17. Emotional Cliff
17
EMOTIONAL CLIFF
T he last thing Tori thought she’d do was spend the night.
But here she was in Hyde’s bed, opening her eyes and staring at the ceiling with a hot cocky guy she’d never in a million years thought she’d spend time with that was breathing softly next to her.
What had she done?
Then she had to fight back the groan over that thought again .
She’d pissed Hyde off.
Insulted him too.
He had every right to feel the way he had.
And he talked her off her emotional cliff.
No one had done that in her life and she was stunned he was the one to do it.
“Are you going to talk to me or lie there trying to pray you can vanish without me knowing?”
She should have figured he’d be awake.
She turned her head and looked at him.
His blue eyes almost saw into her soul.
Talk about scary!
“Vanishing is better than the walk of shame.”
There was a pause while he continued to look at her. “You’re going to piss me off if I have to calm you down again today.”
She let out a sigh. “Sorry,” she said. “Wrong choice of words. I meant it as a joke.”
“Didn’t sound that to me,” he said.
“I know.”
“Don’t say we bring the worst out of each other again. Why can’t we say that we bring something different out? It’s not all bad. I mean, you shouting my name last night wasn’t in anger, was it?”
She snorted. The charming grin he was sending her way was too hard to resist. “No,” she said, grinning. She’d always been so confident in her life, but with men, she struggled more than most. “Not at all. I wasn’t the only one shouting either.”
“And I’m not complaining in the least,” he said, leaning closer to her and kissing her on the lips.
A tender one.
As if she was so fragile she’d break.
She hated anyone to think that about her and had to cut it out.
She was stronger than this.
Just because she’d never opened her heart to a man didn’t mean she couldn’t.
If it was right.
She was still reserving judgment on that, but damn, he was wiggling the lock loose.
“That’s good to know,” she said. She leaned on her side on one elbow. “Can I confess something?”
“I’d like you to,” he said.
“I’m not normally like that in bed. It felt like an out-of-body experience.”
She just felt more than having thoughts in her brain. They didn’t even exist when she was in bed with Hyde.
She was used to thinking everything through in her life. Every plan had multiple steps. Every step had rules.
“So you’re feeling unsure of yourself and that is what is guiding your words and actions with me?”
She shrugged. “My hormones were guiding my actions with you.”
He laughed. “That’s a joke, right? Your eyes are a bit mischievous.”
“Yes,” she said. “It was a joke. As for my actions, maybe my insecurity and uncertainty with how I behaved are playing a part in it.”
“Would it help you any if I said that I loved your actions?”
“It might,” she said, smiling.
He pulled her close and tucked her under his arm. “I want you to just be and act how you feel comfortable. Don’t always try to plan it out. Don’t second-guess yourself either. We all make stupid mistakes in life. We all say things we regret.”
She snorted when he lifted his eyebrows at her. “We do that a lot with each other.”
“And yet we still landed right here.”
“We did,” she said. “I should get up and out of your way.”
“I’m not pushing you out the door,” he said. “I enjoy lying in bed on the weekends.”
“Not me,” she said. “I always have things to do.”
“That means you’re going to get dressed and take off and make me guess when I’ll see you again? Or can we spend the day together?”
Her head went back and forth. She didn’t have plans to do anything more than get some food and clean her apartment.
She wouldn’t be a coward and make anything up.
Maybe it’d be nice for them to spend more time together and see what it was they had or where this could go.
“Depends,” she said.
“On what?”
“What is going on with us? When I sleep with someone, I’m exclusive. I should have said that first, but you know, the cow was let out of the barn before it was milked.”
He burst out laughing. “That’s an appropriate description. And despite what you might think of me, I don’t sleep around when I’m with someone else. Not sure how many times I have to defend myself.”
She put her hand on his chest to stop him. “Don’t defend yourself. I’d say that statement to anyone I was dating.”
“Are we dating?” he asked. “Is that what you’re asking?”
“I guess that is a word for it,” she said. “I’m trying not to put a name on it.”
“I’d think it’s more than dating. It feels it to me,” he said. “But I’m exclusive and I’d like to spend the day with you. I’d like us to slide into something more than enemies and sometimes lovers.”
She nodded. “I can be on board with that,” she said.
“Good,” he said, throwing the covers back. “Let’s take a shower.”
“Huh?” she asked.
“A shower. I start my day with one. Don’t tell me you only shower at night because you missed it last night and I’d rather not think of being in a relationship with someone who goes more than twenty-four hours without showering.”
If he wasn’t wrinkling his nose adorably at her she might have caught on first that he’d said relationship.
She bypassed that comment. “I shower every morning and normally at night. I missed mine last night. I was a bit distracted. Though I’m not a fan of putting clothes on two days in a row.”
Her shoulders gave a shiver over the thought of it.
“It’s only to leave my place,” he said. “We can go to yours and you can show me where you live, then change, and we can think of something fun to do.”
“And get some food,” she said. “I’m starving.”
“How about I make us breakfast?” he asked. “You shower and do what you need to. There is an extra toothbrush in my closet somewhere. You should be able to find it. I’m pretty neat. I’m all for sharing lots of things, but toothbrushes are a firm no for me.”
She almost gagged. Nope, couldn’t hold it back. She did.
“Firm no here,” she said. “Breakfast sounds good.”
She picked up her clothes and went into his bathroom off his bedroom and peed first. She was so distracted by their conversation and being next to him in bed that her bladder was screaming loud enough at her to do her business.
Then she opened the bathroom closet, grabbed a towel, found the toothbrush, and looked around at a few more things. Not being nosy, just that it was all there in front of her.
He was a neat person.
She liked that, as she was too.
She turned the shower on when she was done with her teeth, then climbed in under the hot spray. She wasn’t thinking about not washing her hair and just dunked it under the spray impulsively.
Her body felt soothed and she decided to stay there for a minute.
When she reached for his shampoo, she noticed it was an all-in-one with conditioner. Not many men used that and it might explain why his hair was so soft.
It didn’t completely take the tangles out of her hair, but it was better than not having anything at all.
She stepped out of the shower after she shut it off, towel-dried her body and hair as best as she could and got dressed.
She opened a drawer to find a brush or comb and saw a travel bottle of leave-in conditioner.
He didn’t seem to be the type that would use that and hated to think it was another woman’s that was left here, but it most likely was.
Since she was the only woman in his life right now— because she was going to believe him when he said it—she used some of it and then grabbed his comb and ran it through her hair next.
When she looked in the closet again, she didn’t see a blow dryer and would have to just let it go on its own. She’d put it up when she got home and changed.
The smell of something sweet caught her attention when she opened the door.
“Wow,” she said. “You do cook.”
“Pancakes,” he said. “My Sunday morning treat. Why not have them a day earlier?”
Guess he wasn’t just saying the words about cooking. Though pancakes weren’t that hard. You add water to the boxed mix.
But they were cooked perfectly so he had to know what he was doing somewhat.
“I’m glad you did,” she said.
“How do you take your coffee? I’m afraid I don’t have creamer if you use that.”
“I do,” she said. “Do you have milk?”
He opened the fridge and came back. “Here you go. Just a small thing. I have it in cereal a few times a week.”
She poured a healthy amount of milk in. It wouldn’t be the same as cream but better than drinking it black.
They sat down and ate breakfast together. “Is there anything you want to do today?” she asked.
“I’m open for anything,” he said.
“This is silly,” she said. “But I’ve always wanted to try the treasure hunt in the city. I remember some kids I used to see talked about it once and I thought it sounded so fun.”
“We can do that,” he said. “There is a festival going on this weekend too. More arts-type things and we can walk around and just see what there is.”
“You like art?” she asked. She would have never thought that.
“I’m not some frat boy you want to keep lumping me into,” he said, closing one eye at her. “I can appreciate handcrafted things. I’m talking pottery and tapestries, jewelry. Things like that. Not really art on the wall. I don’t get into that as much.”
“That sounds fun,” she said.
“Do you know, you’re almost bouncing in your seat right now?” he said as he finished his pancakes.
She hadn’t realized it. “That’s a good thing. I’m excited.”
“I’m glad. I’m going to shower now. Don’t leave on me...please.”
“I won’t,” she said. “I’ll clean up breakfast since you cooked.”
“I’m not going to argue with you,” he said, moving past her. Her eyes landed on his bare back. He’d pulled on athletic shorts and nothing else.
He had such a body on him and she was stunned that she felt hers heating up again.
She’d never wanted sex this much.
Never thought of it like this either.
She had his dishwasher loaded and was wiping down the counters when he came out in jeans and a T-shirt, barefoot, and had the bottle of conditioner in his hand.
“That was fast,” she said. “Were you worried I’d leave even though I said I wouldn’t?”
“No,” he said. “I knew you’d be here. What did you think of this?”
She frowned. “I like it. It’s like silk in my hair. Might be too soft as it’s flying away on me.”
He laughed. “CeeCee gave it to me to try.”
“You put leave-in conditioner in your hair?” she asked, laughing.
“Not usually. I’m just using that two-in-one stuff now. CeeCee picked that out for me too.”
She found that sweet in a way. “There is nothing wrong with your hair,” she said.
“Before I came here it was a bit of a mess.”
“Huh? Did you have dreadlocks or something?”
He was way too put together for that.
“No,” he said. “But I let myself go and my hair was longer than normal, it was dry and I don’t know. It just wouldn’t do what I wanted. I got my shit together and cut my hair and CeeCee said this would help. I couldn’t bring myself to try the product yet but didn’t think the shampoo was a big deal.”
“If it helps you any, I think your hair looks and feels great.” She walked over and ran her fingers through it. “Nice and soft. It tickled me last night.”
“You’re blushing,” he said.
“I know I am.”
He leaned down to give her another kiss. “Then I’ll leave this for you again. Maybe you could put whatever else you need here. I’ll buy a hairdryer if you want. Not rushing or pushing, just being accommodating for the future. I would like you in my bed again.”
She wasn’t going to take it any other way than that.
“That would be nice,” she said. “Do you want to follow me to my place, or just have me go home and come back?”
“Why don’t I follow you and then you can leave your car and I’ll bring you back after?”
“Sounds like a plan,” she said.
He yanked her close. “And stop planning so much.”
She gave him a quick kiss. “I’ll try.”