Page 15 of The Holiday Boyfriend

ELEVEN

AUSTIN

Everything hurt. My body was sore, and my head was pounding like someone was knocking a hammer against it.I tried to pry my eyes open, but the light had me shutting them close again.

God, was this what a hangover felt like at twenty-eight? I didn't remember them being this bad when I was younger, but of course I didn't drink nearly as much as I had back then. Alcohol was less appealing to me, especially now that I drove for a living. I still drank, obviously, but I guessed my tolerance had diminished more than I’d thought.

Keeping my eyes squeezed shut, I snuggled back into the soft, warm bed that I was lying in. I didn't know why my bed felt warm when I was the only one sleeping in it, but I wasn't going to question it. Especially when the warmth helped soothe the annoying drums that seemed to beat inside my skull.

I snuggled closer to the heat source, ready to fall back to sleep and call today a bust, when something tightened around my waist. The movement had me popping my eyelids open, despite the flash of pain the light tortured me with.

I was met with tan, smooth skin in front of me, which didn't make sense. I had to be dreaming still, so I closed my eyes again and waited a minute. But when I reopened them, nothing had changed. I pinched my thigh, and the pain confirmed that this wasn't a dream, but still, nothing changed.

This wasn't a dream!

I tried to recall what had happened last night for me to be in this situation. I'd gone to the pub with my friends and drank a little too much after thoughts of never being with Jim overwhelmed me with dread.

My ex had been there as well, and I remembered him mentioning something about going back to his place.

Oh, god. Did I sleep with Jared?

Falling back in bed with him wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world, but I would want to get out of there before he woke up. The morning after with a one night stand was the worst.

I tried to struggle out of the man's embrace, but my throbbing head had me groaning and collapsing back down. My movements caused the person holding me down to shift. I glanced up to take a look at his face, and to my horror, found Jim. Shirtless. Holding me while we slept.

My brain scrambled to work out how the hell we got here, and memories of a dream rushed to the forefront of my mind. Dream Jim kissing me, stroking the both of us until we came. Except, it was all too realistic, and now that my brain was cleared, I used every ounce of energy to analyze the probability of the dream's events actually happening.

The dream had happened on the couch, and looking around my surroundings, I finally noticed that we were still on said couch. I recalled the sting of a hard bite right before the dream ended, and the memory of it had me putting my massive headache aside to tune into the sharp throbbing that lingered on my bottom lip.

Fuck.

The dream that I thought was the best dream I'd ever had turned out to not be a dream. I squeezed my eyes shut as my heartbeat sped up, beating at the same annoying pace as my throbbing head.

I was on edge yesterday because I thought I'd slipped up and let Jim find out about my massive crush. Who knew that I'd jump straight into the lion's den and make a move on him?

This had to be a nightmare.

The years of effort of trying to hide my stupid, silly crush from him was now a waste. I was sure that he'd regret everything once he woke, and the awkwardness of the entire situation would lead to the end of our friendship. The possibility of not even having his friendship hurt more than the thought of him rejecting my feelings.

Thiswasa nightmare.

Adding on to that was the raging headache that pounded with the full force of an earthquake. My head felt like it was going to split in half. The pain had me groaning and pressing my head against Jim's pec. The softness of his skin was a good distraction from the pressure that was building from my hangover and overuse of my brain.

“You okay?” Jim's sleep-filled, grumpy voice asked above me. The sound shocked me and had me flinging my head up to look at him. Unfortunately, I didn't take into account that I was tucked directly under him, and when I looked up, I smacked the crown of my head against his chin.

“Fuck,” we both cursed at the same time. I sat up and covered the top of my head with my hands.

Tears stung my eyes as the already splitting pain worsened, now feeling like I’d been run over. I squeezed them shut in hope that I could keep them from falling. There had already been enough embarrassment for one day.

“Shit, are you hurt?” Jim asked. I felt the couch dip as a warm body settled beside me and a hand wiped away the tears that I hadn't known had shed.

Peeking open an eye, I found Jim right in front of me with a look of concern on his face. His chin looked swollen—probably from the bump—but he didn't seem to be paying it any concern, instead focusing all his attention on me. He removed my hand from my head and took over, rubbing it while muttering soothing words.

Some divine being needed to tell me how I was supposed to get over such a kind, caring man who looked so fucking sexy trying to tend to me while he had his own injury.

It was impossible, even for a god.

“Are you okay?” I asked and rubbed his chin.

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