A wave of sleepiness washed over me the moment my head hit the pillow. It had been a long day for me, too. Part of me wanted to enjoy the moment… the steady sound of her breathing. The citrus scent that I’d smelled on her hair when we were dancing. The way her hair spilled all over the pillow.
But I was fading fast. Just before I drifted off to sleep, I remembered that Kincade was supposed to be sharing the bed with me. I knew I should get up and talk to him about the change in circumstances. He needed a place to sleep, too, but I was too damn tired.
Consciousness faded away and I joined Maddie in slumber.
7
Maddie
Sunlight hit my face, but I shied away from it. I didn’t know what time it was, but it was too early. And I was far too comfortable to get up. The bed felt so damn good—as did the nice, warm body in front of me. At some point in the middle of the night, I’d snuggled up next to Jessie. Forgoing the pillow, I had my face smashed up against the smooth skin of his back. He was so warm, and he smelled good, too.
The man at my back was also a source of heat. He had his leg twisted around mine and his hand resting on my hair. I knew I could wiggle free, but it felt so good being sandwiched between them.
Them.
What the hell?
I scrambled to my knees and scooted to the foot of the bed, pulling the covers with me. That left two half-nude dudes rubbing their eyes and staring sleepily up at me. One was Jessie, and the other was Kincade.
“What are you doing?” I demanded of the latter.
He yawned and scratched his fingers across his sculpted abs. “Same thing you two were doing. Sleeping.”
“In here?”
Kincade nodded as he stretched his arms out to the side.
On the other side of the bed, Jessie was blinking slowly like a cat. Clearly, he wasn’t one of those people who could wake up in an instant. “What’s going on?”
“What’s going on is that I went to sleep next to one man and I woke up next to two!”
My tone finally seemed to register with them. “I’m sorry,” Kincade said. “I was going to give you guys privacy, but then I saw you both had your clothes on, so I figured it was okay.”
Jessie sat up. “To be honest, Maddie, you were so out of it you wouldn’t have known if there were ten men in the bed.”
“Not helping.” I glared at him before returning my gaze to Kincade. “You can’t just sleep next to someone without asking them first. What if I’d woken up in the middle of the night, figured out there was someone else in bed, and was scared out of my mind?”
“Were you scared when you woke up?” Kincade asked. “If so, I apologize.”
I thought about it. Had I been scared? Certainly startled, but maybe scared was too strong a word.
While I hesitated, Jessie spoke up. “There wasn’t any other place for him, Maddie.”
“What about the other bedroom?” It seems like he could’ve shared a bed with Brock, unless perhaps there was only a twin bed in there.
Jessie and Kincade exchanged a look, and then Jessie spoke up. “That bed is occupied.
“Occupied?” I echoed. And then it hit me. Maybe Brock hadn’t slept alone, either. Maybe he’d picked up someone after the reception ended. It wasn’t a pleasant thought even though I had no claim on him.
Kincade swung his legs over the side of the bed but he didn’t get up. Instead, he looked at me. “I really am sorry, Maddie. I didn’t consider it from your perspective. I was just tired and there wasn’t any place else and I didn’t think.”
“Scotch can do that to a person.” The deep voice behind me startled us all. I whirled around, automatically lifting the covers to my chest. Brock was standing there, bare-chested and wearing black sweatpants.
“M-morning,” I stammered. I felt a little awkward around him now that I knew he’d shared his bed with someone last night. Was she in there? Was she listening to us now?
“Good morning.” His voice was deep, but not rusty from sleep like the other two.
Suddenly, I realized I still had the covers pulled up to my chest. Since I hadn’t done that around Kincade and Jessie, it seemed stupid to try to hide my body from Brock. But I’d been so startled when I woke up, I hadn’t thought about it.
I’d slept in shorts. Not super short shorts, but not long ones like the guys had worn the first time I’d seen them. My t-shirt was loose, and I had a cotton bra on under it. It didn’t provide as much support as my regular ones with underwires, but I wouldn’t have felt right being braless out by the pool last night.