“Can I use the bathroom now?” she asks, wriggling beneath me. I sigh, sliding out and falling to my back on the bed. What have I done?

She slips out of bed and walks quietly but hastily across the bedroom, and my eyes don’t leave her fleeing form until she shuts the door behind her. The only reason I’m letting her go is because she’s headed to the bathroom. Had she tried to leave, I can’t promise I wouldn’t have dragged her back to my bed like the caveman I appear to have become.

“Fuck,” I hiss, grabbing a pillow and smashing it on my head repeatedly until I’m at risk of splitting the damn thing and sending goose feathers everywhere. I toss it aside and look at the bathroom door. What is she doing in there? What is she thinking? Stupid, Ward. So fucking stupid. I growl at myself and slump into the mattress, arms splayed.

I hear the chain flush and drop my eyes to the door. She appears, awkward as hell. “I should go. Kate will be wondering where I am.”

Make it right! “Maybe I’d like to keep you here.” So I say that? Jesus, I need to get myself a fucking psychiatrist fast before I fuck this chance up good and proper.

Her questioning face is warranted. Poor thing looks completely lost. Goes for me too, because since she escaped my bed, I feel like my arms have been ripped off.

“She needs my car,” she goes on, ignoring my statement, as she should. Because it’s unreasonable. “Will you take me?”

I drag a smile from nowhere and mentally vow to pull myself into line. “What do you say?” I ask teasingly.

Her grin is like a pressure release in my head. “Please.”

I jump up. “Good girl. Give me five.” I land a smacker of a kiss on her lips as I pass her to the bathroom, keeping our lips touching as I walk back. She moves with me, prolonging it until we’re in the doorway.

Back. In. The. Game.

Now I just need to ensure I stay in front.