Page 35 of Accidentally Fudging the Beast
"I couldn't let one of them convince you to give them a chance before I convinced you that you belong with me." He grins, completely unrepentant, and then rolls onto his back, hauling me with him so I'm sprawled across his chest.
"You're a menace," I say, but I'm smiling.
His soft laugh vibrates through me.
We lay there for a while, the silence punctuated by our breathing and the distant chaos of the party outside. It's perfect.
Eventually, he glances at the clock and sighs. "We should probably rejoin civilization."
"Or we could just stay here forever," I mumble, nuzzling into his shoulder.
"Tempting," he admits, "but if we don't reappear, someone will probably come looking. I'd hate to kill one of my teammates for seeing your ass."
The possibility of any of his teammates seeing my ass is enough to get me moving. Some indignities are simply too unbearable.
I groan, rolling off him. "My tights are ruined."
He surveys the damage, then shrugs. "You look better without them."
I glare, but the effect is ruined by the smile that won't leave my face. I fix my dress as best I can, and Trent zips up, tucking his shirt back in with the efficiency of a man used to changing on a tight deadline.
He catches my hand before we leave the room, pulling me close for one last kiss.
"Thanks for coming with me tonight," he murmurs, the words so genuine they make my chest ache.
And I want to say those three little words all over again. I don't say them. Not yet. But I kind of think maybe he already knows that's why I'm here right now. Not because he guilted me, but because there's nothing I wouldn't do for him.
"Thanks for not letting me die of embarrassment," I reply instead of telling him that I'm wild about him, only half joking.
"Only one of us is allowed to have a near-death experience this week, and I've already met the quota." He grins before pulling me out into the hallway like we're a couple of teenagers sneaking out.
We're barely three steps down the hall when we almost collide with Ryan. He's leaning against the wall, arms folded, face split in a smirk so wide I'm surprised it hasn't been banned for unsportsmanlikeconduct.
I freeze, panic clawing up my throat. I know what I look like—cheeks flushed, hair wild, one sleeve of my dress twisted so far around my arm it's basically a tourniquet, my tights missing in action. Trent, the traitor, is even worse off, with his jacket wrinkled, his Santa hat in his hands, and an actual bite mark on his throat.
It's readily apparent that we've been up to no good.
"Well, well, well." Ryan grins, his eyebrows climbing into his hairline. "Where have the two of you been?"
Kill me now. Seriously. Just get it over with right now.
Trent just smirks at Ryan, completely unbothered that we've been busted by the one man on the team who cannot stay quiet to save his life. Seriously. If his life depended on his silence, he'd die in seconds. They can't even mic him up for games anymore because he cannot be trusted not to tell everyone's business. "Needed a minute."
Ryan bursts into laughter, practically doubling over. "About goddamn time you finally got your head out of your ass and stopped stalking her schedule, man. We were taking bets on how long it'd take for you to snap."
"Stalking my schedule?"
Trent doesn't miss a beat. He also doesn't deny it. "You think I was on it first thing most days by chance?"
"He paid us to switch spots with him," Ryan supplies.
When I glare at Trent, he just shrugs, completely shameless, and I have absolutely nothing to say to that.
Ryan glances at me, his expression weirdly kind for a man whose hobby is giving me a hard time all day, every day. "He hasn't shut up about you for months. We wanted to kill him."
I blush so hard I'm worried I currently match the hat in Trent's hands.
Ryan just winks and shoves off the wall. "Merry Christmas, you degenerates." He heads back toward the noise of the party, leaving us alone in the empty hallway.
