Page 140 of Gloves Off

“I know.” She fiddles with her necklace, looking away. “I’m going to grab a drink. Do you want anything?”

I shake my head, watching her walk away with an uneasy feeling in my gut. The puzzle pieces slide into place.

I know why she sleepwalks.

CHAPTER 65

GEORGIA

I wakethe next morning in Alexei’s bed, with his big arm looped around my waist and his firm, warm chest flush against my back. I’m warm, cozy, and so incredibly comfortable.

Goddamnit. I sleepwalked to his bed again—I think? After we left the bar, we got into the back of the car Alexei booked on his app. I don’t remember getting home, though. I just remember being warm and comfortable. Gentle hands around my ankles, taking my heels off. Being tucked into bed.

My bed or his, though?

I shift to crawl out of bed before he wakes, but his arm tightens around me, pulling me against his body. My breath catches; he’s hard like steel. Heat slides south between my legs, gathering and tightening, and I picture a million things I would do to that cock. Touch it, trail my fingers over it, run my tongue up it. Take it all the way to the back of my mouth so I can hear him groan. Ride it. Watch him fall apart.

Memories from last night roll through my head. That life-changing kiss. Sitting on his lap at the bar. Our conversation.

He never thought I was incompetent. He thought I washot. His feelings were bruised over what I had said. That changes things—I think it might change everything.

“Morning,” he murmurs into my shoulder, like his rock-hard boner isn’t pressing into me. His voice is a low, sleepy rasp.

“Morning.” I try to sound normal, like I’m not so turned on I can barely think. I try to sit up, but he holds me against him. “Did I, um?—”

“Sleepwalk? Yes.” A pause. “You know what this means, Hellfire.”

My stomach does a slow roll forward. “Very funny.”

“I wasn’t kidding. What if you sleepwalk and hurt yourself?”

“I’m not going to hurt myself.”

I glance over my shoulder. His hair’s a mess, eyes all sleepy, under-eye circles still there, and god, he looks handsome first thing in the morning.

Last night’s kiss was different. Real, careful, and special. Something flutters in my stomach.

Far away in my head, an alarm goes off. What part of this is detached?

His eyes move over me, a tiny spark growing in them. “Lionhead.”

“I’m sorry?”

The corner of his mouth tips up. “That’s what you look like in the morning. A lionhead rabbit.”

I start laughing, smoothing down my bedhead. “So, heartbreakingly adorable?”

His mouth tips higher. “Something like that.”

My face is going hot. This is too intimate.

“You hate me,” I point out, smiling a little.

“I do hate you.” He smirks like he doesn’t, though. “But you’re cute when you wake up.”

Something in the corner of the room catches my eye.

“Alexei.” I sit up, frowning. “What’s Damon doing in your room?”