Page 19 of The Secret
“God, I wish I was that organized,” she says.
“You can have it.”
“No way, Dan, you’re not doing that.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Don’t do the looking-after-the-lady thing. I don’t like not being treated equally.”
Is she really turning down a more comfortable sleeping option?
“Big surprise,” I say, grinning. On the building site, Liss has the propensity to lift a lot of weight and I love teasing her about it, particularly demonstrating how much more I can lift than her. She calls me an asshole when I do it.
“Let’s put it on the bed and share it,” she says.
My blood heats as I peer at her and raise my eyebrows, grinning. “Are you asking, or telling me you want to sleep in a bed with me?”
She looks down and fiddles with a thread on her shorts. “Seems like the best solution to me.”
God, could I sleep with her and not …? Her gaze comes back to mine, and I press my lips together, eyes fixed over her head. “I’m not sure I …” I start.
“Whatever,” she says, sinking down on the wooden edge of the bed. “I’ll take the bed, you can sleep on that contraption on the floor.” She gestures at my inflatable.
She lies back on the lumpy mattress on the bed and winces. What’s in that thing?
I loom over her, placing my hands on either side of her body, and she blinks up at me.
“It’s not a question of not wanting to, Liss, it’s that I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands to myself.” I glance at the thin wall of the building above my head and the sheet covering the door.
Her mouth goes slack, and my lips twist, eyes flicking over her nose and cheeks. “… Or stop myself from getting hard,” I add. I want to bedirecthere, I want her to understand just how much I like her. She was direct with me about Henry, and I think it took courage to do that.
“As long as I can stroke your biceps, I’m up for it,” she says, a smile radiating up at me.
My eyes drift down to her lips. Does she want this? I lean back and drag her to her feet, removing the lumpy mattress and lifting the inflated mattress onto the bed, pulling a mosquito net and a hook out of my backpack. Climbing onto the bed, I start fixing the hook into the low roof. It’s a well-worn routine.
“God, you’re organized. I’m impressed,” she says.
I study her for a beat before going back to screwing the hanger into the wood. “You brought a net too, though, right?”
“Yes. One’ll be enough, won’t it?”
“Yeah.” I step down and pull my shirt off over my head, folding it and putting it on the crate. The candlelight casts a golden glow over everything as I unbutton my shorts. Liss stares as I strip right down to my underwear and climb beneath the net. I try not to watch as she removes her pants and takes her bra off under her T-shirt. It’s a level of shyness I wouldn’t have associated with her, and something warm burns through me. I like this thing I have with her. I like who she is under the sass and the liveliness.
As she shifts beneath the netting, I get a tantalizing glimpse of gray boy shorts. There’s nothing special about them, but at this moment nothing has seemed sexier. My mouth waters as we shuffle around trying to get comfortable.
“We should sleep head to toe,” she says.
“No fucking way,” I say, moving so I’m tucked into her back, and I slide a forearm over her chest. I breathe out into her curls, and the warmth of her seeps into me, her hair tickling my face as my stomach turns liquid. She places a tentative hand on my arm.
The rustling and snuffling of animals drifts in through the makeshift doorway. We’re so close to nature and all its dangers and raw elements here, so far away from the heat and honk of the city. She shifts and I groan into her hair, hardening at the feeling of her small hips tucked into mine.
“Don’t. Move.”
“Sorry,” she whispers.
“Sorry about the hard-on,” I add.
“I’m flattered,” she says, and that isn’t fucking helping. I want to pin her to the bed, under me.
