In Your Heart, стр. 16

“Happy?” I asked him, thrusting the empty glass into his outstretched hand.

“Immensely.”

He turned to leave and I grabbed his wrist. His steps halted and he looked down at me, his eyes shielded by his shaggy hair.

“Stay with me,” I begged. “I don’t want to be alone.”

Indecision warred on his face.

“Please?” My hand wrapped around his, tugging with as much force as I could muster, which admittedly wasn’t much in my current state.

“Why can I never say no to you?” He mumbled, looking up at the ceiling as if it held all the answers in the world.

“Because I’m irresistible?” I supplied.

He chuckled, his shoulders shaking. “Yeah. That must be it.”

He tugged his hand from my hold and started to leave. I let out a small sound of protest and he glanced back at me.

“I have to turn the hall light off.” He pointed.

“Oh.”

He did just that and darkness blanketed the space. I blinked my eyes, trying to get them to adjust to the now darkened room.

He left my bedroom door open and kicked off his boots before removing his shirt. Sadly, his jeans stayed on. I might’ve pouted. I really hoped it was too dark for him to see that.

He padded over to the other side of the bed and climbed in behind me, pulling the covers up and over us both.

I rolled over onto my other side to face him. He lay on his back and turned his head to look at me.

“Go to sleep,” he warned, his voice a low gravel.

“I don’t want to sleep,” I sulked.

“You need to.”

“You’re such a buzz kill.” I proceeded to poke his face.

He pushed my hand away. “And you’re drunk.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

He shook his head and put his hand over his mouth to hide his laugh. I sat up a bit, propping my body weight on my elbow.

“How come you’ve never made a move on me?” I asked, the words tumbling out of my mouth. “Why don’t you like me as more than a friend? I admitted to having a crush on you, but you’ve always been indifferent.”

He reached up and grasped my cheek. I startled at the gesture and my small gasp echoed through the room.

“I’m far from indifferent,” he growled lowly. “Trust me, there have been plenty of times where I wanted to make a move, as you put it, but I never did because your friendship is far more important to me than a quick fuck.”

I reached out with my other hand, laying it flat on his chest over his heart. “So, that’s all you thought we’d be if we moved past the friend stage? A quick fuck?”

I didn’t know why I felt so hurt by his words.

He put his hand over mine and swallowed thickly. “We were both young and the chances of us making it as a couple seemed slim to me. I wasn’t going to throw our friendship away to test the waters, so to speak. And then you started dating Braden. But if you really must know, I am insanely attracted to you.” His voice lowered to a husky whisper.

My breath came out in small little pants. I wanted desperately to lean down and kiss him, but something told me that he didn’t want that, and also I’d yet to brush my teeth after vomiting so that was a kiss no one wanted.

“You are?” I asked stupidly, blinking my eyes rapidly like he was a mirage that might disappear at any second.

“I don’t lie.”

I continued to stare down at him, not sure what to do with this information.

Ezra made the decision for me. He pushed me down lightly and pulled me against his chest.

“Sleep, pretty girl,” he commanded.

I didn’t know how he could possibly expect me to sleep after he told me he was attracted to me. The man was lucky I hadn’t thrown my panties across the room and mauled him with my vagina.

His fingertips brushed lightly against my neck as he pushed away my hair. My skin prickled with Goosebumps when his lips replaced his fingers in the barest of touches. My eyes fluttered closed and a happy sigh fell from my lips. Ezra was never so bold, and I wondered if he was only being this way because he believed I’d be too drunk to remember in the morning.

I would remember though. There was no way I could forget this.

DAYLIGHT SPILLED ACROSS my body and I groaned as it penetrated my closed eyelids.

“It’s time to get up.” A hand smacked my foot. “It’s noon already.”

“Go away,” I groaned, burying my face in my pillow.

“No.”

“You’re killing my buzz.”

“Your buzz wore off hours ago, now you’re just hung over. Get up, we have to go.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” I hugged the pillow tighter to my body and slowly peeled open my eyes. I was supposed to do paperwork at the store today since I put it off last night, but there was no way I was doing that now. “Gah!” I quickly covered my eyes with a hand. “Turn the fucking ceiling light off,” I spat.

“No,” he said again. I really hated that word. “Get out of bed and then maybe I will.”

“You’re evil.”

“Get out of bed, Sadie. Seriously, we have to go in…” He looked down at the shiny watch on his wrist. “Thirty minutes.”

“Where are we going?” I whined, still not making a move to get out of bed.

“Mathias called, he and Remy are moving into their new house today and he needs me to help.”

I reached out and poked his chest. “You said he needs your help, not mine.”

He captured my hand in his. “And I want you to come. Everyone will be there. Come on.”

I pried my hand away from his hold. “Fine, but I’m going to need more Advil.”

“I can get that,” he chuckled. “Anything else?”

“My sunglasses.”

He grabbed them off the dresser and handed them to me. I slipped them on and sighed in relief. “Much better.”

“Shower and get dressed.”

“Do I stink?” I asked, lifting my arm to smell.

He laughed and paused in the doorway. “You smell like a bar.”

“Lovely,” I sighed.

His boots slapped against the steps as he went downstairs, leaving me alone.

It took more effort than it should have to shower and get dressed. I chose to forgo drying my hair and instead tied it back in a messy bun. Even though I felt like shit I took the time to apply my makeup. Nobody wanted to see me looking like this. It was scary. And Mathias was the kind of guy to make a rude remark. I didn’t think he honestly meant to be so rude to people, he was just crass and didn’t think before he spoke.

I met Ezra downstairs and he already had a glass of water waiting with Advil. I’d tell him he was a saint, but he did wake me up so he was still on my shit-list for the moment.

I took the pills and emptied the glass of water. I poured some more water into the glass while Ezra fiddled with the toaster. After a minute two browned pieces of toast popped up.

He buttered them both, sticking one in his mouth, and put the other on a plate before handing it to me.

I waved it away. My stomach was too queasy to eat.

“Come on.” He set it in front of me, chewing on his. I swore the thing was gone in three bites. “It’s just toast. It’ll help.”

“You know what else will help?” I asked, pushing my sunglasses further up my nose. “If I poke you in the eyeball with a fork.”

“I don’t think rendering me eyeless would be helpful in this situation.” He washed his hands in the sink with his back turned to me. I was tempted to pelt the buttered toast at his back, but I refrained.

He turned back around, crossing his arms over his chest. “Eat, Sadie. You’re holding up progress.”

I rolled my eyes and stuck the toast in my mouth, making a very dramatic show of taking a bite. Crumbs dotted the corner of my mouth and I wiped them away.

“Happy?” I asked.

“For now.”

He smacked his hand on the counter. “Eat in the car. Mathias has already texted me ten times in the last five minutes.”

I followed Ezra out to the garage and paused. “When can I get my car?”