Page 72 of The Main Event

“Not too shabby.” I felt like a complete and total idiot. “Um…”

“Do you want to have a serious talk now?” he asked. “Or do you want to wait?”

“I think we probably should do it now. Don’t you?”

“I would rather not.” He snuggled in tight, his cheek brushing mine, and huffed out a noise that had every nerve-ending in my body standing at attention. “Let’s just stay in this bed forever and ignore the rest of the world.”

If someone else had suggested it, I would’ve laughed. How boring would that be? With him, it sounded like a reward rather than a punishment. That didn’t stop real world thoughts from trampling on the fantasy. “What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you want to do?”

A wolfish gleam came into his eyes.

“We’re not doingthatagain,” I warned. I instantly had second thoughts. “Well, not until we have this conversation.”

His grin only grew wider. “If we stay in this bed, there will be no conversation.”

Because I knew he was right, I propped myself up on an elbow and stared down at him. “Maybe we should go out for breakfast. I’m starving.” As if on cue, my stomach growled.

His stomach joined in and harmonized. “I could eat,” he agreed. “The thing is … what if someone sees us?”

I instantly went stiff. “Because you’re ashamed?” I started to pull away from him. What a mistake this had been. A complete and total mistake.

“I’m not ashamed,” he growled, his temper coming out to play. He was almost frantic as he scrambled to pull me back to him. “I’m just trying to get the ground rules straight. Are we a couple?” He looked momentarily flummoxed by the possibility. “Are we a fling? Are we telling people at the hotel?”

Since I was wondering those same things, I allowed myself to relax. “I don’t know.”

“I’m not ashamed.” He was fierce when he brushed my hair away from my face. “Don’t ever think that. You’re beautiful, and any man who is with you should be beating his chest and going King Kong on the world.”

Well, that was quite the visual. “Okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to jump down your throat. I just … don’t know what to do.”

“Welcome to my world.” His bicep popped as he dragged a hand through his hair. “We need to get out of this bed. We’re not going to be able to think as long as we’re pressed together, naked.”

I trailed my fingers down his chest. “Right.” Then my fingers went lower.

He cocked an eyebrow. “That is not helping the situation.”

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No, but after this time, we’re definitely going to get breakfast.”

“I can live with that.”

WE SHOWERED TOGETHER, ONE THINGleading to another yet again, and then we headed down Derby Street to hit up Brothers Taverna.

“Your place isn’t far from the hotel,” Jax noted. We didn’t hold hands as we walked, but we were close enough that our shoulders kept bumping into one another. “You don’t walk between the hotel and your apartment alone after dark, though, do you?”

“Oh, geez.” I had to hold back a laugh. “Salem is not Boston. Our crime rate is pretty much nonexistent here.”

“There’s crime everywhere, and you’re beautiful. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“So, you’re saying if I wasn’t beautiful—you used the word and I’m just repeating it—that I wouldn’t be in danger of being hurt?”

He gave me a dirty look. “See, don’t put words in my mouth. You are beautiful, though. That’s the first thing I noticed about you.”

“I thought the first thing you noticed was my attitude.”

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