the boy whispered too loudly, and the bunny behind him giggled.
“I’ll lay you flat on your goddamn ass if you don’t get lost.” Jared took a menacing step toward the inebriated pair, and they stumbled back into the hall. Jared didn’t hesitate. He slammed his bedroom door in the wooden frame and clicked the lock into place before he turned back to face Felicity. Her hand was covering her mouth, and her eyes were wide.
“Sorry about that, princess. I locked the door. No one else will stumble in—I promise.”
She blinked, dropped her hand, and then her eyes drifted from the door to his face as though debating whether she was safe with him in a locked room.
“Come on. I don’t bite.” Hard, he silently added, and flashed what he knew was a wolfish grin.
“I could sleep elsewhere,” she hedged, playing with the collar of the button-down shirt. “Layla said you’d be gone all weekend.”
“It’s fine. This thing is a California king. Plenty of room for both of us. It’s just one night.”
He waited for her to pad on little bare feet to her side of the bed. It dipped slightly as she got in under the covers. She tensed when he crawled beneath the blankets, but after a moment, when he didn’t move toward her, she blew out a breath. He rolled away to turn off the lamp by his bedside, then settled back, puffing his pillow again as he lay on his back and closed his eyes. A sweet, subtle scent filled his nose, like vanilla and fresh rain. When the princess shifted, trying to get comfortable, the scent grew stronger. Her scent.
“Thanks for letting me stay. I’m Felicity, by the way.”
He could hear the yawn in her voice, and it made him grin.
“Good night, princess,” he murmured.
She didn’t respond. The soft little sound of her faint breaths did something funny to his chest. It tightened, and he sucked in a deep breath, hoping to ease the tension.
Now was not the time to be having a soft spot for a woman. He had so much to worry about at work, especially with Shana and her father. There wasn’t time to seduce a sweet little princess, even if he wanted to. She really was a cute little thing, though.
Not for me. He sighed and let his body crash.
Chapter 2
The cell phone alarm buzzed, a light musical chime accompanying the vibrations. Felicity fumbled on the nightstand for the phone and silenced it.
6:00 a.m. Two and a half hours until her American Colonial Art paper was due. The urge to get up and get moving just wasn’t there. The bed was warm, and she felt safe. The last thing she wanted to do was get up and think about a bunch of colonists and loyalists duking it out in the seventeen hundreds and how that had affected painting styles in Colonial America. Right now she wanted to stay where she was, cocooned in heat, and drift back to that pleasant place between being awake and dreaming.
It was then she noticed the long, muscled arm curled around her waist, tucking her back against a hard, warm body.
What the—
Another rattling buzz. This time it came from the other side of the bed. She rolled over, careful not to wake the man in bed next to her. A wall of muscled male chest met her face. Her gaze raked up the bare torso of the man to his face where it rested on his pillow.
Jared Redmond.
She was sharing a bed with Tanner’s brother. Had she really let him untie her dress and corset last night? Her eyes closed for a brief instant as she pushed back her shyness. He was still asleep, and she took advantage of it to study his face. It was a nice face, not too handsome, yet somehow sexy and incredibly attractive. Strong jaw, aquiline nose, too-long dark eyelashes fanned over slightly tanned skin. Dark brows winged over eyes that she knew had to be dark brown like his brother’s. He was the sort of man who wasn’t a pretty boy, yet he had some serious animal magnetism even while he slept.
Her fingers tingled as she resisted the urge to reach out and trace his lips. The bottom lip was slightly fuller than the top. His hair was a rich chocolate, long enough to tunnel her fingers through. Would it be silky or slightly rough in texture? She nibbled her bottom lip.
This was the closest she’d ever been to a man