Page 23 of Don't Bite the Botanist
The words jolted him out of sleep, his eyes flying open. He blinked furiously at the sunshine streaming in through an open window as he drowned in a haze of blinding light and bubblegum scent.
Then reality smacked into him, and he realized just where that scent was coming from.
Tressa. In his arms. Wearing only a thin pair of teal satin pajamas.
And his hand was still between her legs.
“Fucking hell!” he shouted, scrambling away from her.
What was going on? And what had he been about to do?
A quick glance down told him the only clothing on his body was an unfamiliar pair of black athletic shorts that were currently being tented by his raging hard-on. His hands dropped to his crotch in a useless attempt to hide his obvious arousal.
Promptly abandoning that pointless mission, he leapt from the bed and grabbed a pillow. Holding it in front of his erection with one hand, he grabbed his glasses off the nightstand and backed up a few steps. Fumbling awkwardly, he shoved his glasses on his face, thenforced himself to look at Tressa, prepared to see the worst.
She rolled over and studied him but remained lying in bed, her face showing nowhere near as much outrage as he would have expected.
“You know,” she said, “you can feel free to relax. I’m already intimately aware of what’s going on behind that pillow.”
Ethan gawked at her. Why wasn’t she screeching and cursing his name? He had essentially assaulted her in his sleep!
“But… but… why?” It felt like his brain was bouncing around in his skull on tumble dry and he couldn’t find the off switch.
Tressa cocked her head. “Why am I aware of what you’re packing downstairs? Well, you see, when a man presses himself against a woman, that woman can feel every bit of—”
“Stop!” Ethan yelled, backing up even farther until he slammed into a solid oak dresser, knocking over whatever picture frames had been decorating it. “I’m very well aware of what was happening in that regard. Butwhywere we in bed together? And why is that bed not a hospital bed? And why aren’t you pissed as hell at me for touching you like… like that! Why aren’t you trying to kick my ass?”
Tressa ran a hand through her messy hair and collapsed against the pillow, the movement pulling her satin camisole up enough to expose a wide expanse of smooth, toned skin.
Ethan clutched the pillow even tighter as his cock tried to burst through the thing like a damned alien facehugger.
“Wellll,” Tressa drawled, oblivious to his internal struggle. “That’s a lot of questions for so early in the morning, but I’ll see what I can do. Long story short, you were attacked in the hospital. I fended off the vamp but decided you weren’t safe there, which is why I brought you back to the compound last night. It was late, and everyone was asleep when we arrived, so I figured we could share a bed for the night. I didn’t want you to wake up alone and confused in a strange place.”She paused, and her eyes crawled over his body, landing on the pillow he held with a white-knuckled death grip. “When I made the call, I didn’t realize you were such a nocturnal cuddler.”
There was no mirror in the room, but Ethan was pretty sure his pale face turned bright red. He couldn’t say he was surprised he woke up wrapped around Tressa if they’d been sharing a bed. He hadn’t been with a woman in, well, long enough he would need to check a calendar. Not to mention she was sexy as hell. Of course he would gravitate toward her in his sleep. And clearly something about her presence chased away the nightmare that had continued to plague his unconscious mind. A fact he didn’t want to think too closely about right then.
But none of that explained…
“Okay, but why are you so cool about this?” he demanded, then decided aggression was the absolute wrong emotion for the scenario. Taking a deep breath, he let it out on a slow exhale.
The problem with releasing his anger, though, was it left behind only complete and utter embarrassment with an epic side helping of shame.
He dropped his eyes to the floor as he mumbled, “I was… you know, I was…”
“Very close to getting me off?”
His eyes shot up to meet hers, and for a solid minute, he could do nothing but gape at the relaxed woman reclining on the bed with a wide, mischievous smirk on her face.
“You know what I meant,” he protested. “I was touching you inappropriately, and we only just met a few days ago.”
“Why, Ethan,” Tressa gushed, rolling onto her side in a way that gave him a tempting view down her tank top. “Who knew you were such a gentleman?”
Eyes on her face, Ambrose,he ordered himself.Eyes on her goddamned face.
“Although,” she continued, “maybe you aren’t all gentleman. That tattoo on your low back tells me there might be a wild side to you.”
Her eyes gleamed with amusement, and he would have emptied his entire bank account for a hole to open up and swallow him. Of course she’d seenthattattoo. “I died,” he muttered quietly to himself. “I died in that coma, and this is hell—embarrassing myself in front of a hot woman.”
Tressa’s smirk grew into a full-blown grin when he said the word “hot,” but she must have registered the distress overtaking him because her amused expression faded as she sat up, thankfully making it easier for him to look at her face. “I appreciate the chivalry and distress on my behalf,” she said, “but have you looked at you? Regardless of the circumstances that led us here, I’m not going to complain if you want to get some horizontal exercise in. Although, I clearly made the right call by waking you up since you seem so horrified by the thought.”
