He smiled with a glitter in his eyes and then they closed. With one swift motion the distance between our lips evaporated.
There was the slightest brush of his against mine. Needing more, I rocked onto my tiptoes.
The entire room exploded in bright, brilliant light. A lightning strike shook the windows and thunderclap roared so loudly my ears rang. We shot apart. He stared back at me with wide eyes and a face painted with shock.
We turned and looked outside at the smoking, charred remains of a stone bench on the other side of the glass, only illuminated by the intense lightning streaking across the sky, throwing the landscape around us from night to day in split second chunks.
With wide eyes, we both looked up at the glass and metal structure currently protecting us, and I don’t think either of us wanted to test whether the floor would insulate us from a direct hit or the adage about lightning never striking twice.
Bolting toward the main house, we ran all the way back to the room. Our room. As in the room I’d be sharing with him for the next two nights. Sleeping feet away from him with that almost-kiss lingering and leaving me rattled like a ghost with his chains.
“I’m going to change.” Not waiting for his reply, I grabbed my bag, which had thankfully been set on the luggage rack outside the closet door, and ducked into the bathroom. Inside, I shimmied out of my dress. It sank to the floor with a drenched, tinkling thud. My face was a mess of washed away mascara and hints of long gone eyeshadow. Good thing he hadn’t seen me in full light, or he’d have probably run right over those lightning struck hills.
I scrubbed my face and slipped on my comfy pajamas. They were slouchy and worn in, just how I liked them. I threw my hair up into a ponytail and brushed my teeth. I even flossed. Yes, I was hiding. Trying to keep my dignity for a few more minutes.
Taking a deep breath, I opened the bathroom door. My stomach was an absolute mess like I’d been doing keg stands since dawn. My one and only keg stand had ended with beer soaked hair and me praying to the porcelain gods to smite me for my transgression.
The room was so quiet, I thought maybe he’d left. My gaze swept over the room. But his large form was folded into one of the wingback chairs in the corner. His head rested against the top of the smooth leather back.
Walking over, I nudged his shoulder. “Berk, the bathroom’s free.”
He mumbled.
I reached out and shook both shoulders. “You’re going to hate me in the morning, if I let you sleep like this.” I brought my hands up to his neck and rotated them.
His head shot up and his arms whipped out around me, tugging me onto his lap. His fingers tightened painfully on my hips and I braced my hands on his chest.
I yelped and his gaze focused on me.
The alarm in his eyes melted away as he took in our surroundings and embarrassment took its place, turning his cheeks ruddy under his five o’clock shadow. His grip loosened immediately.
I had no idea what the hell had just happened, but he’d looked so scared for a second, like someone shaking him awake was a nightmare come to life.
“Sorry, Jules. I forgot where I was.” He shook his head and released me completely, which still left me on his lap.
“You passed out while I was in the bathroom.”
He yawned into his shoulder. “Someone was taking an incredibly long time to just duck in and change.”
“Sorry.”
He smiled. “No need to be sorry. Thanks for waking me up.”
My cheeks burned and I was lucky the only light in the room was the one behind me from the bathroom. “No problem.” And then it sunk in that I was still sitting on his lap. All of me, without any bracing or keeping my feet on the ground and I shot up.
He headed into the bathroom and I sank under the covers. The day that felt like it had dragged on for months was finally ending. And my blood thrummed in my veins.
Berk opened the bathroom door and the light from inside cast him in shadow. Outlining every ripple and bulge of his muscles framed in the doorway.
“There are some extra blankets in the closet.”
“You don’t have to sleep on the couch. It’s a big bed. After the day you’ve had, I can take the couch if you don’t want to share. You came right from practice.” I pushed the covers down and swung my legs off the edge.
“Don’t. That would make me feel like shit if you did. You sure you’re okay with sharing a bed with me?” There was an uneasiness to his stance. Like the confident goofball had given way to someone less self-assured. Someone like me.
“I’m good.” I got back under the blankets and locked my arms in at my sides.
He went around the bed and sat on the edge. “About the greenhouse…”
I jumped in front of whatever he was going to say, throwing myself in front of the Mack truck of him letting me down gently. “Don’t worry about that. I don’t want you to feel awkward or anything. You were trying to make me feel better. We were caught up in the moment, no big deal.” It came out in a rush, all in one breath.
I turned my head to the side.
He swung his legs up onto the bed and settled on his back, staring straight up at the ceiling.
And now I’d officially decided that inviting Berk wasn’t a bad idea at all. It was the worst idea.
Because I couldn’t stop thinking about that almost-kiss. We’d almost kissed. The way his strong hands had cupped my face so gently as he was a hairsbreadth away from my lips. It was like the lead up to one of the kisses he’d promised me. Like one that had been scrawled across every single one of his letters. The kind that made me touch myself under the covers until I moaned his name just like he promised me I would.
Damn you, lightning!
He was the perfect gentleman, taking me for walks and sharing his contraband ear buds with me that night as we lay side by side in the bed. Then, once the song he’d wanted to share with me was finished, he’d rolled onto the floor, even though I’d told him the bed was big enough for the two of us. Maybe the almost-kiss had only been to lift my spirits. Snap me out of my teary state he’d already seen once today.
With lips like those, I was sure he’d found they were the perfect distraction to nearly any woman. A small streak of jealousy shot through me at all the women he’d probably kissed because he wanted to, not because he’d felt like it was the nice thing to do. My fingers itched to write him a new note, but I couldn’t. I’d closed the door on The Letter Girl. But those letters were the closest I was going to get to having him. Berkley Vaughn wasn’t interested.
13
Berk
I’d rolled off the bed onto the floor, taking a pillow with me. I grunted as my not-so-friendly erection jammed into the floor. I certainly wasn’t sporting boners around LJ, Keyton, or Marisa. But listening to Ed Sheeran with Jules, memorizing every freckle on her face and the way her full lips mouthed the words to the chorus by the end of it had my dick throbbing.
As she peered down at me over the edge of the bed, a curtain of her hair swung down. She tucked it behind her ears. “Crap, are you okay?”
“Yup, I’m fine.” I grimaced, clutching the pillow to my slowly, but not slowly enough deflating cock. “The bed’s too soft, so I think I’ll hang out down here for the night.”