Page 66 of Touch the Sky

There’s a bed in there, and she lays in it.

At night.

It’s ridiculous, but all of a sudden, it’s like I can see the moonlight slanting over her face while she dreams: her lips parted, her hair adorably mussed, her bare shoulders peeking out over the top of the sheets.

I jump away from the door like it’s swung out and smacked me in the face.

I’m really standing here picturing some creepy fantasy of Tess sleeping naked when the real Tess is right here in the room with me.

The least I could do is picture her in some freaking pajamas.

“Did you just trip?”

Tess looks like she can’t decide if she should be concerned or laugh.

“Uh, yeah,” I say. “Thesemauditold floors. They’re so uneven.”

I walk over to the nearest frame on the wall, which is holding another piece of bargain bin art. I pretend to be transfixed by the mediocre pastel drawing of some foxes while I wait for my heartbeat to slow down.

“You have a strange energy tonight,” Tess says.

I turn and make a face at her. “Excusez-moi?”

She must have come around the dining table without me noticing. She’s leaning against the back of the chair closest to me. We’re only a few feet apart.

“I am notstrange.” I cross my arms over my chest. “It is almost one in the morning. I am tired. You’re the one who invited me in here in the middle of the night.”

She crosses her arms too, and I’m reminded that we’re wearing the same outfit. We’d look like mirror images if she weren’t almost a head taller than me.

She raises an eyebrow. “I thought I was being friendly.”

She looks way too sexy in that blazer. She looks way too sexy in everything she wears.

If she comes any closer, I’m going to make an idiot of myself. I’m not sure how exactly, but the back of my neck is prickling in a way that tells me I’m right on the edge of doing something truly stupid.

“It would be friendly to offer me a glass of water or something.”

I sidestep towards the kitchen, away from Tess.

It’s easier to breathe when there’s more space between us.

“You’re right. I’m a terrible host.” She skirts around the table and pulls two glasses off the pine shelves on the wall to fill them up at the sink. “Here.”

I reach for the one she offers and retreat back to my huddle beside the fridge. I try to drink like a normal person, but I end up sucking back half the glass in one go.

Tess watches me with that stupidly sexy grin plastered on her face. She looks smug, like she’s winning a game I didn’t even know we were playing.

It makes my skin crawl, but in the good kind of way, like the shiver that runs up your spine before a storm hits, when the air smells like magnets and lucky pennies.

She eyes my water glass when I finally pry it away from my mouth.

“Guess you needed it after all those beers.”

I narrow my eyes. “Three beers isnota lot, you know.”

Her grin gets even wider. “I’m teasing you.”

I tip my chin up, fighting to look tough.