Page 81 of Down & Dirty

Her eyes fluttered open, her long lashes tickling my chest, before she gave me a lopsided grin. “Morning.”

She shifted, her leg riding higher on my thigh, and her knee tucked right up under my balls. I tried to bite back the groan in my throat, but the touch, even as light as it was, sent me. My eyes drifted closed, every cell focused on the growing urge to move.

Sky’s breathy chuckle drew my attention. “Sorry, I didn’t see that there. Though I’m not sure how I missed it.”

I took that as a compliment, not that the size of my dick had ever been an area that needed bolstering. “Anatomical hazard,” I bit out, flexing my hands as I stretched my arms overhead. I had to do something with them to keep myself from trailing them over the length of her body. Because after my hands, it would be my mouth, and after that...

“You sleep okay?” I asked, desperate to get my mind to change directions. Plus, I was a little nervous about unloading all that on her. It wasn’t exactly a happy bedtime story.

“I did.”

She rolled away from me, and I exhaled harshly, partly hating the distance between us and partly relieved. I might have half a chance of remaining a gentleman without her touching me.

“You sound surprised.”

“I am. I figured you’d be a bed hog, or a snorer or something.”

I laughed, grateful to see her humor back. This felt like normal. Like us. “You thought I’d carry my ego into my sleep.”

I said it matter-of-factly, no doubt that I was right. It was the amusement in her eyes that kept that idea from bothering me. I was pretty sure Sky’s opinion of me had changed since we met. And I was thankful for that. I’d never cared much what others thought of me, but I’d started to give her judgment more weight. Knowing she’d given me a chance to show her who I really was meant more than she probably knew.

Her grin was wide when she replied. “I mean, I wouldn’t say it like that.”

I shot across the bed, digging my fingers into her sides, tickling her. As she squirmed, I put my mouth to her ear and asked, “Then how would you put it, smarty pants?”

Between squeals and laughter she got out, “You live alone. Everyone is a bed hog when they live alone.”

I let her fight me off so she could catch her breath. “You must not have felt the dip in the mattress the night you stayed in my bed.” I frowned when I thought back to how upset she’d gotten that night. It felt like years ago now, we’d come so far since then. “I’m a one side of the bed guy.”

“Always so eager to share,” she cooed, mockingly.

She bolted from the bed before I could grab her again, the sparkle in her eye like a magnet drawing me in. Tugging a sweatshirt over her head, she padded for the door.

“You want some coffee?”

I shoved the covers off and followed her, adjusting myself in my flimsy flannel pants as I went. “I’ll get it. I don’t know if Jake set up the pot last night.” I swiped a Henley from my bag and headed for the stairs as she ducked into the bathroom.

As I passed through the living room, I spotted the woodstove already stoked and raging. Someone was up early besides us. I rounded the kitchen and found Mack sitting at the table, a steaming mug in his hand.

“Who’s the girl?” he asked, his voice rough and low.

It wasn’t just from the morning. That was Mack all the time. You’d think the guy was perpetually miserable if you went by his face alone. When you added the harsh voice to it, you’d think he was pissed off, too.

In both cases, you might have been right. My brother avoided fun like an infection.

I grabbed a mug from the cabinet. “What girl?” I asked, my back to him as I took a sip, no doubt missing the trademark darkening of his scowl.

“Another actress on the payroll?”

I almost spit out the coffee in my mouth. Instead, I inhaled it straight into my lungs, and had to bend over the sink to catch the hot liquid as it exploded out of me in a violent cough.

There was no way Mack knew about my other “girlfriends.”Right? How could he?

“What the fuck does that mean?” I asked, wiping my mouth with a towel as I turned around to face him.

He’d cocked his head to the side, but the grin on his face was one of amusement. “That’s the only way I’d imagine a woman being willing to suffer through a holiday with you. How much is she charging?”

Now he was really laughing, and I let out a long breath. He’d been cracking a joke. First, Dad is cooking. Now, Mack is joking around. What the hell was happening around here?

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