Page 21 of Off Limits

I fall asleep in Lochlyn’s arms, realizing that my dreams have become reality.

Lochlyn’s lips are on my shoulder as he trails a fingertip down my cheek. “Shay. Shay, wake up.”

My eyes flutter open as warmth spreads through me, taking in his smiling face. At first, I’m not sure the night before had really happened, thinking maybe it was a wonderful, realistic dream. But here he is, shirtless, smiling at me, while I lie naked between his sheets.

“I really hate to even think about you putting clothes on, but you need to get dressed before Chelsea wakes up.” His voice is low, barely above a whisper. He hands me the shirt he’d taken out earlier and a pair of his sweatpants. Leaning in, he tenderly brushes his lips against mine. “Here, put these on.”

Slowly sitting up and sliding out of bed, I smile to myself when I hear him groan while I stand fully exposed. He hands me my panties from the floor as I slip his shirt over my head. It falls to my mid-thighs. I step into my panties and his pants, which require several rolls for them to not be falling off.

He grabs the pants at my waist, pulling me against him, and fusing our mouths together. Every time seems so urgent, like he can’t keep his lips off of mine. I certainly don’t mind, because I’d keep them connected if I could. When he breaks free, he rests his forehead against mine. “I’m going to go downstairs to sleep on the couch. It’s early still, but I wanted to wake up before Chelsea, and get you dressed.”

I don’t want him to go; I want to curl into him, feel his warmth. But I know it’s safest. Much easier to explain that I spent the night and he slept on the couch. It won’t raise any suspicion since it’s happened before. Normally, I borrow some of Chelsea’s clothes, but it will be easy to just say we didn’t want to wake her.

I climb back into bed, curling in on myself and pulling the collar of the shirt up to my nose. Sandalwood swirls through my nose and my body relaxes into the mattress below me. It smells like Lochlyn.

I’m rudely awoken by Chelsea bouncing onto the bed. “Oh! Shay. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” Her brow knits together. “Why are you here? In Loch’s bed?”

“I was getting ready to leave when he came down and invited me to stay to ring in the New Year. I didn’t feel like going home, so he gave me clothes and let me stay,” I groggily explain. Not entirely a lie. I just left out a few details. Significant ones. It gives me a bit of an icky feeling in my chest.

She shrugs it off. “I have to work. Let’s go.”

“Why do I have to get up because you have to work? You went to bed hours before I did.”

“Because I said so! Let’s go!”

She pulls the covers off me and yanks me out of bed.

“I hate you,” I grumble at her.

“You love me. And you’ll feel better once you have some coffee.”

“Mm, coffee.”

Walking into the kitchen, I’m greeted with a shirtless Lochlyn, lips pulling up at the corners as he scans my body, still dressed in his clothes. To hide his smile, he pulls his mug up to his mouth. Trying to fight my own smile, I bite the inside of my cheek, not wanting to tip Chelsea off to anything being different.

My gaze skims across his bare chest, my fingers twitching at the memory of how he feels. I quickly track each of his tattoos, the two spots where he has lyrics and the sword, which is visible as he holds his cup.

“Good morning, ladies. Sleep well?”

Heat floods my cheeks at the thought of how much Ididn’tsleep last night, and where I was when I did.

“Yeah, actually. What’d you guys do?” Chelsea asks, pouring herself coffee.

I cough, choking on air, suddenly nervous in his presence. Lochlyn raises an eyebrow at me. “We just watched the ball drop.” He’s so nonchalant, I almost wonder if I dreamed about it all. “Not too exciting.” He hasn’t taken his eyes off me since I walked into the kitchen until he turns to fill a teal mug.

“Here, Shay, have some coffee.” Lochlyn pushes it across the island to me, his fingers brushing mine as I take it. The look in his eyes tells me he made sure they did, and that he both saw and knows why a shiver runs down my spine.

“Thanks.” I’m sure even the one word sounds weird, different.

Chelsea sighs. “Loch, could you like, put a shirt on or something? Is it really necessary for you to be exposed all the time? We get it, you have muscles and tattoos.”

He returns her sigh, grabbing a shirt off the counter and pulling it over his head, and disappointment fills my chest. “There, better?”

“Much.” She gives him a forced smile.

I’m standing in the fridge, pulling out the half and half when Lochlyn’s hand closes over the one I have holding the door. His whole front brushes against my back as he reaches into the fridge behind me. Every hair on my body stands at attention from his nearness.

“Excuse me, Shay. I’m just grabbing some eggs to make breakfast,” he murmurs impossibly close to my ear.

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