Page 30 of Seven Year Itch
“Are you still with your ex?” I ask, stepping closer to her as she starts doing the heavy blinking thing a person does before they fall asleep.
“No... he just... he...” She sighs and presses her hands to my chest for some space. Her fingers knead into my pecs through the T-shirt. “Good lord, you’re buff.”
“Dakota, finish what you were saying.”
She turns away from me and makes her way over to the sofa bed. “I need to go to bed, Killa Cal.”
“But wait. Did he force you to go to that sex club?” I ask as she flops face-first onto the sofa bed and the sound of creaking metal echoes through the room. “Was he there that night?”
I hate how tight my chest feels over the thought of them at that club together. Why do I give a fuck? Seriously. I wait for her to reply with bated breath and frown when I notice she’s completely lifeless on the bed. I press my knee down beside her and move hair off over to see that she’s passed out. Just like that.
With a heavy sigh I check her pulse and feel relief when I confirm she’s not dead. Just has a magical ability of falling asleep within two seconds of speaking complete sentences.
I stare at her ass for far longer than is appropriate before I head over to her bed and pull the covers back. She can sleep for now, but that’s definitely not where this story ends with us.
Chapter 11
Calling Dinosaurs
Calder
“Rise and shine, sleepyhead,” I say cheerily as I walk into the palapa with coffee, toast, eggs, and bacon on a tray. I snuck into the kitchen early this morning to put in the request before anyone in the house woke up. If they saw me bringing breakfast in bed to Dakota, I’d never hear the end of it. But I need to butter her up to get the rest of that whopper of a story she left on a cliffhanger last night.
“Oh my God, nooo.” Dakota rolls over and covers her face, a halo of tangled golden locks around her head.
“Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey.” I lower the plate of food down to the end table beside her.
She takes one whiff of the bacon and bolts upright in the bed, her hair a rumpled mess. “Get that away from me.” She slaps a hand over her mouth, black streaks of makeup all over her face. “I’m going to be sick.”
“You need to eat.”
“I need to throw up.” She frowns and looks around the large round bed. “How did I get in this bed? I was going to take the sofa bed last night. I thought I went to the sofa bed.”
“You did, but there was no way in hell I was letting you stay passed out on that death trap, so I moved you over here.”
“You moved me?” Dakota stares up at me like I’m from another planet. “How exactly did you move me?”
I shrug. “I carried you.”
Her eyes widen in horror. “I did not give you consent to carry me.”
“Jesus, Karen, chill out. I didn’t cop a feel or anything... and believe me, you wanted me to.”
“What?” Dakota stares back at me in horror.
I smirk. “You asked me to spoon you.”
“I did?” She presses her hands to her cheeks. “Did you?”
I laugh and shake my head. “I may be a pig, but I’m not a monster. I knew you were in no state to make those kinds of requests, so I just tucked the pillows in behind you really good and pushed your hair out of your sweet little face.”
She frowns and shakes her head, clearly not enjoying this little walk down memory lane.
“I may have used my own pillows to spoon you with, though. I think you’ll start to enjoy my musk once you get used to it.”
“Oh God.” She crawls off the bed and begins pacing in the dress she wore to bed last night. I wanted to throw a T-shirt on her to make her more comfortable, but I’d never hear the end of it if I did that. She grips her sides and points to the door. “You need to get out of here.”
“Why? Because I made you sleep with my pillows? It was just a joke.”
