Page 431 of Dark Love

“You sound like you’re ready for bed.” Vex sets a book down on the shelf across from the window.

“I am.”

“Then let’s go to bed.”

Let’s go to bed?!?

Vex and I are sleeping together.

We haven’t even kissed and we’re going to sleep together…

Get your head out of the gutter. Nothing is going to happen tonight. It’s going to be completely platonic… well, mostly platonic. It’s not like you are half comatose like you were the last time.

Sleep, though, sounds soamazing. A nice long night’s sleep safe in Vex’s strong arms sounds better than anything else in the entire world right now.

But the whole getting to that point sounds awkward. “I’ll go make our hot fudge sundaes.”

Like the coward I am, I rush off to hide in the kitchen for as long as humanly possible.

Vex’s chuckles follow me out the door and down the stairs.

There is nothing wrong with being a coward.

Nothing at all.

What is Vex going to wear to bed? Before he wore his street clothes. Will he do that again? That seems awfully uncomfortable.

Vex probably brought pajamas.

A man like Vex wears pajamas?

That doesn’t sound right. In all the books and movies, men like Vex sleep in their underwear or…

Nope. Nope. Nopety. Nope.

Vex brought pajamas. Very modest pajamas. Pajamas that cover every inch of his muscled skin.

Boring pajamas.

Stop thinking about Vex in his pajamas.

Go make hot fudge.

***

As I set the last cherry on top of a dollop of freshly whipped cream, all my excuses for avoiding bed disappear. There’s no more procrastinating.

It’s time to face my fears…a sexy man in my bedroom shouldn’t be this scary.

What would Mom do?

Put on a negligée and schedule the reception at the clubhouse.

There has tobe someone else I could emulate… Diane would probably strip off her clothes…

Nope. That’s a bad idea.

Savie... She would brazen it out and pretend like she slept with a different man every day but Sunday and this was no big deal.

---