Page 85 of Contingently Yours
“Can’t believe you’re in my house,” Lucas slurs as we bump into the wall on the way to his bedroom.
Ican’t believe what a happy drunk he is. And heavy. It’s like he’s lost all control of his muscles along with his anxiety. Panting, I clutch his wrist tighter where it’s slung over my shoulder and steer us through the doorway he said leads to his bedroom. It smells like Lucas in here, and there are several little wood carvings on one of the dressers. At least the directions to his room were better than the ones to his house that he gave our taxi driver.
“Can’t believe you’re in my room,” he murmurs against my neck, inhaling deeply. “Dreamt about you being in here.”
Oh, really? Wewillbe discussing that later.
My leg bashes into a chair, toppling a cardboard box onto the floor. I catch sight of an open sack of rice spilling out along with tiny organza baggies. My boot crunches some grains as Lucas’ momentum takes us toward his bed.
“It’s a nice room,” I say, coddling him. “I love what you’ve done with the place.”
His arm bashes me in the back of the head when he spots his mattress and dives toward it, landing with a belly flop. Crawling forward, he sticks the bubble butt in the air and then flips around so he’s sitting on it. I nearly get dinged in the nuts whenhe kicks off his dress shoes. Leaning back, he rests his weight on his hands, but his torso still sways. He smiles, but it’s clear he’s still trying to focus on me. Such a mess—a big, sexy, adorable mess.
Now that he’s stationary, it seems safe to move back in. I step forward and start working on the buttons of his dress shirt. We lost the tie earlier at the reception when the guy who claimed to have two left feet suddenly turned into a dancing machine.
“All right, party animal, jammie-time,” I inform him.
Grinning up at me, he scoots forward. “You want to see me naked?”
“Maybe some other time… like when you’re sober. Right now, I just want to get us tucked in.”
“You’re staying?”
God, he’s killing me. I’ve never seen this man smile so much. He’s a happy teddy bear tonight.
“Someone’s got to make sure you don’t end up on the floor with a face full of rice.”
“Youtried to make me sleep on the floor once,” he grumps, giving me an accusatory look.
I did, didn’t I?
“Which was wrong of me,” I admit as though I’m speaking to a child. “But hey, you ended up in the bed anyway.”
“So we’d look like we were having sex,” he says, shifting back to his playful tone.
He flops back on the bed and thrusts his hips up in the air when I tug his pants down over them. The bulge of his half-hard cock nearly bashes me in the face, and I swear under my breath. I hear a moan and glance up to find him running his hand down his happy trail.
Fucking hell. Alcohol is definitelynotheart-healthy. Mine is doing somersaults over the things coming out of his mouth right now.
I wrangle his socks off him and fling them over my shoulder. I may be in love, but I’m not a maid or an ex-soldier with laundry rituals. Also, I had a buzz of my own before wrestling this handsy grizzly bear out of the cab and up his front steps. I am one urban cowboy in dire need of sleep.
I start on my shirt and catch his hazy eyes watching me, his hand slowly massaging his junk. Lord, I’m almost afraid to get in there with him. I might not make it out unscathed, and then I’ll have one more thing to feel bad about.
“Mm,” he groans at the sight of my bare chest, sending a wash of pride through me, but then he busts up, laughing.
“Can’t say I’ve ever gottenthatreaction before from stripping.”
“There’s a cowboy in my room.” He giggles. “Cowboy stripper.”
“Wow. You are on a roll,” I deadpan, trying not to laugh. “And only half a cowboy. I gave Mason my hat, remember?”
“Still mad about that,” he mumbles, licking his lips when I undo my belt buckle.
Damn. I need to deflect.
“Go on. Get under the covers so I don’t have to haul you up there.” I gesture with my chin to the head of the bed.
He grunts a pouting noise, but then belly crawls his way to the pillows. “So tired,” he murmurs. “I’m never getting married.”
