Page 15 of The Holiday Disaster

My hands wandered, sliding up his back and down again, this time going a tad lower. Instead of feeling the polyester of my gym shorts, all I felt was warm skin.

He wasn’t wearing pants.

That had my eyes widening as I swept the covers off us to confirm that Ethan was indeed going au naturale on his bottom half. The shorts he’d been wearing last night lay discarded on his side of the bed.

His brows furrowed as he shivered, and my eyes landed on his perky butt and hips, which were grinding down against me. I threw the blankets back over us and tried to ignore the hard object that was rubbing against me. It was making my own situation veryhard.

I sunk my head into the pillows as I tried to think aboutanythingbesides the beautiful and sexy man in my arms, who was intent on working me up in every way possible.

It didn’t work because my brain was obsessed with focusing on nothing besides him and the supple feel of his skin against my palm. It was especially difficult when I knew that he was right on top of me, half naked. But I would never lay a hand on an unconscious person. I was a gentleman, after all.

Ethan let out a cute little sigh, his head snuggling into my pecs as his eyes slowly peeled open. I quickly shut my eyes again and pretended to still be sleeping.

There was some rustling and a gasp as Ethan sprung up away from me. Then a loud groan and curses ensued after. I was guessing that he had realized that his shorts had fallen off sometime during the night. The bed dipped and there was more rustling where our suitcases were placed before the bathroom door closed, followed by silence.

Peeking one eye open, then another, I looked around to make sure that the coast was clear before sitting up. Clutching my stomach with one hand and covering my mouth with the other, I tried not to make any noise as I let out the laughter I was holding in.

I could imagine the expression Ethan made when he came to the realization that he had been sleeping basically on top of me with his naked bottom half flush against me. I wondered if he was feeling all hot and bothered like I was?

I shook those dangerous thoughts away, especially when Ethan could come out at any moment. I should have rubbed one out last night in the shower, but on the off chance that he was waiting for me, I didn’t want to risk taking too long and having him guess what I was doing in there.

Instead of staying still and facing temptation, I dragged myself out of the warm bed. I made the bed and rearranged all the pillows that had been thrown onto the ground.

A small sign holder on the nightstand caught my eye. It listed the Wi-Fi password as well as information directing us to the first floor for a complimentary breakfast. I grabbed the pamphlet lying beside the stand and sat on the bed to read it.

Ethan came out a few minutes later looking alert. He still wore my shirt but had changed into the same jeans he wore yesterday.

“Going commando?” I asked with a smirk.

He shot me one of his beloved glares that I always found endearing. “No,” he gritted out as he neatly folded my shorts and placed them on top of my suitcase. “I wore yesterday’s pair inside out.” His words were more shy this time.

My grin got even brighter. It was such a college thing to do, but very unlike Ethan. Elliott once asked him to grab a pair of clean socks from his dresser. Ethan had refused saying that Elliot’s nasty foot germs had probably permeated into his old socks and no amount of washing could get him to touch them.

“So, what do you want to do today?” I asked as I placed the pamphlet down and walked to him.

“What do you mean? Aren’t we going to stay here and wait for the airline to call us?”

I shot him an incredulous look. “Who knows when the next flight out is. We can’t stay holed up in the room when there’s so much to explore here. I saw they have free snow tubing on the small hills behind the B&B. Plus there’s going to be a ton of activities on Main Street.”

He wrinkled his nose in distaste and unzipped his suitcase to pull out a biology textbook. “No, thanks. I’ll stay here and study.” He sat at the tiny table and opened the book like he was ready to immerse himself in all things science.

I flipped the book closed and pulled him to his feet. “C’mon, it’ll be fun. We’ll grab some breakfast, get you some new clothes, then explore the town. The plane won’t leave without us.”

He didn’t look too convinced and twisted his head around to glance at his textbook with longing. “C’mon. It’ll be fun,” I said again, gently swinging his hand that I was still holding.

The action drew his attention as he stared dazedly at our joined hands. He bit his bottom lip, not saying anything as he gave me a curt nod.

“Great! Let me get ready really quick.” I bent over and grabbed a random long sleeve from my luggage and a fresh pair of jeans.

Ethan also bent down and picked up the sweater he’d worn yesterday with two fingers and stared at it like he was contemplating life or death. I chuckled and took it from him. “Wear my t-shirt out and you can borrow another one tonight for pjs. I packed plenty of clothes unlike a certain someone.”

His lips turned down into a pout at my words as he muttered, “I didn’t think I’d need to bring clothes home.” He crossed his arms, and I laughed.

I rummaged through my suitcase again, pulled out a pair of wool socks, and held them out to him. The disdain was clear in his eyes as he stared at them without budging.

“I’m guessing you didn’t pack any socks either. So it’s either this washed, clean pair or your sweaty ones from yesterday.” He considered my words for a second, his bottom lip getting even more abuse as he probably weighed the pros and cons of wearing day old socks.

A triumphant smile lingered on my face as he reluctantly took the proffered socks. I ruffled his hair as I passed by him on my way to the bathroom. Ethan already had his coat and boots on when I was finished washing up and getting changed. He looked up from his phone and tilted his head toward the front door.

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