I was concentrating so intently on deciphering the way Sloane was staring at me, I startled when her hands moved from my shoulders, up my neck, and then threaded into my wet hair. I was no closer to placing the expression when she softly asked, “You want me to stay?”

Time to man the fuck up.

“I want you to stay,” I confirmed.

“For how long?”

For-fucking-ever.

“Long enough to give us a shot, to see if you like it.”

I didn’t need to study her expression to see her happiness. But all too soon it morphed into a frown.

“Elise. My apartment.”

Fucking shit.

“We don’t need to talk about this now,” I told her.

“But you want me to stay?”

My heart clenched at the apprehension I heard.

“I want you to stay. But how about we finish our shower, get a good night’s sleep, and table this discussion until you’ve had a few days to adjust.”

“Okay.”

I didn’t hear any trepidation but still, I reiterated, “To be clear, and I know you can’t miss this with my cock trying to tunnel his way past my control, but I want you. Right now though, I wanna take care of you a different way.”

“I understand.”

I stepped away from the wall and Sloane slid down the front of me but didn’t step back when she landed on her feet. She wrapped her arms around me and pressed her cheek against my chest.

“Thank you for wanting to take care of me.”

We stood in silence as I wondered what made Sloane so different that from across a crowded room I was instantly drawn to her. After a few moments of coming up blank, I wondered if I’d ever figure it out. Then I wondered if I cared that I’d never know. The answer to that was, I didn’t care. She just felt right, and I was leaving it at that.

20

My eyes shot open and I awoke with a start. There was banging. Lots and lots of loud banging.

It took me a second to remember I wasn’t in California in my apartment. Which meant it took a second for me to remember the hard wall of muscle under my cheek wasn’t my pillow. Memories of the night before started flashing—Asher’s house, our shower, our near-sex in the shower, Asher washing me from top to toe making me feel cared for—no, he made me feel cherished. After that, he dried me off, toweled himself dry, gave me another one of his tees, then put me to bed. As soon as he came back from making sure the house was locked up, he curled me into him, and I was out.

Now my head was still resting on his chest. So was most of my upper body—one of my arms was over his stomach, the other trapped under me, and our legs were tangled.

Nice.

Beautiful.

I decided I wanted to wake up like this every morning for the rest of my life—minus the banging on the door.