Page 14 of Embraced in Ink

“You should let go of me,” she said softly, and he nodded.

“I don’t want you to trip and fall on your ass. You’ll never let me live that down if you get hurt because of that.”

She scowled. “I wouldn’t blame you.”

Marcus let her go, and she felt cold immediately.

Again, she didn’t want to think about that.

“You would totally blame me. It’s what we do.”

She nodded, her body threatening to shake. From what? She didn’t know. “Okay, you have me there. Now, really, I should go change.”

Marcus’s gaze slid down her body, and she bit her lip, doing her best not to tug down her tank. Because if she did, trying to cover her panties or her thighs, she’d show all of her boobs rather than the peek of nipple that she was for sure showing already.

Not to mention the fact that her tank top was white, and he could probably see the entire areola. Why did she sleep in this again? She wasn’t trying to be sexy, it was simply the fact that she got hot and liked to sleep under like fifty covers.

And now Marcus knew that.

Because every other time he had ever slept over, mostly if they had gotten too drunk or had a sleepover because they were best friends, she’d always worn long shorts or flannel pants, with a shirt that covered her completely. She did not parade herself in front of her best friend.

Until now.

She nodded, turned on her heel, and ran toward the bedroom. She slammed the door behind her and swore she heard a groan from the other room.

It was only in her imagination. Clearly. There was no way he was thinking anything along the same lines she was.

She quickly tugged on jeans, a bra, and a T-shirt. And then pulled on a knit wrap so she could cover herself up even more.

The only thing bare was her feet, and he would just have to deal with that as she hated socks.

She did her best to look calm, but there was nothing settled about her.

Not anymore.

She quickly brushed her teeth, did her business, and tried to make her hair look somewhat presentable, but there was nothing to be done about it.

Later, she would have to do laundry, shower, and try not to think about the fact that the last time she had been in that bed, she had given herself an orgasm. Dreaming about Marcus.

No, she wasn’t going to think about that.

It had only taken about five minutes to get everything done, but it felt like an eternity, and yet not nearly long enough.

Bristol took a deep breath and told herself to calm down. She didn’t need to stress out. They were going to figure out what to do and tell everybody calmly that they had heard wrong.

And then things would go back to normal.

Whatever her normal was.

She walked out into the kitchen where Marcus stood, her cup of coffee already on the counter and doctored the way she liked it. His cup sat near him as he stood next to the stove, egg whites in a pan along with spinach, cheese, the champagne tomatoes she adored, and turkey bacon.

“That smells amazing,” she said honestly, her mouth watering.

Marcus looked over his shoulder and appeared a little relieved.

That she was talking to him? Or that she was actually clothed?

She didn’t honestly know what she wanted the answer to be.