“Jo?” Jordan peers over the couch where I lay in a heap of donut pajamas and tangled blankets, and fuck, he looks good in the morning. He’s all heavy eyes and tousled hair and dark scruff-covered jaw. I wonder how that scruff would feel against my face and maybe against…other parts of me.
I shake my head, shutting that shit down because first of all,friends. And second of all, FUCKING FRIENDS. Gah, no. Not fucking friends. No fucking. Just friends. Without the fucking. No fucking at all, and my leg definitely did not just touch the most massive erection in existence. I’m just assuming. I don’t have all that much to compare it to.
“Uh, are you okay?”
I snap my head back up and blow my hair out of my eyes. Jordan is laying on his side, propped up on one very amazing forearm, looking down at me with a mixture of concern and confusion.
Don’t mention his cock.
Don’t mention his cock.
Don’t mention his cock.
“Totally!” I say, my voice just a little too loud and bright for before sunrise o’clock. “I, um, I don’t know. I think we fell asleep last night duringArmageddon. I was just surprised when I woke up, and I guess I rolled off the couch. Good thing all the blankets were here.” I laugh a little, but it sounds forced, my brain still trying to figure out what the fuck is actually happening. “I’ll help you clean up here and then head home. I have to get changed for work.”
I stand and reach for a blanket, starting to fold it when Jordan reaches out and covers my hand with his. I jump like ten feet. “Shit,” I mutter.
“Sit down, Hurricane.”
He tugs on my hand, and I sit down heavily, pushing my hair back and scrubbing a hand over my eyes. “Sorry. Morning is not my best time.”
Jordan’s mouth quirks up on one side. “I can tell.” He sits up, swinging his legs over the couch so we’re seated side-by-side. He runs his hand through his messy hair and blows out a breath. “I think that might have been the best night’s sleep I’ve had in forever. I never sleep all the way through the night anymore.”
He sounds a little incredulous, and suddenly his hard dick and my weird attraction to him are forgotten and this is friend Jordan, sitting next to me, telling me more of his truths. “I didn’t realize it was that bad.”
He nods, sitting back on the couch. “It’s definitely that bad. I can’t fall asleep and then I can’t stay asleep. It’s a whole thing. But not last night.”
I lean back next to him. “Same. I mean, it’s not that bad, but I never fall asleep that early and sleep all night. If I go to sleep early, I wake up when it’s still dark out.”
“But not last night.” Jordan’s voice is a little quiet. Considering.
I shrug. “Nope. Not last night. Looks like all we needed to sleep like reasonable adults was a couple disaster movies, fifty pounds of junk food, and an accidental sleepover.”
Jordan huffs out a breath. “Maybe we should always have sleepovers. Then I wouldn’t need what amounts to a caffeine drip every damn day.”
I smirk at him. “You looking for a roommate, J?”
He stretches, and his T-shirt rides up, exposing well defined abs, and I can feel my face heat just a little. He studies me. “My apartment does seem much happier with you in it.”
I smile, trying not to show him how much this delights me. “It’s probably because I brought blankets and things that are not white and gray. You need some color and life in this place, my friend.”
He shakes his head. “Nope. It’s because of you. You bring the happy, Jo. Wherever you go.”
I hold my gaze steady on his. “You know that’s all I want, right? For you to be happy.”
“I haven’t been,” he says, looking down at his hands before returning his eyes to mine. “Not since Allie died. But then you asked me to come sit next to you in Ben and Hallie’s backyard and pointed out all the constellations wrong and gave me Fireballs and insisted I put scarves on a dinosaur and do all kinds of crazy New York things, and now? I’m closer to happy than I’ve been in two years.”
My chest tightens with emotion at the seriousness of his words. Like he’s begging me to understand what he’s saying, and I do. He’s had to live without the love of his life for two years, and nothing about it has been happy. I’m glad I could give that to him this summer. I would give him an endless amount of happy if he’d let me. “I’m really glad, J. It’s been a happy summer for me too.”
He gives me a wry look. “I can’t imagine my cranky ass brings you all that much happy.”
I shake my head, needing him to understand how wrong he is. “You’re wrong. I told you last week I like you exactly the way you are, and I meant it. You don’t have to change for me or anyone. I like how you go along with all my insane ideas, and you even seem to enjoy them some of the time.”
He chuckles. “All the time. Except for the fake orgasm in the diner. I could have lived without that.”
“But then I wouldn’t have this picture.” I unlock my phone and open my gallery, flashing him the picture I secretly took of his absolutely horrified face as I faked an orgasm Sally style.
“Jo,” Jordan groans, reaching for my phone. I yank it away, holding it out of his reach. “Delete that.”
