He cleaned up in the bathroom, hoping she’d be asleep when he walked out. Yeah, he was a coward, but Lucy made him feel off balance, made him long for things he couldn’t have, not with her. Not with anyone.
Opening the door, he stepped back into the room.
“Hey,” Lucy said. She was sitting up, sheet tucked under her arms, looking as unsure as hell.
He’d made her feel that way.
“Hey.” He stood there like a fucking idiot, not sure what to do. That made literally no sense. He was the king of morning afters. He had it down to a fine art. There was never any awkwardness because the women he slept with knew where they stood. There wouldn’t be breakfast in the morning, no exchange of numbers. None of that shit.
But this was nothing like that. Yes, they both knew this thing had an end date, but there was no escaping Lucy, no pretending what happened hadn’t just happened. He didn’t want that, no fucking way, and he was lost. Had no idea how to proceed.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “You want a drink or something?” There was something dark and hard, sharp, lodged behind his chest, residual tension…emotion, fuck, whatever it was, left from the memories, and he didn’t know what to do with it, not under the spotlight of Lucy’s searching green eyes.
She shook her head and flipped back the sheet. “Come back to bed, Adam.”
That hard knot loosened instantly.
Come back to bed. Shit, he felt those words, her soft voice, low in his gut, followed by a shot of electricity traveling down his damn spine, lifting the hair on the back of his neck.
Yeah, unlike him, Lucy knew exactly what to do in this situation. She’d been in it before, right? She’d had relationships, boyfriends, had spent more than one night with the same person. One in particular that he still wished he’d had the opportunity to beat the shit out of. That thought sent a wave of possessiveness though him so strong his legs actually felt weak. It also had him taking the few short steps to the bed and getting back in beside her.
He climbed in between the sheets, and her warmth hit him right away. The smooth skin of her thighs slid against his, her calves twining with his. She twisted away and snuggled back into him, bare ass getting comfortable against his groin, her back to his chest. He bit back a groan.
What the fuck should he do with his arms?
He didn’t cuddle.
Yeah, some women draped all over him afterward, but he never held them back—but this was Lucy. She deserved to be held. And, shit, he wanted to hold her. They were friends, and they’d be friends at the end of this. Friends hugged all the time, right? Not while they’re naked, they don’t.
If he put his arms around her, if he…cuddled with her, nothing would ever be the same. He thought sex would do that, and yeah, he was ruined, fucking destroyed for all other women, but holding her, the woman of his dreams…
She reached back, wrapped her hand around his wrist, and dragged it around her waist, taking the decision from him. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she wriggled her ass getting comfortable, and then he felt her relax.
Adam froze.
“Stop it,” Lucy said, voice sleepy and, God help him, cute as fuck.
“What?” he choked out.
“Freaking out.” She shrugged against him. “I like to cuddle. Get the hell over it.”
An image of her like this with some stuffy psychology professor slammed into the back of his head. He didn’t like it. Not one bit.
“Would you relax, already? It’s no fun snuggling a robot.”
This was happening. There was no getting out of it, not without hurting her feelings. And that was the last thing he wanted to do. To her this was no big deal. She liked to cuddle. Unfortunately for Adam, it was like having his heart pummeled by a jackhammer. No one had hugged him, touched him, in a way that wasn’t sexual, that was purely for comfort, since before his mom died. The fact that it was Lucy—shit, he really had screwed himself over good this time.
“My apologies,” he said dryly—well, he hoped that was how he sounded. Kind of hard when your heart was trying to beat its way out of your fucking chest. He forced himself to relax. “Better?”
“Hmm, much.” Her voice had grown even softer.
They lay there in silence for a long time, and finally she fell asleep. He could tell by the way she was breathing, the way she was fully relaxed, leaning all her weight against him, her smaller frame enveloped in his bigger one. Somehow, without realizing, she’d tucked her head under his chin and every time he inhaled, he drew in her scent—her shampoo? He loved the way she smelled. Always had. It was like it had been made just for him, to tempt him and drive him crazy. ’Cause that’s how he felt every time he got a whiff of her. And, shit, he didn’t want to think about how perfect she felt where she was, like the two of them were meant to fit together, just like this.