Page 16 of Room 1003

“I refuse to believe that,” he said firmly. “Ben is one of the good ones.” And my heart echoed in agreement. “Come on, Kit. Let’s go meet his cat.”

Ben met us at the front door, his cat in his arms to keep him from sneaking past us as we filed into the entryway. “Welcome to my humble abode,” he said. “Make yourselves at home.”

“Careful,” I teased, “you’ve seen my home. I might accidentally knock out a wall or start a fire.”

His eyes twinkled with mischief. “I take it back. Sit down and don’t touch anything.”

His cat was pushing off his chest trying to get to Kit who was bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement. “He’s so beautiful. What’s his name?”

“This is Dmitri,” Ben said in introduction, plunking the cat into Kit’s open arms. The cat was absolutely perfect for Ben. While he’d looked tiny against his chest, when compared to my son, the cat was massive. He probably weighed close to 20 pounds! He was black with patches of white on his chest and paws.

With all that weight, Kit had to sit down right there on the floor, and the two of them got to know each other, which seemed to involve lots of nuzzling and purring.

Ben indicated for me to follow him. “Sleeping arrangements might be a little tight. I had a foam mattress I use for camping, and that gave me an idea.”

My jaw dropped in amazement when I saw the living room. “Ben! You did all this?”

He shrugged in embarrassment, but I could tell he was pleased by my reaction. “It was nothing.”

It was far from nothing. The living room had been set up like a campsite, with the foam mattress and sleeping bag inside a whole blanket fort. The couch also had blankets and pillows set up as a second bed.

Here was apparently the dilemma. Ben rubbed the back of his neck, and I could see a blush creeping up from under his beard. “The, uh, bedroom has a king-size bed. I could take the couch, and you and your dad take the bed? Or I bet all three of you could fit in there. Heck, I’d even sleep in the tent. However you all want to work it out.” He cleared his throat and disappeared into the kitchen, likely to give us some privacy to discuss it, even though he was only ten feet away and could probably hear every word. I couldn’t help but notice he’d left out one particular sleeping combination, one where he and I ended up in bed together, but that didn’t stop my imagination from going there.

It was obvious to everyone that Kit would take the tent, because he climbed straight in, calling to Dmitri, who followed him obediently. I didn’t press the issue on brushing his teeth before bed. It was getting late, and we were all tired.

Dad and I exchanged a look, and I wrung my hands. “Um, so I could…”

He chuckled, patting me on the shoulder. “I’ll do you a favor. I call dibs on the couch!” he called, loud enough for everyone to hear. He took his bag and flopped down on the couch, sighing as he relaxed back on the pillow. “Good night, Son.”

Why did I feel like this was a set-up? Maybe because it was. Instead of feeling betrayed, though, I couldn’t ignore the tingle of anticipation that coursed through me, and the corners of my mouth tipped up involuntarily.

I tried to say good night to Kit, but when I peeked into the tent, I saw he was already passed out, Dmitri barely visible inside the sleeping bag with him. Oh man, he was totally going to start asking me for a cat now.

Ben appeared in the doorway, his shoulders hunched. “Come on, I’ll show you where you can sleep.”

He took my bag for me, and I followed him down the short hall. It seemed strange to see such a large man in such a tiny house. The hallways were narrow, the ceilings low, but he seemed perfectly comfortable, at ease in the space. The bedroom was small too, no surprise there, and most of it was taken up by the bed. We both stared down at it, a fresh wave of tension settling over us. My stomach began to churn.

“I could sleep on the floor,” Ben finally said, ever the gentleman.

I eyed the narrow gap between the bed and the dresser and snorted a laugh. “Yeah, I’d love to see you try.” He laughed too, and the sound of it made me bold. “We’re both adults. I’m sure we can handle sleeping in the same bed.”

With confidence I didn’t quite feel, I strolled over to the other side of the bed and pulled back the blanket, sending a wave of his scent wafting over me. My body reacted instantly to the aroma, and I swallowed down the groan before it could escape. I crawled under the covers quickly before he could see evidence of how it affected me. Then I turned on my side on the very edge of the bed, facing the wall. “See? I don’t take up much space. You’ll hardly even know I’m here.”

The mattress dipped as he crawled in, and I could’ve sworn he muttered, “Trust me, I’ll know.”

Ben turned off the bedside lamp, throwing us into darkness, and we lapsed into silence. No matter how soft the bed was, my whole body was stiff as a board—and that included my dick. There was a whole chasm of space between us, but I swore I could feel his body heat, like a roaring fireplace. I began to sweat, and I wished I could just peel off my shirt and cool off, but that wasnota good idea. I needed every barrier between us before I did something I might regret.

It had been years since I slept in a bed with another man, but it felt all too familiar, yet entirely new at the same time. I missed Embry every single day of my life, and I imagined I would love him forever. He was my first true love, my husband, my son’s alpha father, and he was also a future that would never come to pass. But when I closed my eyes now, it wasn’t Embry that I saw. For the first time in my life, I saw an entirely different future open up before me.

And it all started here in this bed.

I could tell Ben wasn’t sleeping either. He was fidgeting, trying to get comfortable, and his breathing was too shallow, uneven. If I was going to be staying in his bed for a few days, I had to find a way for us to get some sleep. “I-I’m not taking Dmitri’s spot, am I?” I asked, rolling over to peek at Ben. It was too dark to see much but the barest outline of his profile.

“Are you kidding? I swear you’re already taking up less space than he does. He’s such a bed hog. I wake up with a mouthful of fur, no blankets, and my legs half off the bed.”

“Well, he’ll have met his match in Kit then. That kid is like a windmill in his sleep, his arms and legs all over the place.”

Ben rolled toward me, closing the distance. “And what about you? Do you kick? Snore? Any annoying habits I should know about?”

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