Faked - Karla Sorensen Page 0,37

had been drawn between the bed where I was lying and where Bauer was sound asleep.

It was impossible to look at him and not smile because his long legs were dangling off the edge of the couch, and he had one muscular, inked arm slung over his face.

The blanket covering his body was a dark color that I couldn't identify, but it was pulled up over his chest. Listen, maybe I hadn't taken Bauer up on the blatant invitation in his eyes, but I was a red-blooded female who hadn't gotten laid in over a year. And the last time had been fast and forgettable, the byproduct of trying to see if anyone could measure up to Finn in my mind.

And the human, red-blooded woman in me leaned up as far as I could, trying to see exactly what Bauer was hiding underneath that cotton Henley from the day before.

When he groaned, the arm covering his face lifting in a stretch, I quietly ducked back down and laid my head on the pillow.

The disappointment I felt at not seeing just a bit more of him was surprising, and I rubbed at my forehead, trying to figure out where the hell it came from.

Bauer was ... fine. He was funny in a clever and self-deprecating way. But I knew a lot of funny men. Guys I'd had classes with or met when I was out with my sister and our friends. That didn't make him anything gawk-worthy.

But he also clearly respected me because he hadn't pressed his luck even though we were sharing the same room. Listening to the undeniably intimate sounds of him waking up, that was the fact that I couldn't ignore.

Beyond his looks, which were ridiculous, if I was being honest, the way he held himself over the line I'd drawn in the sand ... well ... it piqued my curiosity.

The bad boy who maybe wasn't as bad as he liked to pretend to be.

My phone dinged from the bedside table, and I quickly reached over to grab it.

Paige: Tell me when you and the bad boy are heading home. I don't like the weather system turning your direction the way it has. They're already delaying flights out of Vancouver.

Paige: Better yet, let me track your location PLEASE. I've only asked seventeen times, and I don't know why you and your sisters feel like I'm invading your privacy.

Curious, I pulled up my weather app and grimaced at what I saw. Weather Advisory in bright red letters scrolled along the top, and when I read what was headed in our direction and north of Vancouver with possible record levels of snow for April, I sat up in bed, not caring whether Bauer was looking or not.

He was.

"Good morning, sunshine," he said. Even though I should have known better, I glanced up at him and then immediately regretted it.

I wanted to know what the blanket was hiding, and now I knew.

Muscles. And ink. And more muscles.

My eyes went straight back to my phone. Sort of. "Morning. Have you seen this forecast?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Why?"

"We should head back as soon as possible."

Bauer stretched, unfolding his body like a great big cat that had just woken from a nap on a sun-warmed rock. The sound he let out from deep in his chest made my skin feel two sizes too tight, and I stared extra hard at my phone.

"It'll be fine. They always act like it's the end of the world if we get a big snowfall in April."

I gave him a skeptical look. "Bauer, it says it could be well over a foot of snow."

He yawned. "We'll get two inches max."

The radar looping across my screen begged to differ in ominous shades of blues and purples.

"Has anyone ever told you that you look gorgeous when you first wake up and have that worried frown on your face?"

I sighed, tucking my phone under the blankets. Responding to Paige would have to come later because dealing with the flirty man sharing my room apparently had to be dealt with first.

"I can't say that they have." Carefully tucking the blankets under my armpits to cover ... anything, I gave him a patient look. "Can you please get dressed? I want to see if there's coffee downstairs."

Bauer stood off the couch slowly, and it was pure instinct that had me slapping a hand over my eyes when I caught sight of that big body unfolding, and his black boxer briefs that were the