Page 7 of Make Me Stay

Was she just as restless as I was?

I needed to sleep. The Burnette project was going to be a long ass day of framing out the add-on and hanging drywall. I’d be a whiny bitch about it with the heat already spiking.

I kicked off the blankets on the guest room bed. They were simple cotton sheets with a summer blanket but left me too hot. I got up and flicked on the overhead fan before flopping back on the bed, but it squeaked, making me wince.

Now she probably thought I was being an asshole over here.

Annoyed, I got up again and slipped out, heading for the kitchen. Wyatt’s bedroom was at the other end of the house, and I knew he slept like the dead. I opened the fridge and found a pitcher of water. After downing a glass, I raided the cabinets and found Wyatt’s stash of candy.

“Give me one too.”

I turned and saw Lexi in the doorway from the dining room. “Chocolate or sugar?”

“They are one in the same, sir.”

I tried not to let thesirstir something in me. Especially when it immediately put her on my knees in front of me. I held the bowl out.

She crossed to me and poked around, coming out with a Twix. Deciding that sounded good to me, I grabbed one too, as well as a Special Dark before setting the bowl on the counter.

“Are these from Halloween?”

She laughed. “As if they’d last that long.”

“True.” I ripped off the wrapper. “What are you doing up?”

She shrugged. “I’m naturally a night owl. Work makes me have regular hours.”

“Same.”

“I heard there’s a meteor shower tonight.” She glanced at the back door off the kitchen.

“Me and my boxers good enough for you?”

She glanced at them and gave me a little chomp. “Works for me.”

“Hell, Lexi.”

Laughing, she grabbed a mini bag of Skittles, then she opened the back door and left me behind. Following suit, again, I snagged a box of Junior Mints and caught up to her. She was already stretched out on a lounger, her curvy legs crossed at the ankle.

In the shadows, her skin was smooth and shiny, begging for a stroke.

I picked up a chair and set it next to her, stretching out on it. Her brother’s house was in the middle of a neighborhood. Even at this time of night, there was still a lot of light. “You’ve never seen a sky until you’ve seen a desert sky in the dark.”

She glanced over at me, her eyes glittering in the dark. “I’ve never been out of New York.”

“Really?”

She turned her attention back to the sky. “Never had that pull to leave. Not like you.”

I stacked my hands behind my head. “If I could have left at seventeen, I would have. My dad said the only way he’d let me out was if I enlisted and there’s no way I’d be able to handle that kind of structure.”

“Nothing wrong with structure.”

I grinned, knowing she was giving me the stink eye even in the dark. “Nothing wrong with going with the flow, either Lex.”

“Let’s just watch the meteors.”

I could hear the annoyance in her voice, and I couldn’t stop my smile from spreading. I got too much pleasure out of pushing her buttons.

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