Chapter 18
CHAPTER 18
T he night before, Paige had managed another nightmare-free sleep. This was incredible, but she didn’t think Blake would fall for it again. Still, she had to try.
At the farmers market, they grabbed several fresh veggies and spent the rest of the day together. At dinner, they made eggplant lasagna. This was becoming more and more common, and Paige liked Blake’s company.
They finished cleaning up the dishes, and Blake snapped her on the behind with the towel.
“Hey.” She snatched it from him. “This is not the guys’ locker room.”
He shrugged. Her palms were sweaty because she was afraid he would see right through her.
“You want to watch another movie? Your choice this time,” she offered.
He leaned against the counter, crossed his arms, and stared at her. “No. I don’t. Can we take a walk by the water instead?”
“Um, I guess.” She really didn’t want to spend the night alone, but she didn’t know how to tell him that.
She followed him across her grass and onto the sand. He sat down, away from the water, and Tria took off across the sand.
Tria found a stick and raced toward them. She dropped it, and he threw it for her.
“She likes it here,” Blake said.
“She’s a good dog. I’ve never had one before.” Nerves settled in her stomach. She didn’t know what he was about to say.
He chuckled. “She likes you.”
“I’m glad.”
“So, about the couch.”
Oh, no. He had seen right through her. She was about to be humiliated.
“It’s okay. We don’t need to talk about it.” Her words came out in a rush, and she stared off into the woods so he couldn’t see her hot face.
“Actually we do. I know what you’re doing. You might not have intended it the first night or maybe even last, but now you’re going for three in a row. Either you really like me, and you’re afraid to say something, or you just really enjoyed not waking up from awful nightmares. My money is on the second one. Though if it’s the first, I wouldn’t complain. Your brother might though.”
What was he saying? That he liked sleeping with her, and that he wanted more? This got complicated fast. She wasn’t sure what she felt about him, but if he leaned over and tried to kiss her right now, she’d definitely let him.
But he didn’t.
She faced him. “Lukas has no say in who I spend my nights with. But you are correct, it is the second one. I haven’t had a full night’s sleep since the accident. Well, until two nights ago anyway. It was nice. I would think it was the couch, but I slept out there for the first two months after the accident, and I still had nightmares.” She wasn’t about to admit how much she wanted him. This was hard enough as it was.
“Well,” he huffed. “I’m not sleeping on the couch anymore.”
She let out a breath. She understood. She didn’t like it, but she understood. “That’s fine. I get it.”
“No, I wasn’t done. I am willing to join you in bed, completely innocently, if you want. That way we both get to sleep, and I don’t wake up with sore muscles.”
This was scary and a little bit weird, but she wasn’t opposed to the idea. She’d figured if they fell asleep on the couch enough, it would eventually go there anyway. But she’d just thought it would naturally migrate that way, not that they would have to talk about it. She was so not comfortable with the talking part.
“Okay. That would work. Thank you.”
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “I’m here to protect you even if that means protecting you from the things in your head.”
“That means a lot to me. I never knew Lukas had such cool friends. Well, Hayden I know, but not the rest of you.”
“Oh, shoot. That reminds me. Fourth of July is in a couple of weeks.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, we all get together. You wanna come?”
“Where?” Lukas had mentioned these trips before.
“Mackinac this time. We wanted to keep it local this year with all the pregnancies and stuff.”
“How long will you be gone?” She’d gotten used to his company and even though she fought it at first, she didn’t want to be alone in the house again.
“Just the weekend.”
She couldn’t go a whole weekend without him now, go back to no sleep again. This was not good at all.
“Um, yeah, I think I’ll come. Mom and Dad have wanted me to visit anyway.” She rarely went back to the island. She loved her family, but they were overbearing.
“Then it’s settled.”
* * *
Paige created a wall of pillows between her and Blake. She didn’t want him getting the wrong idea. Not that it would be the wrong idea. She’d finally admitted to herself that her feelings for him went beyond just enjoying his protection. She was falling hard for him.
Which was strange. She’d never really fallen like this. Sure, she was in love with Emery, but that had been such a gradual thing she’d barely even noticed. But he never made her skin tingle the way Blake did or made her heart race when he walked into the room.
However, she couldn’t get a read on Blake at all. She knew he was attracted to her, but she figured that was more in the vein of “I’d like to sleep with you and never see you again after the summer.” Which would crush her. That was not her style at all. She’d only ever slept with Emery, and she just wasn’t the person for one-night stands and such. Although she’d joked early on with Blake about summer flings, she hadn’t meant it. But she’d just never considered truly staying celibate for the rest of her life.
No. Definitely, not. That thought was ridiculous at her age.
So either she had to get comfortable with casual sex, or she had to let her guard down and fall in love again.
Neither one of those sounded appealing to her.
She slid into bed and felt it move as Blake did as well. She flicked off the light on her nightstand and tried to close her eyes. But instead she stared at the wall of pillows.
“Is this weird?” she asked. It was totally weird. Her best friend, Stormy, would totally laugh at her for this. It’d been a long time since she confided anything to Stormy.
For some reason though, this didn’t feel that weird. Because it was Blake.
He poked his head over the pillows, and she could barely make out his features in the moonlight. She would die and go to heaven right now if he leaned over and kissed her.
But he didn’t.
Again.
And she was surprised at how frustrating that was.
“A little. You’ve been through something that I can’t even comprehend. I’ve been through my own crap. Remember I can’t watch horror movies because of my parents. It’s okay. I get it.”
“Thanks again.” She was grateful he didn’t think this was too weird. She was just glad she was getting some sleep.
“Don’t mention it.”
He dropped back down on his side of the pillows, and before long, she heard his breathing change to long deep breaths.
* * *
Blake didn’t know what happened to the pillow shield in the middle of the night, but he woke with Paige’s head on his shoulder, her hand resting a little too low on his stomach, and a leg flung over his.
She would be embarrassed if she realized she was practically on top of him, but he couldn’t wiggle out from underneath her without waking her. He let his fingers absentmindedly play with her hair.
This was something he never had before. Debbie was not a cuddler. After sex, she always stayed firmly on her side of the bed, and if he tried to get close to her, she’d shoo him away. Even when they watched movies together, the most she would do was hold hands.
Not that Debbie had been the only woman he’d been with, but the others were short, one-night-type things.
This kind of intimacy was new to him, and he was not supposed to be intimate with her at all.
Time to get up. Before he let his mind wander to other things he’d like to do with her.
He shifted his weight and slid a couple of inches to the left, but the hand on his stomach suddenly came to life. She clawed lightly at his skin.
“Don’t go,” she muttered.
Holy hell he was in a world of trouble.