“Shut up.” He turned to look at her, and his gaze threatened to get caught on the way one damp tendril of hair stuck to her cheek in a perfect curl. Why had he never noticed how pretty she was? He could just look at her like a goof.

“Anyway,” he said after clearing his throat, “there was this advice-column thing, and a woman had written in to ask for advice because she was torn between two guys. One was a friend who made her feel good when she was with him, and they had heaps in common.

“The other was a new fling who made her ‘orgasm like a fountain’—I remember those exact words, because da-yum—and they had the odd thing in common, but the main connection was the heat between them.”

“Let me guess, the columnist told her to go for the friend.”

“Nah, she did this whole pros and cons list, and one of the cons was that the hotter a flame, the faster it burns out.” Danny really didn’t like the thought of that.

“Oh.” Catie said nothing after that.

Neither did he.

When their bodies began to cool from the sweat, he reached down and pulled up the hand-knitted blanket at the foot of the bed. “Charlie make this?” His brother’s wife had learned to knit from his mother.

“Yeah.” Catie yawned. “Why are you doing that? It’s lunchtime.”

“I need a nap. You wrung me out.”

Another yawn. “Okay, you win. I want to take off my legs first though.”

“Hmm.” His eyes were already closing.

But when he felt the bed depress on her side after she lay back down, he curled himself around her and nuzzled his face into her neck. Her hand came to lie over his forearm. They fell asleep that way while the sun poured in through the gauzy white curtains.

Catie woke, feeling lazy-limbed and content—and warm. The sun was no longer on her, but there was a burning heater in the bed. She definitely wouldn’t need her electric blanket when Danny was in bed with her.

Not going to last, she reminded herself as she looked toward the window. They were still spooning loosely, but he was now sleeping with this face buried in the curve of her upper spine. She didn’t know why, but she found that cute.

Rolling her eyes at herself, she looked down at the arm around her waist and knew she’d wake him if she tried to move, so she stayed still. It struck her that at some point during her first time taking off or putting on her legs in the presence of a lover, she’d have felt a moment of awkwardness.