Page 23 of Diamonds

I’ll feel safer once the sun comes up.

Of course, I wouldn’t say no if Maddox wanted to stay another night.

I’ll never say no to that.

“But I mean it,” he says.“When I say we’ll be sleeping together, I mean it in its literal sense.Only its literal sense.”

“Agreed,” I say.“Who could be turned on after the night we had?”

But just feeling Maddox’s arms wrapped around me is warming me up, especially between my legs.

He breaks the embrace and squeezes my hand.“Let’s go up.”

We walk around to the front of the building and I open the door.We slowly ascend the staircase to my apartment on the third floor.I turn the key, and the sound of the deadbolt clicking out of place resounds through the entire building.

It always does that, but it seems much louder at nearly four a.m.

We walk in.I look down at my hands.They’re not nearly as dirty as Maddox’s, since he took the lead on the shoveling, but I still touched the outside of the hatbox.

And more than that, I just feel generally filthy.

“I think a shower would do the both of us a lot of good,” I say.

“Agreed.”Maddox looks at his own fingernails.“But I don’t have a change of clothes.”

I gesture to my bedroom door.“I have a few oversized T-shirts in my dresser that I wear to bed sometimes.They may fit you.”

“What about pants?Underwear?”

You’ll have no need for clothes,I want to say.

But sex is off the table tonight.

“We’ll figure something out.”I lead him to the en suite bathroom connected to my bedroom.“You can take the first shower.You’re dirtier.”

He looks me up and down, a glint of something lascivious passing over his eyes, but then he nods.“Sounds good.”

He strips off his jacket and T-shirt, revealing his gorgeous tan chest.The sprinkling of chest hair is matted down with sweat, which just makes him look all the more luscious.

He unbuckles his belt but then looks at me, his eyes narrowed.“Sorry.I suppose I can strip down in the bathroom.”

I chuckle lightly.“You’re fine.It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked already.”

“I guess so.”He takes off his belt.“Not really a rulebook for this particular situation, is there?”

“You mean it’s not normal to dig up a severed head on the third date?”I say.“News to me.”

His lips twitch upward and he exhales sharply out of his nose.

I’ll take that as a laugh.

We shouldn’t be joking.What happened to May was awful.What could happen to us because we found out what happened to May is awful.

But damn, if it doesn’t feel bloody good to lighten the mood, if just a bit.

He peels off his pants and then his boxer briefs.

His cock…