It depended if he was wearing a t-shirt when he came back out.
Two seconds later, I got my answer.
I glared at him. “Put on a t-shirt.”
He grinned. “Do you know how many women want to—”
“No, nor do I care,” I said, looking down at my tablet.
Seriously.
I had to look away from the abs.
There were loads of them. I didn’t even know people had that many stomach muscles. I sure as hell didn’t, but then I also liked pie, so…
“You’re fucking adorable when you blush.” The bed squeaked when he got on.
“I am not blushing.”
“Tell your cheeks that.”
I flicked my gaze over at him. He wore that shit-eating grin that bugged the hell out of me, and I had to turn my attention back to my tablet so that I didn’t do something rash.
Like punch him.
Or maybe kiss him.
Wait.
No, not that. That was random. I was definitely not doing that.
Why was that even crossing my mind?
Those fucking sweatpants!
I opened my book and checked the location. It was where I’d left off this morning, so I went back to my ice cream and my wine.
I had to forget that I had a pitching god settling down next to me in bed.
With one million abs, gray sweatpants, and the kind of V-shaped hip muscles that made smart girls do stupid things.
It’s me.
I’m the smart girl.
I groaned internally. By all accounts, this had been a terrible idea. Even if he was keeping his distance and a whole other person could fit between us.
I still knew he was there, and that really, really sucked.
He didn’t turn on the television, but he lay quietly on his phone after plugging it in. He wasn’t under the covers yet, and when I’d finished my ice cream, he got up and turned off the main light.
This time, he got under the covers, but kept the space between us. I kept reading until I’d finished a chapter, then clicked off my tablet and snuggled down myself, switching it out for my phone.
Then we lay there, backs to one another, not talking, with our eyes on our phones.
It didn’t last long. I was exhausted, and I hadn’t realized just how tired I really was until I got into bed here.
I put my phone back on the nightstand, set my glasses on top of it, and nestled down under the covers to stare out of the huge windows that looked out over the resort. Neither of us had closed the drapes, so I had a full view of the beautiful, snow-covered mountains as the moon glinted off them.
Seb put his phone down, too, plunging the room into another level of darkness. He shifted, rolling onto his back if the dip in the mattress was anything to go by.
“Holley?”
“What?” I whispered back.
“That night. At prom.”
I swallowed. “Really? Now?”
“Yes, now.”
I wasn’t going to turn around. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear this. “Okay.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “I guess it’s better getting it out in the open, right?
“Do you remember what you wore?”
What on Earth made him think I’d forgotten? “Of course I remember. It was senior prom and one of the worst nights of my life.”
“It was that red dress. It was all poofy at the bottom, and you kept saying you felt like a freaking mermaid because you couldn’t walk.”
What the…
“But you looked amazing.”
This time, I knew I was blushing.
“And you had your hair up. It was all twisted with bits around your face and a red rose in the back.”
“How do you remember that?”
“Because Iris was wearing a dress like yours and had her hair up, too.”
“Right.” My tone was bitter. “She knew what I was wearing. She did it deliberately to get at me.”
“Whyever she did it, she didn’t look half as beautiful as you did.”
“Then why did you kiss her?”
He sighed, and the moment that passed was heavy, the air almost thickening in the silence. “Because,” he said softly. “I thought she was you.”
I froze.
What did he just say?
“What?”
“I was going to kiss you.”
I jerked up, my momentary paralysis gone, and sat up, turning to look at him. Thanks to the fact we hadn’t closed the curtains, I could see his face perfectly.
He was staring up at the ceiling with his hands clasped on top of the covers, not moving.
“What?” I asked again, my mouth completely dry. “You were going to kiss me?”
Another sigh, and he turned his head to look at me. “Yes. I was looking for you. Someone said they’d seen you go in that direction, and from behind, Iris looked like you. It was really fucking dark, and I was certain it was you. I didn’t even know it was her or that you’d seen us until after you’d left. Tori and Ivy gave me the verbal lashing of my life.”
My heart was thumping so harshly I could barely speak. I knew what he was saying, but I didn’t know, and I was so confused.