Page 27 of Baited

He lifted the covers and slipped under, keeping enough distance for a small elephant to snuggle between them. She turned over as he settled on his back. Her head landed in the crook of his shoulder, her hand rested on his chest. He exhaled. Christ. It couldn’t get any worse than this.

A soft moan sounded in her throat. Her bare leg slid over the material on his pants and rested there. His hands balled into fists.

It was going to be a long night.

CHAPTER 8

Squeak, squeak, squeak,squeak.

Riley squeezed her eyes shut. What the hell was that? She turned her head to the side and blood thundered through the vessels of her brain.

Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak.

She growled and pressed her palms against her ears. A muffled snicker sounded from where the noise had come from. She opened one heavy, dry eyelid and squinted. Ethan sat in a chair, only a couple feet from the bed. The chair rocked back and forth, squeaking with every movement. A smirk lifted his lips, his eyes sparked mischievously.

She lifted her head off the pillow and her neck screamed at the sharp movement. Her eyes narrowed on his smug grin. Annoyance curdled her stomach and heat warmed her face. Everywhere she turned, he was there. Didn’t he have anything better to do? His grin spread into a playful smile. He crossed his arms tightly over his chest. His large muscles stretched the thin material of his T-shirt. He was so big. The rocking chair he’d taken from the corner of the room appeared child-sized with his enormous form filling it.

She deepened her scowl. “What are you doing here?”

A chortle sounded from his throat. “You don’t remember, do you?”

She pushed herself from her tummy to a sitting position, carefully bunching the blankets around her body. Her legs were bare. Her throat constricted with that realization. A glance down at her chest showed she wore an oversized T-shirt. His T-shirt.He had to have slipped home this morning to change, because the memory of his bare chest snuggled against her back last night branded her brain. Her mouth went dry as if she’d been sucking on cotton. She licked her lips, and tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Did we uh—” her gazed flitted from his face to the floor and back again.

His smile widened.

Jerk.

“Sleep together?” He offered, his hand turned over, palm up.

She waited. Her brain raced a mile a minute. She couldn’t think. Her breath came out in sharp puffs. Oh god. How could she have been so stupid? She didn’t trust herself to resist him while she was sober. Drunk, she didn’t stand a chance. She met his gaze again, her fingers curled into the comforter on her lap.

“No, we didn’t.”

Her breath wheezed out of her lungs.

“Don’t look so relieved.” He pushed out of the chair and stood. Curled on the bed as she was, he towered over her. “I refrained, though you gave it your all.” He tossed her denim shorts to her, picked up one of the cups of coffee from the nightstand and handed one to her.

Her soul moaned. “You made coffee?”

“Yup. Just before you woke up.” He sat back down with his cup. She sipped the warm delicious, perfectly sweetened brew.

“Ah, thank you. I needed that.”

“Oh I know.”

Her brow furrowed. “What did you mean when you said you refrained though I gave it my all?” She took another greedy sip. The brew was a tad sweeter than she normally liked it, but it was caffeine and she was in no position to complain.

He crossed his ankle over his knee. “You really don’t remember?”

“Give me a break. I just woke up.”

He shook his head, and cleared his throat. “‘I need a distraction right now, Ethan,’” he whined. His voice pitched on the fake female tone. Heat rushed from her belly to her cheeks, leaving a burning ember in its wake.

Her cheeks tingled.

“I didn’t say that,” she breathed.

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