Her lips pressed to his throat.
His gaze snapped up to the ceiling. You do not get to pounce on her. You do not get to—
She suddenly stiffened. “What are you doing in my bed?” Rose demanded. No more soft and husky murmurs. The question was loud. Piercing. Probably designed to burst an ear drum.
She was apparently very awake right now.
Before he could respond, her head whipped up, and she narrowly avoided a sharp clip to his chin.
“War?” Her voice had gone up another octave.
“Technically…” He sat up. “It’s my bed.”
She sat up, too, and snatched the covers to her chest when she seemed to realize that she was only wearing a bra and panties. “You were supposed to take the couch!”
“I was going to do that. Absolutely. Very gentlemanly and all but then…you asked me to stay.”
Her eyes could not possibly get any wider. “I did not.”
“You did…so.” He didn’t pull the covers up. He had on his sweatpants, and they were stretched to the brink over a certain portion of his anatomy. The covers were currently pooled over that part of him, so he figured they could stay there instead of being needlessly yanked up to his chest.
Her gaze drifted down to his bare chest. She licked her lower lip. “I don’t remember doing that.”
“That’s because you were dead to the world. But you were fretful and kinda sweet and when you asked me to stay, I decided…what would it hurt?”
She was still staring at his chest. “Did I do anything else?”
“Like what?” He liked the little flush in her cheeks.
“You know like what!”
“Well, you did lick me.” His index finger slid over the side of his neck to show her the spot. Her gaze had lifted to follow his finger. “And I might have felt a little kiss.”
At that revelation, her stare flew back to his. Her lips were parted, but she wasn’t speaking.
“It’s okay,” he assured her. God, he wanted her mouth. “You still want me, and I—”
“I am not responsible for my actions when I am asleep! And you don’t know what I want so do not presume to tell me.”
“I will always want you,” he finished. There. Done.
“Wh-what?”
“I said I will always want you. Just stating a fact. Thought you had realized it. Not like I can turn off the desire for you. It’s just there.”
She was still in the bed. So was he. He’d suspected she would jump up and run away at his confession.
She was holding her ground. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Figured you should know, since we’ll be in close proximity for the next two days.” Did he lean toward her a little bit? Yes, he did. His nostrils flared as he greedily inhaled her scent.
“What do you think is going to happen?” She seemed dazed. “That we are going to just return to the way things were? That I will just jump into bed with you?”
He looked at the bed. At her. We kinda did jump into bed, sweetheart.
“War.” Now she jumped out of the bed. Sadly. But she left the covers in her hurry and gave him a truly mind-blowing view of her body. “I was sleeping here. Not intending to seduce you. That was not part of my plan!”
Now he slowly rose from the bed. “Pity.” It truly was. “It would be a master plan.”
She blinked at him. “I do not get you.” She stood on one side of the bed. He was on the other.
“For the record, I don’t hate you, Rose. Hate is the last thing I feel.” He stalked around the bed so that he could close in on her. She didn’t back away. Her shoulders stiffened. Her chin notched up. But she didn’t back up. If anything, she took a step…closer.
Her hair was tousled from sleep. She wore a sexy scrap of black lace for panties and a matching bra, and he was surprised he wasn’t drooling as he stared at her.
“If you don’t hate me, what do you feel?” Rose asked him.
His head began to lower toward her.
She crept closer to him. Her hands lifted as if she’d touch him. “What do you feel?” Rose breathed the words as she asked the question once more.
I feel like I want to taste you. I want to devour you. I want—
“War!” A bellow from the den. A familiar bellow that was immediately followed by the thud of heavy footsteps heading his way. “We need to talk, buddy, right the hell—”
The bedroom door flew open.
A tall, blond male with massive shoulders and a glower on his face stood in the doorway. As he took in the scene before him, his expression darkened even more. “Oh, no. No. Tell me you did not hook up with her.”
War pushed Rose behind his body. “Get the hell out,” War snapped to the blond.
He didn’t get out. He kept glowering. “You didn’t hook up with her. Did not. Not with Ms. Worst Mistake of My Life.”
Fucking hell. “Odin, stop talking, now.”
Normally, the guy was quiet. Why, oh, why did today have to be the one time his buddy got chatty?
“I warned you to keep your dick in your pants.” And Odin was still talking. “Told you that she would mess you up again. But you swore you were done with her. Yesterday’s news, I believe you said.”
“Stop. Talking.”
“Yesterday’s what?” Rose demanded from behind War.
Uh, oh. He’d worried that particular term would set her off. Damage control time, stat. War spun back toward her. “Sweetheart—”
She jabbed him in the chest with her index finger. “I am never yesterday’s news. I am breaking news, you sonofabitch. I am the lead story of the hour. You want to make bullshit news jokes, then you at least get it right. I am the feature news story of your life!”
Odin coughed.
Without breaking eye contact with Rose—she was fucking glorious and sexy as hell—War ordered, “Odin, get the hell out of this room. Now.”
But Odin lingered. “Thought you might want to know that as I was clearing out of the motel room, the cops were swarming. Someone must have tipped them off.”
“The motel room?” Rose tried to jerk around War.
He wasn’t in the mood to be jerked around, so he side-stepped with her. Mostly to make sure that she stayed covered from Odin’s avid gaze. Odin didn’t need to get a heavy visual of Rose’s body and her lacy underwear.
“Found your handcuffs,” Odin added. “And the blond wig. Guess all that featured heavily in the news story of the night?”
Oh, nice. Someone was trying to be funny. He is your best friend. He is your best friend. War mentally repeated the words twice. They didn’t help cool him down. “Odin.” Now, his voice was low and growling. Dangerous with intensity. “This is Rose.” His gaze remained on her. “You will watch the fucking mouth with her. And you will give us privacy.”
“Huh.” A pause. “It’s like that again?”
It was.
“Your funeral.” The door closed a moment later.
Rose still glared up at War.
He could see that the ‘yesterday’s news’ bit was gonna be a problem. “I can explain…”
“Do not. Don’t even try. You’re over me, and I’m over you.”