to escape, my lips found hers. I took the glass from her hands and set it on top of the fridge before deepening the kiss. Like every time we kissed, Braxton followed my lead, giving in and letting me take as much as I wanted. She was pliant when she wanted to be and only when it mattered.
“Let me stay with you tonight,” I said when I finally pulled away.
She stared up at me, contemplating whether or not to trust me. “I don’t know what’s happening,” she whispered so low I could barely make her words out despite how close we stood, “but whatever it is, I’d like to take it slow.” She suddenly looked wary as she waited for my response.
Nodding, I took a step back. “All right.”
Grabbing her glass from the top of the fridge, I handed it to her before turning away to leave. When she grabbed my hand to keep me from going, I paused.
“No sex,” she said.
I didn’t understand until she led me to her room and into her bed to sleep in my arms until morning came.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept this soundly. It definitely hadn’t been in the last two months. As I reluctantly came to, the warm body underneath me was the first clue that I wasn’t alone. The second was the morning wood poking my belly.
A king-size bed, complete with pillow-top mattress, and I’d chosen to sleep on top of a chest as hard as brick.
When my eyes finally chose to open, the last person I expected to see was Houston underneath me. I knew it was him because I recognized his nipple of all things.
It all came flooding back.
The wild goose chase I’d sent them on yesterday, and Houston worming his way into my bed. I was just grateful I kept my word and didn’t have sex with him. My motives hadn’t been entirely pure, though. Like me, he’d been having trouble sleeping, and I figured we’d have a better chance together than apart. I hated that I was right because it complicated feelings that were already complex.
I was staring at the fantastic view of New York that twenty-nine floors high offered when I felt Houston’s hand curve around my nape. I hadn’t realized he was awake the entire time I was brooding. Still, I let him pull my attention away from the panoramic windows and kiss me until I was fully awake.
I never thought Houston Morrow could ever make me feel like I was floating, but alas, here I was. I just wondered how soon before I came crashing down.
“Good morning,” he whispered against my lips. On stage, Houston had the kind of voice that altered the construct of your soul. It changed you. In bed and heavy with sleep, however, he had a different kind of effect. The kind that made you do things you knew you shouldn’t.
“Hey.”
He stared into my eyes for one long, breathless moment, and I could tell something was heavy on his mind. He didn’t leave me in suspense for long, and when he finally spoke the words that I never thought I’d hear, I was glad I was lying down for them.
“I’m sorry, Braxton.”
“For?” I didn’t care how weak he made my knees. I’d return the favor by not making whatever he hoped to achieve easy for him.
“For not realizing what I had before it was too late.”
I didn’t react mostly out of confusion. I became his guitarist, so he made me his enemy. He’d never given me the chance to be anything else.
“I’d like to start over,” he proposed when I chose to say nothing.
Frowning, I felt my heart race as I sat up a little. I couldn’t take this suspense any longer. I had to know what they were plotting, and I wanted it in plain terms. They’d alluded, they’d made hints, but never in a setting or in a way that I could take with a grain of salt.
“What’s going on, Houston?”
His gaze was stern as he held my eyes. “You know exactly what’s going on, Braxton Francesca.”
I should have never told them my middle name.
The coldness in my voice wasn’t forged when I spoke. I could be stern too. “Actually, I don’t. Why don’t you spell it out for me?”
I yelped when I was suddenly thrown on my back. Houston was on top of me now, holding me down with his weight. He made sure I couldn’t walk away from this conversation until he was ready