Page 59 of A Little More

He scooped her into his arms.

She jolted awake. “Nash?”

He didn’t speak. What could he say? He couldn’t tell her what he felt inside. No reason to put her through any more difficult situations to satisfy himself. No reason for her to verbalize the rejection he knew would come if he told her he loved her.

He carried her out of the dining room and up the stairs. Her eyes focused and alert but tired. He didn’t bother with the light. He’d keep them suspended away from reality. No past and no future. Just the present.

“Nash…”

“Stay.” He set her on the edge of his bed, hands propped on either side of her hips, their faces even. The porch light from below drifted in through the open curtain of his room, illuminating her face. “We can talk tomorrow but stay tonight.” He took a deep breath. “Stay with me tonight.”

“But I thought you didn’t want me here.”

“Wanting you isn’t the problem. It’s the part about letting you go I’m struggling with.” He picked up her hand, lightly pressing his lips to the blisters.

He rested his forehead against hers, taking a deep breath. Her perfume mixed with the faint trace of sawdust. “I’m sorry, Lexi.”

Slowly, she slipped her hands from his, tugging on his tee-shirt and pulling it over his head. Her fingertips skimmed over his arms and laced together at the back of his neck.

He gripped the comforter in his fists. Waiting. He needed to touch her, but he’d let her make the first move.

Tilting her head, she aligned their lips. “I think we have a couple hours for you to make it up to me.”

His hands slipped under her thighs, wrapping her legs around his waist as he stood. He spun around and took two steps, pressing Lexi up against the wall. She gasped, gripping his shoulders.

He ran his hands under her hips and to her waist, catching the bottom of her tank top in his hands. “I’ll make sure it takesallnight to make it up to you.”

16

She loved Nash. It wasn’t the way his hands molded to her body. It wasn’t the way he whispered she was beautiful as he took his time peeling her clothes off one layer at a time. No. Her country boy had skills, but that hadn’t made her emotions slip through unfiltered.

He’d apologized.

His lips pressed against the column of her throat as his hand gripped the back of her leg, pulling it up, anchoring it beside his hip. A soft moan she hadn’t expected slipped from her lips as he entered in one motion.

He paused, hovering above her, his weight over his forearms. “God, Lexi,” he muttered as he began to move.

Lexi reached her arms above her head, trying to find something to hold to keep her grounded. Because she didn’t want to lose herself and forget that this amazing moment, together, in the dark, wasn’t their future.

His fingertips skimmed her cheek. “Are you alright?”

She didn’t answer. No. She wasn’t alright. Her heart would never feel the same.

Staying distant was impossible.

But getting close messed up everything in her life.

“Baby,” he murmured and kissed her cheek, the side of her mouth, before hovering above her. “Talk to me.”

Since the only words she could think of were the dreaded “I love you,” she wrapped her arms around him, kissing him with every ounce of emotion and pushing away the future. They had right now.

The happy chirpingof birds wound their way into Lexi’s dream world and brought her awake in a slow, peaceful way. Her arm rested across Nash’s broad back as he slept on his stomach, his face buried in the pillow. The heat from his body threatened to pull her back to sleep before it dawned on her.

She’d slept with Nash.

She covered her eyes with her hand. Emotions swirled around until she couldn’t figure if she wanted to giggle or cry or go for round three.

Round. Freaking. Three.

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