Butterflies take flight in my stomach and travel the length of my body down to my toes. My lips part… That was the most intimate thing he’s ever—

Wait a minute. Why does that sound so familiar?

“You dumbass!” I smack his chest, making his laugh fill the room. “Did you read my book?”

“A little.” His laugh becomes a chuckle. “It’s so bad, Winter.”

“No, it’s not. It’s sweet, and romantic—”

“Seriously? They do anal on their first date. In the back of his truck!” His grin lighting the room, he turns on his side to face me. “Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against anal, but it’s a privilege. Something you earn. Not really first date material.”

I laugh, threading my fingers through his hair. “Maybe so… How much of it did you read?”

Aleck sits up to grab the blankets at our feet, then lays back, pulling them over us. He scoots closer, drawing me into his body by the small of my back. “I read to where Trysten, stupid name by the way, thinks Maribelle is cheating on him with Chase.”

I gasp, trailing my fingers up his bicep to his neck. “You stopped right before he told her he loves her for the first time.”

Aleck nuzzles the tip of his nose against mine. “He’s a douche. He should have told her when they went to the Falls. It was the perfect time, but he couldn’t pull his head out of his ass long enough to decide what he wanted.”

I laugh, reeling because Aleck and I are having a legitimate conversation about what two fictitious characters in my smutty romance novel did and should have done with each other. The boyish grin on Aleck’s face tells me he enjoyed reading my book. Whether or not he makes fun of it.

“And when did you find the time to read so much of it unnoticed?”

“When you were sleeping a couple of nights ago. Before I went back to my room.”

The air buzzes around us with the things we’re not saying. He left me after he slept with me, shared stories with me, confided in me, and went back to his room so he could sleep alone. Which, knowing him, isn’t an insult, it’s just the way he is. The way he’s always been, I suppose. But now I know he stayed a while. A long while considering he read three-fourths of my almost four-hundred-page novel.

“Should we go back downstairs?” I ask.

“Fuck no,” he says, then kisses my chin. “I’m not leaving this bed with you to hang out with Preston and the Fearless Four.”

“Hey! That’s what we call ourselves.”

“That’s because you are.” Aleck kisses my lips gently, then slips his arm out from under me and sits up. He scoots off the bed, making me whine. “I have to take this condom off. Don’t fucking move.”

My lips curl into a grin. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good. And just so you’re prepared, I’m going to stick my tongue in every crevice of that beautiful body when I get back.”