Page 74 of A Little Tempting
“Liar.”
Hating how easily he reads me, I clear my throat and shrug out of his hold. “I’m tired, is all.”
He nods slowly, but the divot between his brows deepens as he takes me in.
“Seriously, I’m fine,” I defend. “It’s just, with the construction workers coming so early, Finley being a sleep talker, and the late-night parties, it’s been hard to get any real sleep.”
“Sleep,” he repeats.
“Yup. Sleep.”
His eyes trail down my body. “Those your pajamas?”
I look down at his worn hoodie swallowing me whole. “It was all I had in my bag, so…”
“I like it.”
“I’ll give it back tomorrow.”
“Keep it.”
“It’s yours.”
“I already told you how much I like seeing you in my clothes.”
My mouth goes dry as he stares down at me. A spark of amusement and curiosity ripples in his warm brown eyes and makes me squirm.
“What?” I ask.
“I’m wondering if there’s a reason you’re standing in my room half-naked.”
“Someone was using mine, er, Griffin’s,” I correct, “as their own personal thumping ground, so...”
“Thumping ground?”
“You know, thump, thump.” I thrust my hips forward, belatedly realizing I most definitely demonstrated the movement as if he needed a visual in the first place. My eyes squeeze shut, and I pray for the ground to put me out of my misery and swallow me. “Please scrub the image from your brain.”
“Nah, I liked it.” A deep chuckle makes its way up his chest. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Well, since I didn’t feel like battling the party downstairs, and your room was the only one available up here, I figured…”
“You’d crash on my bed?”
“Well, it was the plan until you walked in on me,” I mutter. “Never said it was a smart one, but since you’re here, you probably need the bed or the room for privacy or whatever.”
“You saw us,” he assumes.
My head bobs up and down as jealousy licks at my insides, leaving me raw and even more exhausted than when I walked into the house.
His touch is gentle as he lifts my chin, demanding my full attention. “She’s a job, remember?”
The words slip past his lips, adding weight to the stone in my gut. “You mentioned that.”
“Her ex was supposed to show, and she hired me to prove she’d moved on. When one of my sources said he was at SeaBird instead, I called it an early night and was about to come looking for you.”
“Got it.” I nod again, feeling like a bobblehead. His grasp on my chin disappears, but the heat from his touch lingers, making me miss it even though I have no right to. Shaking off the feeling, I bend down and pick up my backpack from the ground, avoiding him at all costs. “Obviously, there’s no need to come looking for me anymore. But, uh, thanks for letting me use your room and?—”
He shifts in front of me. “Where are you going?”