I scowled. “I don’t usually drink, and definitely not like this.”
“Mmm.”
“Think what you will, but the circumstances allow it.”
“Sure.”
I let out a huge sigh. “Ugh. So. Question.”
“Okay.”
“Where should I sleep? Outside?”
She gave a soft chuckle. “Where there are mosquitos, giant moths the size of bats, red ants that will leave you in pain for weeks, and probably scorpions? At least it’s too hot for the centipedes. I think…”
I cringed. Hell. No one was man enough to sleep in that death zone. “I’ll take the floor.”
“With your messed-up back?”
“How do you know about that?”
“You complain often when you think no one is listening.”
“Ah.”
She groaned and looked me dead in the eye. “Can you handle sleeping in the same bed as me?”
I barked out a laugh. “You think so much of yourself.”
Bane dramatically rolled her eyes, and I wondered if that ever hurt. “It’s a king-size bed and large enough for the two of us with plenty of space. There will be a pillow barrier that, if crossed, you will get knocked the hell out.”
I laughed. “I would not risk crossing pillows.”
“It’s me you should be worried about crossing.”
“Thanks. Do I get the couch back tomorrow?”
“Yes. Sorry about the intrusion.”
“He’s like family, right? Besides, can’t turn someone away when they’ve had too many.”
She shook her head and took another sip of water, pushing my glass into my hand. “I don’t know why so many people are getting drunk on a Wednesday.”
I finished my last bite and drank the entire second glass of water.
“You’ve got something on your…” she started, tapping at her lips.
I rubbed the corner of my mouth.
“The other side,” Bane corrected, reaching up to rub something off the corner of my mouth right as my tongue darted for the spot, hitting the tip of her finger instead. She sucked in a breath, drawing back.
My gut clenched just from that minuscule, fleeting touch, from that sexy little gasp. Damn, it must’ve been a while since I’d gotten some because no way. Not Bane.
I stared at her, like an idiot, my eyelids hooded, heavy.
She smirked. And here it came…“Did you just lick me?”
“You’re imagining things,” I muttered.
“I’d almost believe you if I wasn’t here when it happened.”
I shook my head.
She teased a smile. “It’s okay, you know?”
“What?” I grumbled.
“That you want to lick me.”
I sucked in a breath, my jaw hardening among…shit…other things. “Don’t joke about things you’re not ready for.”
Her smile slipped. “So confident, huh?”
I leaned toward Bane. She boldly did not back away. She was frozen, immobile. And not because she was being her typical smart-ass baiting me. Nah. Because the sarcasm in her expression had wilted into something else. Her lips parted and she swallowed. I watched it all. I watched her nerves come undone as I inched toward her. I watched the skin on her arm pucker with goose bumps when I swiped my finger across the back of her hand, the hand on the table that had been trying to drown me with drinking water.
I held her gaze so intensely that it left her speechless. For once. My eyes dipped to her mouth. “Bane,” I said, my voice thick, guttural, sleepy. “How are you going to handle me licking you when you can’t even handle me looking at you?”
At that, Bane audibly gasped, and I wondered what else made her breath hitch. What else made her speechless? What else made her look at me this way, with heat burning in her eyes?
