Page 48 of First Down Promise

That was…quite a night.

And totally didn’t go to plan. Neither of us got there, and I thought it was hard for a man not to come. My stomach pangs at the thought that last night could have been one and done. Why fuss with me? I may not even be cut out for sex.

Footsteps pull me from my thoughts as Josh appears through the arch with a fluffy white towel around his waist and damp hair. His signature boyish smile crosses his face when we make eye contact, and he strides over to my side. He sits on the edge of the bed and leans in to kiss me.

“Good morning,” he says, pulling his lips from mine.

“Hi,” I breathlessly reply.

He gently brushes a lock of my hair behind my ear. “How’d you sleep?”

“Good. It’s a comfy bed.” I glance down and realize that, under the loose sheet, I’m still naked from last night.

“Yeah, another necessity.”

Who’s going to address the elephant in the room?

“Are you always an early bird?” I ask.

Well, it’s not going to be me.

Josh shrugs. “Sometimes. I wanted to work out this morning.” He pauses and rubs his chin. “Everything okay?”

“I think so. Are you okay?”

He laughs under his breath. “Look, I know things didn’t go as expected last night, and no one has the perfect first time. I think I lasted a whole fifteen seconds my first time,” he says. I laugh through my nose, but stop before he catches me. He dips his head and bites his lip. “I have PT and a massage this afternoon, but if you want to hang out tonight, we can try things again.”

“What if tonight is just as disastrous?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “It won’t be. And last night wasn’t disastrous. It was just, um.” He pauses again, thinking. “Hmm.”

“I think disastrous is the word,” I mumble.

“No, no way. Come here.” He leans over and hugs me to his chest. I inhale the musky scent of his body wash and close my eyes, soaking in the moment. “God, I don’t want to be cheesy and call it beautiful.”

“Oh God,” I groan into his chest, which makes him chuckle.

“But I enjoyed having you here and having you spend the night. And I want you to come over later, too, so I can redeem sex for you,” he says.

I bite the inside of my cheek and dart my eyes away from him. “I don’t want this to turn into just sex.”

“Oh, shit. Sorry. I didn’t mean to come off that way. If you need time, that’s alright.”

I instinctively shake my head. “No, I want a redo, but I don’t want to be just a hookup, either.”

“I’m not gonna do that to you.” He pauses, and I let the moment breathe before adding anything else. “Um, if tonight’s not too soon, we can try again.” He leans in to kiss me, but I turn away. “What’s wrong?”

My skin heats up all over. “Can I borrow your toothbrush or something?”

Josh laughs. “Of course.”

“And maybe a tee?”

“Sure thing.” He stands and tightens the towel around his waist. He walks over to the dresser on the opposite wall from his bed, opens a drawer, and tosses a shirt onto the bed. “I ordered breakfast to get delivered and got you waffles. I know how much you loved them that time Pete made us some as a hangover cure.”

“I can’t believe you remember that.” I let the loose sheet fall from where I kept it pinched under my arms to expose my chest and torso to him. “You were the ones hungover, not me,” I say as I reach over for the shirt and gasp. There’s a red spot on the fitted sheet towards the foot of the bed.

“What?” he asks. “Oh, that’s from my calf. I took a helmet to the shin.” He twists to show me a bruised and slightly reddened spot on his leg.