I let my betraying hand travel up his side. It wouldn’t take much for me to push him off, to roll him onto his back, and I think this time he’d let me go. But still, I keep my hand there for a long moment before using all of the effort left in my body to force myself to roll him off me.
“Fine, I’ll sleep here but only so I don’t have to listen to you cry about it,” I say… which might be a lie, but I’m sure not going to tell him that.
“Good,” he says, quite pleased. “I’m glad it’s for me.” I can hear the teasing note in his voice and try my hardest not to smile. I really don’t need him believing that he’s figured me out.
“Yeah…”
Mads is grinning even wider now as he grabs me and drags me in.
“I never said we were cuddling.”
“We aren’t cuddling. We’re merely pressing our naked bodies against each other.”
“We very much shouldn’t be naked either. I can almost guarantee Rylee will be in here before morning. And I feel like I’ve scarred the child enough without having her come in with the two of us naked.”
“Can I dress you, then?”
“Sure. That seems like a good job for you since it means I don’t have to get up,” I say as he draws off me. Now that he’s gone, I find myself strangely missing his touch.
“I got your undies!” he declares as he comes at me.
“You arenotallowed to dress me with that tone.”
“This part goes over the first footsy.”
“My room is starting to sound better and better.”
Mads laughs as he pulls my underwear up before leaning forward to reward himself with a kiss. “Fine, fine. I’m just like… giddy, I’m so happy.”
“It was just sex.”
“Very nice sex. Amazing sex. One time, I had sex in my office at the university I worked at, and it still wasn’t as fun as that sex we just had. It was even with my boss.”
I snort. “I’m glad you were pleased.”
“Very much.”
Once we’re cleaned up and dressed, he slides back under the covers and turns to me. “Fine… we don’t have to cuddle,” he says, deflating before my eyes. “I will just lie here happy that you’ve decided to stay in bed with me.”
“Hmm…”
“I’ll be over here on my side of the bed.”
“Okay. Good night.”
“I’m sorry, I could barely hear you from so far away. What was that?”
I push him so he’s facing away from me, and he sighs in defeat until I slide up behind him until my groin is against his ass.
“Oh my?—”
I clamp my hand over his mouth. “I chose this position so I could silence you,” I say, but Mads just kisses my hand, obviously not caring.
This is ridiculous. Like what do we even need to do this for? But he’s so damn happy that I can’t roll away. I’m not used to sleeping on my side, so it feels weird, and I have nowhere for my other arm to go, but he’s so thrilled about it that I can’t possibly pull away. I slide my left hand down his chest as I close my eyes, wanting sleep as much as I fear it. His hand slides over mine, cupping it as he remains quiet, likely aware he might scare me away. And in the stillness of the room, he drifts off to sleep almost immediately.
I could pull away now and he probably wouldn’t even notice, but I tuck my head close to his and find myself sinking into sleep.
Of course darkness finds my exhausted body quickly. I feel like I might suffocate as I’m trapped inside of it. There’s no way out of this situation, but the smell of death wafts through the box. Slowly, I open the lid, surprised to find that it’s not locked for once. But whenever he leaves it unlocked, it means he wants me to see what he’s left outside of it. My hand trembles as I push against it, the light from outside blinding me and momentarily making it impossible for me to see. But as I sit up, I notice a body lying just beyond it and realize that the person lying there is Mads.
