too?
Was it more than a friendship?
And if it was…what did that mean?
“I mean, you are going to be sharing a bed,” Damon continued, either completely unaware that he was stirring a pot that was already simmering, or fully aware and loving it. “It’s a small place and if they said they’re going to—”
“Damon!” Katie smacked his arm lightly and shot him a look, but her husband seemed unaffected.
“What? I’m not wrong.”
He wasn’t and Nick said as much.
“It’s actually a good point,” Nick said, adding quickly, “Even if your approach is screwed up.”
Damon grinned as if it were a compliment.
“But it is a small place and the new house won’t be ready for a little while yet. We’re going to have to figure out how to—”
“We’ll have to share the bed.”
Nick was thankful he was seated at the table because his body reacted immediately and unexpectedly at her comment. He looked at Char, who was no longer blushing and instead looked matter-of-fact.
“It’s the only real solution,” she commented. “I mean, Susan did say the visits were unscheduled to make sure they caught us in our natural environment, right? It wouldn’t look good if she caught me sleeping on the couch or—”
“I’d be sleeping on the couch,” Nick corrected her. “I’d never let you sleep on the couch.”
Her smile was sweet. “The point is, neither of us should be sleeping on the couch.”
True.
Nick’s head was a mess. The conversation naturally drifted into other subjects as Katie started asking Charlotte questions about the Lynx Creek cabins and advice for the redecorating she was hoping to do herself. Nick was grateful for her distraction because he needed to calm down whatever was going on inside him. From the moment he’d met Charlotte, he’d been attracted to her, sure. But this was different. The feelings suddenly shooting through him, and sparking a flame of desire that he hadn’t felt since Amelia had been brought into his life, were unexpected. Well, not entirely unexpected. But he was completely unprepared for them.
But now that they’d been sparked, there was no way to put out the flame. Every time she spoke, or looked at him, it flared up again.
He needed to get control over that, and quickly, because there was only one goal here, and it didn’t involve any other female besides the one who was currently smashing her now soggy biscuit into her chair and squealing with glee at the mess she was making.
Yes, Amelia was his focus. There was no room for distractions of any kind.
But…
“What side of the bed do you sleep on?” Charlotte stood at the bottom of the bed and assessed the situation that they’d tried to avoid for the last few hours.
After dinner with Katie and Damon, which had been both fun and stressful for entirely different reasons, they’d returned to the guest house, put Amelia down for the night, and tried to kill as much time as possible in the living room talking over some of the details of their relationship and subsequent engagement before finally Charlotte couldn’t stop yawning and there was no more putting it off.
They needed to go to bed.
Together.
“A side?” Nick appeared fresh from the bathroom, smelling like peppermint toothpaste, at her side.
“Yes. A side.” She looked at him and her heart did a strange skipping thing in her chest. It was late, and rough stubble covered his chin. His thick hair was tousled and he’d left his glasses in the bathroom. He looked…sexy as hell. She tried to ignore the fact that he only wore pajama bottoms, that hung a little lower on his hips than would be considered appropriate for any other situation besides sleeping. Never mind his bare chest that showed the long, lean muscles he kept hidden under his clothing.
Charlotte swallowed hard and looked away. “Everyone has a side they sleep on. What’s yours?”
“I don’t believe in sides,” he said. “You pick.”
She shook her head. Everyone had a side. “I sleep on the left.”
“Works for me.” Nick moved to the corner of the room where the crib was set up and Amelia was fast asleep. He tucked a blanket around her and bent to kiss her on the forehead. Charlotte’s heart fluttered in her chest, watching the sweet interaction, but she forced herself to look away and climb into the bed. On the left side.
She laid on her side and stared at the wall, forcing herself to relax enough so she could sleep, although she had no idea how she was going to