom, rest my crutches against my dresser, and shift to sit on my bed, which has a lump in the middle of it.

I pull back the blanket to reveal a sleeping Aly. She looks so peaceful and content. I wonder why she’s in my bed and I was in hers. I chuckle to myself. I’ve never had a woman sleep in my bed and of course it would be Aly to break that rule of mine. She’s broken several rules of mine already and for some reason,it doesn’t bother me. I gently brush back a piece of hair that has fallen in front of her face. Her eyes flutter open and the sleeping beauty screams.

“What the hell are you doing?!” She springs to a sitting position.

“What am I doing? I came in here wondering what I was doing in the guest room and found you sleeping in my bed.” I hold up my hands in defense.

She rubs her hands over her face, trying to wake herself up. “Look, I know I’ve seen you naked a few times now, but do you have to make this a habit?”

I look down at myself and yup, I don’t know why I didn’t notice a draft until now. Maybe I do need to reconsider the whole sleeping naked thing. I turn towards my dresser to grab some shorts, but my foot gets caught in a blanket on the floor. My arms start to make a windmill motion as I try to steady myself, and pain surges through my body. Aly lunges for me like there’s actually a chance she can help. Together, we tumble onto the floor with my body breaking her fall.

“Is everything okay? We heard a scream,” Alex’s voice bellows from the doorway. Gabby is standing beside him in the scrubs she wore yesterday; she must’ve just gotten home from her overnight shift.

I take in the situation. I’m lying on the floor naked as the day I was born. Thankfully, I’m not exposing myself to anyone because Aly is doing a thorough job of covering me with her body. Her soft body in those thin scraps of fabric she calls pajamas. Her hair swept to the side brushes up against my shoulder, the smell of her shampoo fills my senses, and I begin to go into overload between her scent and our bodies touching.

And now it’s like we’re in the ocean all over again. I know the moment Aly can feel me because her eyes go wide and she mumbles a “Well, good morning to you too” under her breath.She makes no attempt to get off me, which makes me grateful for several reasons.

“We’re fine!” Aly looks up at Alex and Gabby, who are still standing in the doorway. “Just a little mishap, but everything’s fine.”

“Do you need any help getting up?” Gabby asks.

Aly rests her head on her hand and her elbow into my chest like she’s casually leaning on a table. “Nope, we’re all good!” She gives me a look as if to saysay something.

“Yup, all good!” I fake a smile.

“Aly, did you forget what I told you to yell if Jax fell?” Alex crosses his arms and looks at her as if he’s a parent reprimanding a child.

“Ugh, Alex, now is really not the time.”

“Oh, I think it’s the perfect time.” A shit-eating grin crosses his face. “Come on now, let me hear you say it.”

Aly burrows her face in my chest and mumbles something inaudible.

“What was that?” Alex cuffs a hand to his ear.

“Timber!” Aly yells. “Now, can you please get out of here!”

“Okay then, if you don’t need us, we’ll be on our way,” Gabby says and turns to leave. I may be looking at her upside down, but I can still see an amused look on her face. She grabs Alex, who has a shit-ass grin on his face, and pulls him with her. I hear Alex mumble something about her owing him twenty bucks. I’m sure they wagered some sort of bet on Aly and me.

Aly jumps off me as soon as the coast is clear. I grab the blanket that I tripped on earlier and use it to cover my lower regions. I know it’s going to take a bit to stand, so I work my way to a sitting position with my back up against my bedframe.

“Are you okay?” Aly sits on the floor across from me with her back up against my dresser. “I’m so sorry about the blanket. I get hot when I sleep and must’ve kicked it to the floor in themiddle of the night. God! You must be hurting so badly right now! How’s your ankle? Do you need me to get anything?” She’s talking a mile a minute. I am hurting, but I don’t even care about that right now.

“Why were you in my bed?” I blurt out.

“I tried to sleep on the couch, but I was so uncomfortable. I figured if you were sleeping in my bed, I could sleep in yours.”

Fair enough. “How did I end up in your bed?”

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