While his shirt was huge on her, she was undeniably naked underneath it. And his continued effort to keep his eyes averted was about to burst some blood vessels. He needed to get her under the covers. Seth hugged Tara tightly against his chest, and heaved to a stand. He carried her to the bed, and laid her down on it. She was sleeping peacefully, her features soft and relaxed. A rush of affection flowed through him as he arranged the duvet around her. He stepped away before he acted on his impulse to drop a kiss on her forehead.

Next up was the puke pile. Without overthinking it, he grabbed a lined trash can and a whole roll of toilet paper, and got to work. He cleaned up everything he could, but he couldn’t do anything about the stain on the carpet. He would leave the maid a big tip for the rest of the cleanup.

After a long, hot shower, Seth put on a pair of boxers. It was as decent as he could get with his unexpected guest wearing his only spare T-shirt. Being careful not to disturb Tara, he slipped under the covers, and turned his back to her. The only way he could fall asleep was to pretend she wasn’t there. Fat chance. Every hair on his body stood at attention, acutely conscious of the beautiful woman next to him. He might as well give up on sleep and read a book on his phone. But as the minutes ticked by, Tara’s warm presence settled his restlessness and he drifted off to sleep.

CHAPTER THREE

Tara lifted her arms high above her head and stretched down to her pointed toes. When she released her taught muscles, her body relaxed into a gelatinous blob, and a satisfied sigh escaped her lips. She loved this part of waking up. The first stretch of the day, where you surrender every muscle in your body. It was one of life’s simplest but greatest pleasures.

She turned to her side, keeping her eyes closed, like a lazy cat sitting on a patch of sunlight. It took her a couple seconds to realize she wasn’t alone. With a chill of alarm slithering down her spine, she forced her eyes open. Her heart took a flying leap into her throat as she stared into Seth’s beautiful sleeping face.

“No,” she choked, holding herself very still.

She stomped down on the panic that was rising inside her, and forced herself to rewind her mind to last night. She remembered playing truth or dare with him at the brewery, and her impulsively agreeing to date him. It had seemed a perfectly sane idea at the time. She was lonely; he was hot. A no-strings-attached month of dating sounded like exactly what the doctor ordered.

But her memory turned hazy after the part where they toasted to the dating dare. Oh, God. Did I sleep with him? Well, it was obvious she slept with him. She was in bed beside him, and the sky was softening with the colors of approaching dawn. But did she sleep with him?