Dean frowns at me, a laugh teasing the edges of his mouth. “Not nothing. What was in there? A mouse or something?”
I level him with a look. “A mouse, Dean? How the hell would a mouse get in my suitcase?”
He laughs. “I don’t know. You’re clearly freaked out about something in there, so just tell me what it is.”
I shake my head from side to side.
“Norah.”
“No.”
“Norah,” he says my name again and steps closer to me, wafting me with his freshly showered body and that deliciously seductive cologne. “I’m going to find out one way or another.”
“It’s none of your business,” I state woodenly and feel my cheeks heat.
“Bullshit,” Dean says with a sardonic grin and before I realize what’s happening he bends over, grabs my wrist, and yanks my entire body up over his shoulder.
“Dean, stop it!” I cry out as his hands cup the backs of my bare thighs. “Put me down!”
“Not until I see what you’re hiding in there.” He turns and walks me toward the bed.
“I told you it’s none of your business!” I kick my legs in a feeble attempt to break free. He just laughs and holds on tighter.
“You’re my girlfriend…you’re my business.”
I growl as I bite my lip to prevent myself from yelling the truth of our situation and outing us to whoever is probably sleeping above us. Dean tosses me onto the bed like I weigh nothing and then turns to head back toward my suitcase.
I scramble off the pillowy-soft mattress and jump on his back just as he reaches my bag. Before I can stop him, he flips it open, and I die a thousand deaths when the pink object comes into full view for both of us to see.
“Holy shit,” Dean says, his voice full of awe as he reaches down and picks up my pretty in pink bullet that, hours ago, was stashed safely away in my bathroom drawer.
I slide off his back and shove his stunned body away from my bag to snatch my vibrator out of his hand. “I’m mortified. Are you happy now?” I turn and tuck it away in a zippered pocket inside my suitcase. Rachael could have at least put it in its matching pink travel bag.
She is so getting dumpster duty next week.
Dean stares at me, his bearded jaw dropped as he struggles for words for the first time in his life. “Norah, that was a vibrator.”
“No shit, Captain Obvious.”
He runs a hand through his dark hair and hits me with a disbelieving look. “Norah, if you were so hot for an orgasm that you needed to pack a sex toy for the weekend, we seriously need to revisit this no sex policy you have.”
“I didn’t pack it,” I snap, pushing back my hair and scrubbing my hand over my forehead. “Rachael did because I was working and struggling with what to wear, so she came in and took over because she’s a monstrous human being who will be dead very soon.”
Dean hits me with a flat look. “Seriously?”
“Yes! God, I’m not that desperate for an orgasm.”
“But that is your toy?” he replies, watching me expectantly.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but yes.” I drop onto the couch and cover my face in humiliation.
After a moment of silence, the cushion dips beside me, and I can feel Dean’s heat on my side. “I’m going to ask you a serious question, Norah, and I want you to reply honestly.”
I pull my hands away from my face to look at him, my hands clenching into fists because I’m certain there’s a horrible joke coming my way.
His eyes rove over my face before he tilts his chin and says, “When was the last time you were properly fucked?”
My entire body erupts with pins and needles, and I look forward, the heat of my blush rushing to the surface of my skin. “Dean, we are not talking about this.”
“Why not?” he laughs.
“Because this is embarrassing.” I cover my cheeks with my hands, and my insides clench with feelings I don’t want to own up to right now.
He nudges me with his elbow. “It’s not embarrassing. It’s something friends talk about.”
“You’re on your way to a no-friend zone if you keep pushing me on this.”
Dean rolls his eyes, not the least bit taken aback by my scathing tone. “It’s been a month for me, which is actually a bit of a dry spell.”