Page 39 of Capitally Unexpected

I complete another circuit around the chair and drop into it.I roll my abs as I unbutton my shirt, shrugging it off. If Brad Matthew Whatever gets to be shirtless, so do I.

Michelle’s eyes widen as they trace my skin. “He . . . he doesn’t have those tattoos.” I watch her swallow. “It’s a real missed opportunity on the part of the costume department.”

I roll myself up out of the chair and Michelle pulls the blanket up to her cheeks with a squeak. I stop, dropping the act and plopping back into the chair. “What? Too much?”

She shakes her head no, then changes her mind and nods. “But in the best possible way. I . . . I thought it would be silly. Like on the TV. But fuck . . . you’re hot.” The rasp in her voice is one I haven’t heard since March, since that first night. Shit, I think I went too far.

I lean down to pick my shirt up off the floor. “No!” I stop, bent in half. “I mean, if you want to keep going, I . . . I think you should.” She looks down at my phone, types something and a familiar R&B beat starts playing instead.

The air changes. It ripples with somethingmore. Something real. Something dangerous. I pause before reading the earnestness in Michelle’s expression. I didn’t want her to be sad anymore, right?

I come around from behind the chair and swing her feet to the floor. She lowers the blanket to her waist before whipping it off completely. I start to move in beat to the music, working myself closer and closer. I want to be sure she has plenty of time to say stop if she needs to.

Her eyes trace over me, heat rising in them. Teeth work her bottom lip, and without realizing I’m moving, my hand reaches out to gently pry it free.

She lifts her hands like she wants to touch me, but stops partway to my skin. Lost in the fantasy. “At our place, you have full permission to touch,” I say. She runs her fingers down my abs, sending a shudder through me. Putting her fingers in my belt loops, she brings me down, straddling her legs.

“Oops,” she says, not looking sorry in the least. I shift somore of my weight is balanced on my knees, but her legs still press against the inside of mine. She traces the artwork on my arms, just like she did that night.

“You’re beautiful,” she whispers, and in a moment, we’re back to us. Bonnie and Clyde. Michelle and Hunter. Something that’s felt out of rhythm for the past five months rights itself. But before I follow that instinct down ...

I grab her chin, bringing her gaze to mine. My grip is firm enough so the words she hears in the next moment will carry their weight. “You are beautiful.” As I expected, her eyes start to cloud over. “No. Listen. You are gorgeous. Captivating. Enchanting. Beguiling. God, I wish I had a thesaurus so I could give you more words. And there is nothing more in this moment I want to do than show you how much I mean this. But if you’re not ready to hear it, to feel it? I want you to tell me. Because this day has sucked so fucking much and all I’ve wanted to do all day is give you whatever I can, whatever you need. So, tell me. Say the word and I’ll start the movie again, rub your feet, whatever you want.”

A moment passes and I worry once again, I’m too much. But then?—

“Kiss me,” she breathes, and in the next instant, my mouth is on hers. A groan escapes one, or both, of us as I sink my legs further into the couch cushions. Our tongues tangle, and I pour every instant I’ve spent wanting her since I last had her mouth into this kiss. I hope I’m reading the same from her.

Her hands travel down my back, into the waistband of my jeans. As her fingers grip my ass, my hips thrust forward involuntarily. “Mngh.”

She sucks air in, pulling away. I see discomfort on her face.

“Fuck, what is it?” I scramble so I’m on my knees in front of her, removing my weight altogether.

Her face grows red. “Uh, your friend down there”—she nods toward my crotch—“pushed Cumulus right into my bladder. Ugh, so inconvenient.” She covers her face in her hands.

“Hey,” I say, pulling one hand down to hold in mine. She pops an eye open and meets my gaze. “We can pick this back up anytime you want. Straddling a pregnant woman probably wasn’t my best move.” I slide over so I’m out of the way.

“You’re so nice,” she says as she pushes herself up out of the couch. I offered to help last week and thought my dick would wither off from the look she threw my way. “Bodily functions really take the wind out of the sexy sails.”

She takes care of the situation my rogue cock created, and I put myself and the living room back together. The same way I felt things heading somewhere, I know the moment has passed.

Michelle appears a moment later, standing against the wall where the hallway opens to the living spaces. “Look, Hunter . . . I think I’m crashing from everything that happened today, and ...”

“You don’t have to apologize. Not stopping the train to sexy town earlier, after the day you’ve had and when we haven’t really talked about it, is my bad.”

She bites that lip again. “You definitely got me out of my head there. Would you want to come and lay in bed with me? You don’t have to stay all night if you want your space, but I think I’ll fall asleep easier if you’re there with me.”

I step up and cup her face. “I’ll be there all night long if it helps you sleep five minutes more.”You’re getting better at this, Brandt.But it’s not a line. I mean every word. “Do you need in the bathroom?”

She shakes her head no, dislodging my hand.

“Okay. I’m going to duck in there, and I’ll be right with you.”

I stop in my room to change into a T-shirt and gym shorts. The less opportunity my cock has to go rogue again today, the better.

The scene waiting for me in Michelle’s room makes my heart stutter in my chest. The same soft bedside lamp on for light. She’s on her side, eyes closed, with the blankets pulled up to her chin against the cold air from the window unit. I bought andinstalled it after the third time she woke up sweaty. These old buildings don’t have the duct work to support even AC distribution. She protested about the environmental impacts, so I promised we’d donate it to a women’s shelter after this summer and buy some carbon credits. Worth every penny when I see firsthand how comfortable she looks.

I turn off the light and then walk around to the other side to slide in. My hip touches her backside, and I freeze, unsure how to proceed.

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