Page 32 of After Tonight

5

She was asleep on his couch.

Asleep. On his couch. After waking him up and making him think about her nipples. And making him feel like no way could he pull off eating crepes with some nice girl he was dating and not screwing. And then, maybe worst of all, she’d told him that he was already doing a bunch of sweet stuff and if he kept his clothes on, he might be good at all of this.

What was that? Riley had complimented him? Sure, she’d seemed as surprised as he was that she thought he had a sweet side. But it was after she’d said he had potential that he’d thought he should stop teasing her and be nice.

And that had been awkward as hell.

He rolled his neck. He and Riley had a relationship. They weren’t friends, exactly. They weren’t related. They weren’t lovers or exes. She was the only person in his life who was…what she was. Whatever it was. But he didn’t want it to change. That much was clear. Having breakfast with her the way they had this morning had felt too weird.

But he wanted to have breakfast with her again. As themselves. As usual. Hell yeah, he wanted to tease her about chai seeds. What even were chai seeds? And crepes? Really?

He’d been thinking about that the entire time he’d checked over the pipes at The Stop, as he’d swung by to see if his grandmother’s lawn needed mowed, as he’d swung by to see if Riley’s grandmother’s lawn needed mowed, as he’d swung by to see if Hannah’s grandmother’s lawn needed mowed, as he’d driven around to see if anyone’s lawn needed mowed. But he’d just mowed for everyone so there was no lawn care to fill up his time today. Which meant that since he was up early, thanks to Riley, he had free time.

Or time to nap.

Except that his couch was full.

Normally he would take this opportunity to drop an ice cube down her back or fill her car with Styrofoam peanuts or at least change all the clocks so when she woke up, she’d think she’d slept for ten hours.

But he did none of those things. And he didn’t know why. He blew out a breath and pivoted. He was going to take a shower and then…he wasn’t sure.

Fifteen minutes later, he stepped out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. Was he risking Riley being awake and still here and running into him half-naked? Yep. Why was he risking that? He wasn’t any surer of the answer to that question than he had been to the one about why he didn’t drop ice down her back while she was hogging his couch.

Except…maybe he wanted to see her reaction.

All of this talking and thinking about a relationship with someone he wasn’t naked with the majority of their time together had him thinking even more about being naked and how fun that was. And thinking about how he was much better at the naked stuff. And thinking about how he was pretty good at not being naked with Riley. They drove each other crazy but it was fun. And yeah, he liked having her attention. That was definitely why he’d always done all the things he’d done. The teasing, the practical jokes, the arguing. It had been a way of having her attention when she would have just written him off as her brother’s stupid friend and ignored him.

And that all got him thinking about not being naked with Riley.

There were lots of reasons they hadn’t done that. They were like brother and sister. Kyle. Riley didn’t like him. Those were just three. But he had a feeling that being naked with Riley would be like everything else was with Riley. Different from any of the other women and fun. They’d tease, they’d laugh, she’d sass him, his imagination would run. And he’d do anything to get a reaction out of her. Her reactions to him in the bedroom wouldn’t be like her reaction when he’d changed all the contacts in her phone to Disney character names, but it would definitely be a reaction.

No one was better at getting a reaction out of Riley than Derek.

Unless of course she was fast asleep on his couch rather than noticing him in only a towel.

He frowned. She was getting to him, occupying his thoughts and making him analyze things he didn’t want to analyze, and she was sleeping through the whole thing.

Well, no. If he was going to be up hours early and facing a day with nothing to do, she was going to be up too. Riley was no more a morning person than he was.

He pulled on some clothes and then went to the freezer. He grabbed an ice cube and headed straight for the couch.

But when he stopped next to the couch, he hesitated. The blanket that he draped over the back of his couch was now lying across her lap and upper thighs. Her feet were sticking out at the bottom and her top half was uncovered. The tank top was pulled tight over her breasts, and again Derek was distracted by the curves he’d always taken for granted before. The curves he now wanted to run his hands all over.

She looked sexy as hell. And he knew somehow it wasn’t just the breasts. It was being on his couch, being completely relaxed like this, being comfortable in his space, under his blanket, her hair spread out over the pillow he used.

He thought for a second about just sliding in next to her on the couch, pulling her up against him, and napping with her. But how the fuck would he explain that when she did finally wake up?

Then he realized exactly how he would explain that. He dropped the ice cube into an empty glass sitting on the end table and then knelt on the couch cushion, easing down beside her. He shifted her gently, and she simply sighed and rolled slightly. And when he was completely stretched out, his body against hers from where her feet rested against the tops of his to where her head tucked under his chin, he put his arm around her and relaxed into the cushions.

And was able to ignore the realization that her ass settled beautifully against his cock as he drifted to sleep. Mostly.

* * *

Damn, it was hot in here. Why did her mom have the thermostat turned up so high?

Riley reluctantly lifted her eyelids. She was going to have to go turn on the fan or something.

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