Page 42 of Red Hot Roaster

I laid Rose down on the side of the bed with the head-indented pillow. I was able to pull off her jacket but figured she could sleep in her clothes—that was a step too far for me. She could also miss brushing her teeth for one night. I hated to leave her bare feet in those sandy sneakers though. Thankfully, I spied her slippers by the nightstand and bent down to pick them up.

That was when I saw the bat under her bed.The. Fucking. Bat. Still there.

Grabbing her slippers with one hand, I stood and pinched the bridge of my nose.

She’s going to be so pissed at me.

Another decision made, I carefully eased off her shoes, catching as much sand as possible, and replaced them with her slippers.

Maybe the sand all over her sheets will distract her—right?

Rose turned on her side, still not waking, and I pulled the covers up to tuck them securely around her neck.

I walked into the bathroom, easing the door shut, and turned on the light. It was pretty easy to knock off the sand into the wastebasket and put the shoes aside to be cleaned later.

I stood in front of the mirror for a moment, staring past her rows of Post-it Notes.

What are you doing, man?

I had no ready answer, so I brushed my teeth with a little stolen toothpaste on my finger and took care of business.

Back in the bedroom, I set an alarm for five thirty and laid my phone on the nightstand. I shucked off everything except my T-shirt and boxer briefs and climbed under the covers. Pulling Rose’s back flush to my chest, I wrapped one arm around her middle and bent the other to pillow her head.

I held my breath when she stirred. Then she settled, backing closer, and we fell asleep.

Chapter 22

Rose

Ipushed back against a wall of warmth and hugged an arm to my chest. So toasty.

Pirate chuffed right in front of my face, and I slowly opened my eyes. As usual, my pup was sitting by my bedside, urging me to get up. This time, though, Princess was planted next to him, perked ears barely coming to his shoulder, peering at me too.

What the…fido?

I looked down at the fist and forearm I was gripping…yes…right between my breasts. Luckily, I was wearing my bulky sweater (weird), my tight jeans (weirder), and my fuzzy slippers (weirdest).

No wonder I was toasty. Although I think the arm tucked to my chest—thankfully also clothed with a T-shirt tight around the biceps and a sleeve of tattoos to the wrist—had something to do with that. Plus, I was resting my head on a bent elbow, and steady breaths heated the back of my neck. To say nothing of the hot hardness that dared to press against myentirebackside.

So, again, no wonder I was “toasty.” It was a miracle I wasn’t going up in flames.

I jumped when a bugle playing…reveille?…sounded from the other side of the bed. Not my phone, because all my ringtones were Elvis songs.

Rafe jolted awake with a groan and pulled me even tighter to his chest before releasing me to turn off his phone’s alarm.

He whispered, “Rose? Babe? Are you awake?”

I rolled onto my back and looked up at him, my face flushed from all the…clothing, all the…covers. Yeah, that was why.

I had questions, so many questions. But the first one was, “How long was I out?”

Rafe quirked his lips and did the math for me. “It’s five thirty now, so that means you slept about fourteen hours straight, including the time in the pickup.”

Fourteen hours. Fido. Fourteen hours. I haven’t slept that long through the night since…well, since never.

I yelped and jumped out of the bed, pushing the dogs aside. Five thirty, and I needed to be at the Chocolate Lab at six o’clock to start getting ready to open at seven. And I was closing tonight too, since Mateo and Rafe were playing their final outdoor soccer match. Mateo had been kind enough to cover the entire day when we’d gone to the beach yesterday, so I was returning the favor.

“Rose, Rose, slow down.” Rafe stood and started to herd Pirate and Princess out the bedroom door. I couldn’t help but notice his snug briefs.

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