Page 50 of Enemies with Benefits (Finding the Right Brother #1)

"You were already vulnerable, considering where your head was.

..or wasn't at, I guess," he said with a small smile.

"I wasn't going to take advantage. Plus, it wouldn't be nearly as much fun with you catatonic.

You're a lot more...mmm, lively, when you're awake.

And even more so when you're pissed at me, and still want to fuck me. "

I eyed him. “Are you trying to piss me off or just make jokes so I don't feel awkward?"

"Is it working?"

"A little."

"Good."

"You're a fucking idiot."

"No, you're the one fucking an idiot, remember?"

Well, he’d finally won. I couldn't help but bark out a laugh, the sound a little ragged around the edges, but it felt good to let it loose.

I was right, but so was he, and I couldn't find it in myself to be upset about it.

We were both idiots, really, and we'd proven that time and time again, especially when it came to each other.

Hell, maybe that was alright, because now we were being idiots together instead of just at the same time.

"Mmm, that's a far better thinking look than I'm used to seeing on your face," he said with a grin. "Feeling better?"

"A little," I said with a sigh. "Just...drained."

"That's fine, let's go to bed," he said, standing up.

"Uhh…" I began, glancing over my shoulder toward the bedroom.

"To sleep ," he said. "I'm not being a horndog."

"No, I didn't…" I began and then stopped.

It wasn't like I hadn't spent the night with him before, but this was different.

Way different in fact because now he had seen me in a way no one else had, not Moira, not even Kayden.

And rather than dumping me in a ward or calling Kayden to babysit me, he had taken the time to take care of me.

I was indebted to him, which was big enough on its own, and still surprising, but.

..to go with him, to his bed, in his private room, that was probably even more personal than the one he had in Portland near his club. ..that was something else entirely.

He held his hand out, with that same smile that was beginning to feel a little dangerous.

At this point, it was just the cherry on top of everything he’d already done for me.

It was gentle, accepting, and just shy enough that to deny him would make me feel like an absolute asshole.

The only thing left was to reach out and take his hand, letting him help me up off the couch since I wasn't going to be able to push myself up with my injured hand.

"I was thinking," I began as he led me into the bedroom. It was too dark for me to make much out, but I could see there were more framed pictures or paintings on the walls, and the rug at the foot of the bed was soft.

"Now there's dangerous words if I ever heard any," he said, pulling back the covers and nodding toward the bed.

"The last one was funny, don't push your luck," I muttered, awkwardly climbing into his bed and stopping when I realized it smelled of him.

He had clearly spent plenty of time in bed lately, and I wondered if he was prone to lying in bed reading, or if he was just lazy about doing his laundry.

"I was thinking...since I'm probably going to have a lot more time on my hands, that. ..I might see that club of yours."

He looked at me, his brow twitching upward. “Really?"

"What?"

"Well, clubs don't exactly seem like your sort of place."

"I've gone to clubs."

"Yeah, but you strike me as the type to find some rundown bar with bad lighting, country music playing out of shitty speakers, and dropping yourself in a corner while you brood."

"Never mind."

He laughed, tapping his phone, and the lights in the living room went out, casting us in darkness save for the light of his phone, which he plugged in and set on the bedside table.

I felt him rustling around before the sheets and comforter were pulled over us.

His hands found me, this time settling gently on my chest, and he surprised me with a quick kiss to my cheek.

"Go to sleep, we can go in a couple of days if you want. Works for me, I need to see the place with my own eyes. I trust my people, but that doesn't mean they're not occasionally dramatic," he said, his chuckle gusting warm air onto my neck. "Now get some rest."

"Sure," I said, suddenly unsure of the fluttering feeling in my gut, his hand staying on my chest as he settled down.

I wondered if it would be like the last time I'd slept with him, though that time there had been a distance between us, as if there was an invisible wall between our bodies as he quickly drifted off to sleep.

I wasn't all that surprised when I heard his breathing deepen, the breaths coming in and out at an even pace as he clearly drifted off to sleep with little problem.

Apparently, his carefree attitude allowed him to ignore the nagging little demons that plagued a lot of people as they lay down to sleep for the night...asshole.

Yet even with that flash of annoyance, I was distracted by the twitch of his fingers against my chest, and the irritation disappeared.

It wasn't enough to silence the voices in my head, voices that sounded like the man's grunts and groans after I'd left him bloody on the floor, the shriek of the woman as I struck her, the shouts of my friend trying to bring me back from the brink, and as always, the low, hateful growl of my father who was always there with me if I was willing to listen.

But...it helped, and now I just had to figure out what to do with that.