Her body lit up like a damn firework, thanks to the overly vivid dream she’d just had about certain parts of Ross naked and glistening, working her up until she was naked and glistening and shivering and panting and aching.
Her lady bits were doing a shivery happy dance and her nipples were hard little peaks cutting through the thin fabric of her dress. And yeah… Mr. Happy up her ass back there wasn’t helping.
“R-Ross,” Teela hissed.
Both her arms were pinned down so all she could do was wriggle like a pathetic version of a worm. The kind of worm that got left out on the sidewalk after the rain and dried out. She used to cry when she saw those as a kid. The poor bastards were just so sad. She still went out of her way to move any she saw off the sidewalk when she was walking.
Nothing happened. Ross breathed a deep breath that tickled the side of her neck and her ear and it shouldn’t have been erotic because he was sleeping but yeah. She was all shivery and wet below the belt.
“Ross!” Teela said, louder. She winced, wondering where the heck his parents were sleeping. She didn’t want to wake them up. It was probably in the middle of the night.
Ross let out a weird snort, snore thing that shouldn’t have been cute, but somehow was. He fell asleep beside me. He actually came in here and took off his clothes and got into bed with me. Did he wrap me up in his arms or did he just fall asleep and throw one over because he’s used to sleeping alone and he’s a clumsy oaf?
There wasn’t ever supposed to be a warmth in her chest again where men were concerned. Unfortunately, there was definitely a warmth starting. It spread straight to her lungs and her stomach and from there, it flooded her limbs. Suddenly she found herself blinking against the sting in her eyes, trying to silently will it not to spread to her sinuses.
I’m being ridiculous here. Thanks a lot, hormones.
“Ross!” Teela bucked her hips back hard, right into Ross’ very hard bulge.
No shit. That woke him up.
He jerked away, startled. “Wha- huh?” he gasped.
He sat halfway up, glanced around the room, turned to the side, then fell back against the pillows when he spotted her. He swiped a hand over his eyes and even in the dark, she could see that his hair was mussed, and his lids were heavy and a few of his dark lashes were starred together in little clumps. He was adorable.
“Oh. Teela,” he breathed, suddenly a little more awake. “Are you okay? Are you feeling sick again?”
“No,” she whispered. “But if I was, I would have puked all over you because you had me pinned down to the bed so tight, I couldn’t breathe.”
“What? Oh. Uh- sorry. I- I didn’t start out that way. I promise. You looked so peaceful sleeping in here I didn’t want to wake you up to take you home. My mom said I should just let you sleep. Because she apparently thinks I can get you pregnant twice or something, she told me that I might as well spend the night in here too. They only have one guest bedroom and she made it clear the couch was not an option.”
Teela smothered a giggle, even while her heart sank a little. “So, you were actually trying to be a gentleman and stay away from me.”
“Yeah.” Ross blinked sleep from his eyes. “I guess it didn’t work.”
The heat was back, that shivery feeling in her stomach. It wasn’t just sexual heat. It was softer than that. Ross might not have started out holding her, but somehow in their sleep, they’d ended up that way, like their subconscious commanded that they be together, even though reason told them that they were better off apart.
Okay, I’m definitely overthinking this.
“My best friend told me to tell you that if you hurt me, she’d cut off your balls with a pair of pruning shears. Rusty pruning shears. Sorry. I forgot that part.”
“Jesus.” Ross stiffened, but his lips twitched, like he was fighting a smile. “I’ll have to be careful then. I don’t want to lose my nuts.”
Teela’s breath hitched as Ross shifted. He turned onto his side and all of a sudden, he was close. So close that if the light in the room had been better and not just the bit of moonlight or streetlight or whatever light drifting through the cracks in the blinds, she might have been able to count every single one of his eyelashes.
A man just freshly woken from a dead sleep in the middle of the night had no right to look so attractive. A fresh shadow of stubble lined his jaw. His eyes were hooded and shadowed, and those lashes were so long and thick and dark. She watched them swoop up and down. She realized for the first time that the bridge of his nose had the tiniest bump at the top, a genetic thing, not because it had ever been broken, and even though it detracted from his overall magazine worthy face, it somehow made him look even more attractive.