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“I’m not sure I’d call you an expert,” she says. Her warm breath ghosts over my neck. “You know howyouthink. I’m starting to suspect that’s not representative of most men.”

“Coming from you, I know that’s a compliment,” I say dryly.

She smiles. I can feel it, the movement of her lips against the edge of my T-shirt. “Maybe, yeah. I just feel like… most guys wouldn’t be okay withjustthis. I mean, I know you are, because we’re just practicing. This isn’t real. But if it was, they’d be expecting this to lead to more.”

I want to tell her she’s wrong.

But there are guys who would be lying where I am right now and hoping. Letting their hands wander. And I’m a fucking asshole for craving that very same thing too.

“They might hope,” I tell her, “but a man who cares about you will listen to you and your signals. And believe me, I’m not alone in wanting to hold a beautiful woman close. Any guy would be lucky to be me right now.”

She relaxes against me once more, her body molding to mine. “Thank you.”

Her eyelashes brush my neck when she blinks, and that brief, teasing contact sets my nerves on end. I’m aware of every point we touch. The curve of her breast against my side, her leg draped over mine… her hand on my chest.

“Do you think he’s out there right now?” she asks. “Living in a hotel nearby, driving outside the house regularly…”

It was too much to hope that I managed to distract her entirely.

“Maybe,” I admit. “And if he is, my team will catch him.”

“I don’t like how close he was tonight.”

I hold her tighter. “You’re safe here, trouble. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Thank you,” she whispers, and I’ve never given someone comfort like this.

Her breathing turns deep and even. I can feel her torso expanding with every breath beneath my curved arm. The trust she’s placed in me is enough to make a man addicted.

She’s asleep.

I press my lips to the silkiness of her hair, just once, and then settle back against the pillow. For all of our talk, I rarely share a bed with anyone either. It’s easier to be alone. It always has been.

I’ve been afraid of ruining her, but here she is, ruining me.

Lesson by lesson and day by day.

CHAPTER35

NORA

I wake up to a room bathed in soft light leaking in through the covered windows. The bed is warm and soft. The person behind me is certainly also warm, but not soft. And he’s cradling me into the curve of his body.

West.

Who spent the night in my bed because of my breakdown last night.

I close my eyes again and try not to shift an inch. His chest rises deep and steady behind my own. This has never happened before. I’ve never once done this, and the joy of it makes me almost giddy.

I slept in his arms the whole night.

Even if we must have shifted in our sleep. Because now he’s holding me tight, the small spoon to his big one, and he’s got both arms around me. One beneath my neck and the other around my waist.

It feels good to be held like this. Even if I’m very warm. It’s like he runs hotter than I do, because where his hand rests against the bare skin of my stomach, my shirt ruched up, his palm is hot.

And there’s something thick pressing against my low back.

He’s hard.Again.Like he was when I sat on his lap at the poker game, and like he got last night when he told me how he’d make me come. He helped me practice talking about sex and grew hard at the same time.