Page 42 of Seduced By You

Strike that.

Stop thinking about sex with Kadon.

Somehow, I averted my gaze, though it wasn’t easy. I sat on the edge of the bed with my back to him.

“Which side do you want?”

“Either. I’m not fussy.”

I wrung my hands. “Okay. I’ll stay on this side, then. If it’s all right with you.”

His heavy sigh reached my ears. I glanced behind me. “What’s that for?”

He pulled back the covers and climbed into bed, draping the sheets over his abs. “I know this was my idea, but I’m having regrets.”

“You are?” I twisted around fully, tucking my knees to my chest and hugging them.

“I don’t want to lose your friendship. You mean far too much to me.”

I frowned. “Why would you say that? You’re not going to lose my friendship. Where’s this coming from?”

“I…” Another heavy sigh filled the room. “What happened at the bonfire was… wrong. So wrong. I’m sorry, Lee.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t want you to think I’m… oh, I don’t know, a perv or something and I’m going to pounce on you in the middle of the night.”

So he wasn’t interested in me after all.

I suppressed a curse. God, I felt like such an idiot. Thank goodness I hadn’t told him I was over here coping withfeelings. That would have made the situation a hundred times worse. At least this way I could leave here with my pride intact.

And my heart a little more tattered around the edges.

“You’re worrying over nothing,” I said with a breeziness I wasnotfeeling. I must be a better actress than I first thought.“It’s chemistry. That’s all. Physical. I’m not embarrassed or concerned, and neither should you be.”

He gnawed at his bottom lip. I couldn’t take my eyes off his mouth. Those lips. God, those lips. Warm, soft, full. Thankfully, he was too busy staring somewhere over my right shoulder to notice me eye-fucking him.

“Are you sure?” He flashed me a look, then turned his attention to the bobbles on the bedspread, mindlessly plucking at them.

“I’m positive.” I turned back the covers and climbed in beside him. At least three feet of space stretched between us, what with him perched on the end of his side and me perched on the end of mine. “Let’s get some sleep. You have to shoot at some innocent creatures tomorrow, and I have to try not to drown Fenella in the hot tub.”

His gruff laugh should have lifted some of the weight from my shoulders. It didn’t. If anything, I felt as if the entire universe had set up camp there, grinding me into the ground.

“Good point.” He switched off the lamp on his side of the bed, casting his half of the room in shadows. “Night, Lee.”

“Night.” I turned my lamp off, too. The room pitched into darkness. Stiff as a surfboard, I lay there, staring at the ceiling, listening to the steady sounds of Kadon breathing. I could tell the moment he’d fallen asleep. His breaths shallowed.

Out here in the countryside, dark really meant dark. I couldn’t even make out my hand in front of my face. The inky blackness had its upside though: finally, I could stop pretending I was okay when I wasn’t sure things would ever be the same again.

* * *

Barely conscious, I squinted through half-mast lids. Sunlight arrowed through a gap in the curtains, casting a triangular shard of light across the crimson and green swirls in the carpet. I peered at the antique clock on the nightstand. Eight fifteen. Ugh. I closed my eyes again. God, I was warm. Too warm. And tired. So tired, as if I’d slept like the dead.

I threw back the covers. Better. But still too hot. I shifted my weight.

Oh God.

Was that… was that…?

Yep. Yes, it was.

An erection nudged my lower spine. I forced my eyes open. A man’s leg was on top of mine, and a large palm pressed firmly to my abdomen.

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