Page 310 of Wild Card 13

I looked down as her lashes fluttered. She blinked once.

For a second, she seemed caught between sleep and the room around her. Then her body went still, and I felt the exact moment she remembered where she was.

Her face went pink before she even lifted her head. “Why are you awake?” she rasped.

“My body wakes up at four.”

She pushed herself up on one elbow, still half draped over me, curls falling around her face in a way that would have made every rational thought in my head pack a bag and leave if I had possessed many rational thoughts to begin with. “That is horrible,” she said.

“I’m an athlete.”

“You are a problem.”

I smiled before I could stop myself. “Good morning to you too, Shortcake.”

“You are very brave for a man in elbow range.” Her eyes narrowed. She was too sleepy for the full effect. But she tried, and that almost killed me.

“I like to live dangerously.” I chuckled.

Her gaze moved over my face, then down to where her hand still rested against my stomach. She did not pull it away, but her fingers tensed.

The blush in her cheeks deepened. “Hi,” she muttered.

“Hi,” I repeated.

Her eyes flicked around the room. “I did mean it,” she said.

I knew exactly what she meant. I still asked, because I wanted to hear her say anything at all. “Which part?”

Her mouth pulled to the side. “Do not get greedy before sunrise.”

“Too late.”

She shook her head, but she was smiling now. “I meant I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “I know last night was… big.”

“Huge,” I corrected. “Life-altering. Historically significant. Put it in the arena rafters.”

She pressed her lips together, fighting a smile. “You are impossible.”

“I’ve been told.”

She laughed then, quiet and sleepy, and the sound moved through my whole body.

I wanted to roll her under me and make her laugh again and then make her stop laughing for better reasons. I wanted to keep her in this bed until noon and then order food and then convince her the rest of the world had been canceled.

Instead, I brushed my thumb once over her shoulder where my shirt had slipped. “I know last night was big,” I said.

For a second, she just looked at me.

Then she leaned down and kissed me.

Her hand slid from my stomach to my chest. Mine settled at her waist, over the cotton of my shirt. She made a faint sound when I kissed her back, and I felt it everywhere.

When she pulled away, her cheeks were pink again. “I need to brush my teeth,” she muttered.

I laughed into the inch of space between us. “Romantic.”

“I am being practical.”