Page 40 of Sass

Chris leaned forward, bringing us even closer. “Ya know you’ve got really pretty eyes.” He stabbed a finger not so gently into the corner of my right one, making me flinch.

I wrapped my hand around his and lowered it. “And I’d kind of like to keep both of them, if you don’t mind?”

He tugged his hand free and next thing I knew his fingers were on my lips... and in my beard... and my body lit up like a fucking firecracker. “Leeeee-oooonnn,” he sing-songed as he dragged his finger across my lower lip.

I couldn’t move. Hell, I could hardly breathe.

“Sooooo soft.” He began to lean forward. “Think I’m gonna kiss it.”

I jerked away just in time. “Not now, sunshine.”

Chris pouted like I’d taken away his favourite toy, then tapped at my beard. “Scratchy.” His fingers traced my jawline and I tried not to shiver. “Wanna feel it. Wanna kiss—” He went to grab my face, but I ducked and he fell back against the wall. “Shit.”

I tried not to laugh. “As lovely as that invite sounds—” I stood and offered him my hand. “—you’re not going anywhere but to sleep.”

He made an exaggerated swing with his hand which shockingly connected with mine, and I managed to get him to his feet. He swayed a little, then steadied and his face split in a wide grin. “Oooohhhh, are you takin’ me t’ bed?” He wagged a finger in my face. “Naughty, naughty boy.” He tried to tap my nose, missed, and landed on my cheek.

“No, I’m not. Come on, Casanova.” I threw an arm around his waist and steered him toward the stairs. “You can take the couch.”

We got as far as the staircase where I sat him down so I could shut off the lights and set the alarm. When I returned, he was splayed out over the stairs with his eyes closed.

“You okay?” I checked.

Without opening his eyes, Chris gave me a crooked salute, and I was so fucking tempted to ruffle his sticky-out hair tipped with burnt sienna and kiss him on the head. I didn’t. Instead, I got him to his feet again and together we faced the stairs.

“Ready?” I returned my arm around his waist, and he leaned against me, his strong slender frame feeling so fucking right tucked into my side. “Come on. Up we go.”

“’Kay.” One of his hands snaked under my shirt onto my back, hot and tempting on my skin. The other grazed my belly, sending a shudder through me. “Mmm.” He rested his head against my chest. “’S nice.”

I was pretty sure he had no idea what he was doing, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to ask him to move those hands. If it helped steady him, so be it. At least that was my story, and I was sticking with it.

Once inside the flat, I propped him against the kitchen bench while I gathered an armful of towels along with an empty bucket, blankets and pillows, and some old newspapers, just in case. I got back to find him struggling to get out of his clothes, fairly unsuccessfully as it turned out, and I raced across before he crashed to the floor.

“Whoa, hang on there.” I helped him out of his shirt, which was caught on his shoulders halfway over his head, and damn, he had a beautiful body. I tried not to stare, or to think about the feel of his skin under my fingers as I helped him free himself of the sleeve. He was lean and smooth and...

Stop it.

I mentally slapped myself for perving on the poor drunk guy, dropped the paint-splattered shirt onto one of the old newspapers, and while I was debating what to do about the Deutz-drenched trousers, Chris made the decision for me, somehow managing to unzip the fly and shove them to puddle around his ankles, along with his briefs.

Shit.Okay then. I took a deep breath and averted my gaze.Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in a G-string.Nothing had prepared me for a naked Chris.Nothing.

He turned and lurched in the direction of the bathroom. But with his feet still caught in his trouser legs, he wasn’t going far.

“Wait!” I made a grab for him, only realising my mistake at the last minute when he tripped and fell against me, naked and giggling.

“I’m so fuckin’ drunk.” He wrapped his hands around my neck and hung off me like a rag doll.

I held myself as still as possible and tried not to focus on all that hot, naked skin pressed against me. Stretching sideways, I snagged the blanket off the back of the bar stool and wrapped it around his shoulders, then gently pushed him to his feet. “Hold those.” I pressed the corners of the blanket into his hands, then crouched down to help him out of his trailing clothes. “Do you think you can manage in the bathroom on your own?” I made the mistake of looking up to find him staring down at me with dark eyes.

He cocked his head and leered. “You wanna hold it for me?”

I snorted, my cheeks blazing, not that Chris was in any state to notice. “That’s another no.” I smiled as I stood. “But thank you for the offer.” I got him to the bathroom door, then watched him toddle unsteadily for the toilet, shedding the blanket on the way, which left me gawking at his pert, naked butt.

Fuck. Me.The universe was a vengeful bitch.

At the vanity, Chris paused and shot me a drunken leer over his shoulder. “Ya sure ’bout the holdin’ thing?” He waggled his brows in a strangely haphazard way that made me laugh.

“Yep, pretty damn sure. Try not to miss the bowl, yeah? Maybe sit?”

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