Luckily, my spent cock is too satiated to care that I’m being called out. If I was ten years younger, things would be very different I imagine, so in this very moment, I take our age gap as a blessing.
“What are you doing?” I grind out, channeling the uncalled-for-frustration that my earlier thoughts infected me with.
He wiggles around and straddles one of my legs, tightening the hold he has on my wrists. “Isn’t it obvious? I am trying to seduce you and have my way with you on this enormous bed?”
The grin he shoots me is anything but seducing. Coupled with the lacy headband with cat ears he’s put on, all I see is a brat that needs me to spank some sense into him. I’d wager he was going for something else—like tempting me into devouring him whole—but taking care of my body’s arousal before walking in has foiled his plans.
I’m glad for that, because as goofy and silly as his getup is, Hex is a hard man to resist.
For a minute, I let him have his way. He gets comfortable on top of me, shamelessly canting his hips as he threatens me with the best time of my life. His erection brushes against my thigh, stirring heat within me that grows with every passing second. It feels so damn good, so right, and so very wrong.
I can’t take it.
I want more.
But I must stop, even though something seems to settle between us as we stare at each other.
Another ten excruciating seconds and I’ve humored him enough. With practiced accuracy, I turn my hands with the palms up and grab his, rolling him over in one fell swoop so he ends up pinned under me. His eyes shine with surprise and want as we lock gazes, and his breathing catches. My own harsh inhales echo in the quiet room, patchy and agitated.
“Wow. I love when you manhandle me. Now, can we make out, please? And then can I blow you? I bet your dick will feel amazing in my mouth.”
Ah, he’ll never cease to amaze me. I’ve never told him—and never will—that I love and hate how he doesn’t have any filter. How he doesn’t feel like he needs one when he’s with me. It tickles my self-confidence in the best way.
“Go to sleep, Tien,” I say with a sigh, using the hand that isn’t holding him down to stroke his hair. Hisbluehair, my brain dutifully reminds me, just like my favorite color. “It’s been a long day. We both need rest.”
He nods enthusiastically. “Exactly. But,ah, there was an accident, so the couch is a no-go. You need to sleep here on the bed with me. Also, you have my full permission to take advantage of me in my sleep. In fact, please do, I’ve always dreamed about being woken up with sex.”
I glance back and notice the dismantled piece of furniture lying in the corner.So that’s the noise I kept hearing.The little shit was taking the couch apart.As I turn back to Hex, I shake my head and showcase my best scowl. “There is a second couch in the lounge. I will sleep there. Make sure your alarms are off if you intend not to hear them. I will wake you up when it’s time to head out.”
I make to stand, but he latches onto my shirt’s sleeve. He looks like he’ll beg me to stay and give him what he wants, and I have no idea how I’ll refuse his puppy eyes. “But I need those alarms! You know it’s part of my morning ritual.”
For a moment, I don’t know what to say, staring at him like a wide-eyed doe. Then I blow air out of my nose in an ungentlemanly fashion and chuckle at his ridiculousness. He’s not wrong, though. Since he decided to convert to a normal daily routine, which begins in the actual morning and not at midday, he set up a sequence of ten alarms, the first of which goes off at seven thirty a.m.
“You don’t need all of them. Three should be sufficient.” I reach for his phone that’s been tossed on the nightstand, but he swats my hand away.
“No. The first two are to tell me it’s time to start waking up.” He raises a finger to count each of them. Then he adds a third. “The third is a contingency in case I miss them. The fourth is to signal to my brain that I have one hour of lounging in bed left. The fifth is to tell me I have fifteen minutes left to the thirty-minute mark. Sixth one…” He curls his lips, slipping into a moment of deep thinking. “Ah, yes. That one is an extra, two minutes before the seventh, which is at the half hour mark. The eighth and ninth alarms are at fifteen and ten minutes before I have to get up, so I can be fully ready for the tenth one, which is when I actually need to get up. This way, my brain has enough notice, so it can prepare itself.”
My head hurts just listening to that. Instead of getting up ten or fifteen minutes after the first alarm, like people normally do, he has this whole system set up. And most of the time, I still end up calling him at nine because he’s dozed off part way while getting up from bed.
I deem it’s pointless to argue as he launches into the supporting arguments for his decision to have so many alarms. As silly as it may be, I find it endearing. It’s one of his quirks, and I am the only person who knows about it.
“Fine,” I give in, shaking him off and straightening the cuff of my sleeve. “But this time around, youwillget upwithoutme having to drag your protesting ass out of bed.”
He sits up, smiles at me sweetly, and places his hand on his heart. “I promise. I will get up after my tenth alarm and you won’t have to lift even a finger. I’ll even make you coffee.”
Crossing my arms, I watch him pull the blanket up the bed and get comfortable under it. He won’t keep his word, I just know it. But it’s not because he doesn’t want to—Hex is just that bad with early mornings—so I guess I will have no choice but to let it slide this time as well.
11
Hex
Anearthquakepullsmeout of sleep. I toss the blanket over my head and curl into a ball as my entire body shakes violently. When I crack one eye open and glance at my phone’s screen, it shows just past eight-thirty.
I groan, wrapping the blanket tighter as the shaking continues.
Even if the world is ending, I am not getting up. It’s way too early for that.
“Tien, you promised,” an exasperated voice complains, sounding like the greatest injustice in the world has befallen its owner. “If you don’t get up in the next five minutes, we’ll be late for our shift.”
