Page 68 of A Small Town Spring

What can I do in the face of that request except curve over and brush my lips against his?He immediately starts kissing me back, wrapping his arms around my neck and pulling me down on top of him.I spare one sad thought for my jacket, then decide the dry cleaner can sort out any wrinkles.My hair hangs around us like a thick black curtain as I let him lure me into long, deep kisses that light up my entire body with desire.

His hands find my ass and squeeze, which I take as a green light for reaching down and grasping his cock through his jeans and rubbing mercilessly, the thick denim keeping me from fully feeling him, but I know it pleases him, because he’s bucking his hips and panting into my mouth—then he tears away to say, “Stop.”

I instantly still my hand.“What?”

“I’m not coming in my jeans.”

“Take them off, then,” I say, because I’m an intelligent man, but it’s the middle of the night and that’s the extent of my problem-solving skills at this moment.

He grins.“Good idea.You are so smart.”

“I know,” I return.“Now, can we please do this in my bed?”

He cocks his head.“Your bed?”

“Uh, or your bed, I guess.”I’ve never slept in the bed in the guest room, but it gets rave reviews from everyone who stays there.

“Is it still my bed?I mean—” He licks his bottom lip, which is fairly distracting, but it filters in that I’ve said something wrong.He doesn’t think I’d want him to move out, does he?

“Of course it’s still your bed,” I say quickly.

He pushes up on his elbows and I climb off him, sex relegated to the back burner while I redirect blood flow to my brain to figure this out.

“I thought, maybe, you’d want to share a bed?”he says quietly, like he’s not sure of my reaction.

I put two and two together at last.“Oh, fuck, yes.I do.I’m just tired.It’s been a long day.”

“It has been that,” he says, looking relieved.“And it’s okay if you don’t want to share.I mean, we can keep separate rooms, if that’s more comfortable for you.”

“It’s not.”I touch his arm.“Do you know how many nights I lay in that bed and wished you were there with me?”

“Probably almost as many as I wished I was in there with you,” he says, huffing out a laugh.“We’re a pair, aren’t we?”

“Yes, we are.”I get to my feet as elegantly as I can manage, reach my hand out and help him up.

“All right, then.To bed,” he says.

“To our bed,” I add.

I switch off the living room light and follow him into my—our—room.He strips down quickly to his boxers.I get as far as my waistcoat when he turns down the covers and gets into my side of the bed.“Wait—you sleep on the right?”

“Yeah—oh, shit.Last night you were kind of in the middle and I didn’t think about it.Are you a right side sleeper?”

“All my life,” I say.

“Same.”

We stare at each other, at an impasse.

“I can—” He starts to move to the other side of the bed, just as I say, “I suppose I can try?—”

We stop.“Maybe we do need to keep separate bedrooms.It’s not that odd.”I’ll do pretty much anything to keep him, period.

He juts his bottom lip out.“And let Luna have you all to herself?”

“I can’t believe you are jealous of a cat.”Still, I can’t deny it makes me warm inside.

“I’m not jealous of—well, fine, maybe a little.But that’s not the point.The point is, after months of pining for you, I’m not going to sleep in my bed alone.”He stalks around the foot of the bed and determinedly gets in on the other side.He looks at me triumphantly, as if daring me to remove him.

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