“Are you going to finish your tea?” he asked.

“Well, I was thinking it might warm me up, but now I’m thinking there are better ways to warm up.”

He tilted his head, offering a cute, lopsided grin. “Such as?”

“Body contact. Level of heat is disproportionate to number of clothes and proportionate to number of muscles. Know anyone interested?”

Will dropped his towel to the floor. I heated up before he even touched me, but then he scooped me up in his arms and I was on fire.

“You’ve read my mind,” he informed me while carrying me to the bedroom. “I think we both have too much adrenaline to sleep.”

“Pffft, maybe you do. I meant nothing more than a cuddle.”

“And what makes you think I meant something else?” He did away with my robe before we climbed into bed.

“Hmpf.” I’d tried to say actual words, but Will had licked one nipple, pulling it between his lips.

“What was that?” he moved to the other nipple. I didn’t bother to reply. I was too busy squirming and enjoying his mouth. Will kissed up to my ear, and I became aware that every inch of my side was pressing against his body.

“Paige, are we good?” he asked softly.

I nodded, turning on one side too, watching him. “Yes.”

He gave me a long, deep kiss and held me until I fell asleep.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Will

“Val, how much longer are you planning to torture us?” I demanded. We were at Friday dinner, and Val had brought samples from the office, asking our opinions, calling us her testers. The girls’ group, which comprised Lori, Hailey, Maddie, and Paige, was ecstatic trying out everything, giving Val detailed reports on every fragrance.

“Until you give me your opinion,” Val replied sweetly.

“Why do you need our input on women’s fragrances?” Jace voiced my exact thoughts.

“Because I want to know if you’d like these on a woman. It’s an important part of research.”

Jace and I carefully avoided looking at each other.

I was always up for helping my sisters, but the most I could come up with was I like it or I don’t like it. Val wasn’t satisfied with that. She prodded us with questions like “How about the undertone? The finishing notes? Do you feel the pepper at all? Would mint be better?”

Milo had been the only one to escape this, and that was just because he was spending the night at a friend’s house.

Graham and Landon were sharing my conundrum, but we all tried our best. We had our eyes on the prize. Dinner. Except the girls were having too much fun trying out the samples... so much fun, in fact, that it didn’t look like we’d have dinner anytime soon.

“That guy I danced with the other night asked for my number, and we went out on Wednesday,” Val told the girls.

She’d lowered her voice, but even so, bits of the conversation filtered through the living room. The girls were sitting at the dining room table, and the guys and I in the seating area on the other side of the room.

When the word tongue reached our ears, Landon cleared his throat loudly. “Val, how about continuing girl talk another time? We can hear you, you know.”

Val glanced over her shoulder, smiling sheepishly. “Oops, didn’t realize I was talking so loudly.”

“Who is she talking about?” Jace inquired. “That guy from the girls’ outing two weeks ago? He seemed like a schmuck.”

I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Brother, don’t get her hackles to rise, or we might not get dinner.”

Usually Jace wasn’t one to jump the gun. That was my role. He took most things in stride, but he’d been on edge lately. He’d started dating a woman he was very much into, and discovered that she’d been more into his fame than into him. It didn’t use to bother him, but my brother was changing. He was generous and trusted easily, which could be a bad combo, and I’d always worried for him.

Tags: Layla Hagen The Connor Family Romance
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