Page 23 of Loving You

I jumped, letting out a small squeak before realizing it was only Eric. Without thinking, I swatted his chest. “Shit!Seriously?”

He reached up and caught my hand against his chest.

Hisbarechest.

His very warm, very strong, bare chest.

“I’m sorry,” he rasped. “I heard the alarm for the back door and I—”

“Alarm?” I peeked around him into the house, forgetting he still held my hand against his toasty skin. “I don’t hear anything.”

He held up his phone with his free hand. “On this. Every window and door in the house has a sensor.”

“Oh, right.” Why hadn’t I remembered that part of the security tour before I’d decided to slip outside?

To be fair, I’d been a little distracted by my…feelings.My messy AF feelings and how I’d brought them into his very not messy home, and now he was definitely regretting his offer because I’d disturbed his slumber.

“There’s also a motion sensor over there,” Eric went on, pointing over my shoulder, “and more of them on every side of the house. I was afraid there was a gap in the coverage when none of the outside lights came on even though the door sensor was tripped.”

I stared into the ghostly darkness—lit only by the moon—and blinked as I processed his words. “That’s very… intense.”

“Or very thorough.”

My head snapped back to him, startled by the reappearance of that husky tone. Then I realized my hand was still firmly in his, still firmly clasped to his damn chest.

And it didn’t bother me.

It didn’t make me want to cringe away or back up or fight or claw or…anything. In fact, it made me want—

“What are you thinking?” he asked, his voice low and rough as he watched me stare at our hands in the moonlight.

I bit my lip, then the question was out before I could think better of it. “Eric, can I try something?”

8

ERIC

Internally, my heart sprinted. Harder than it had when I’d heard the damn alarm or found her on the deck in her tiny shorts and poor excuse for a T-shirt. In fact, my heart was closer to beating out of my chest than when her hand touched that very spot, and that was saying something.

Her question had my skin warming exponentially where she made contact, the heat of the sun funneling from her fingers into my pec and spreading out, out, out to every reach of my body.

Externally, I kept my shit together.

But internally? I was seconds from sporting a full salute on my damn wraparound deck, and I was pretty sure that wouldn’t go over well.

Since I had no idea what she wanted to ask of me and it was good news she felt safe enough to do so, I focused on that and ignored the rest.

But, could shetrysomething?Whatever it was, the answer was yes.

“You can try anything with me.” My voice came out low and gritty, which I blamed on the late hour and not the fact that I meant every definition of those words.

I should’ve askedwhatshe wanted to try, or why. I should’ve been suspicious. This was April, for crying out loud. Our old dynamic would’ve had me shooting her a glare and picking out something that annoyed me to avoid looking too deeply into her eyes, or at the freckle below her left ear, or, really, any part of her perfect body.

Then again, our old dynamic wouldn’t have allowed for me to hold her hand to my chest like this, and yet here we were.

Having her in my home had already softened things between us. Even her first visit had done that to some degree, but her asking me for help had changed everything.

“Okay. Just, um… don’t move.” Her eyes glittered back at me, and the hand I’d pressed to my chest slid up over my shoulder, so I let mine drop to my side.

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