She flicked her gaze toward the couch in challenge, practically begging me to call her bluff. “I think we both know I would.”
With a sigh, I pushed off the ground and took my seat, ensuring my body was as far as it could be from hers. She handed over the blankets with a saccharine smile before grabbing the pillow I’d dropped and handing it to me. “Happy now?”
She settled into her spot, eyes slipping closed. “Very.”
OLIVIA
“Do you think they’re okay?”
“Dunno. They look a little… tangled.”
“Should we wake them up?”
“We’re already late for school…”
“Dad’s gonna be so mad.”
I groaned, burrowing further into the warm cocoon I found myself nestled in. Voices whispered around me, trying their best to rouse me from sleep, but it was no use. Pine and pepper filled my nose, and I relaxed, comforted by the scent. I wasn’t even sure what it was, because it definitely didn’t smell like my lavender laundry soap.
The blankets snugly wrapped around my waist tightened, pulling me closer to the source of heat. Duke was right. It did get a little cold at night.
Duke.
Last night.
His scent.
Oh my god.
My eyes shot open, finding Harper and Charlieboth staring at the couch as though it’d grown two heads. It was only then that I realized the blankets around my waist weren’t really blankets at all.
They were arms. Strong, muscular arms that held me as though whoever they belonged to was frightened I might run away. Arms that, I realized with startling clarity, belonged to the man snoring beside me.
I sat up in a hurry only to be pulled back against Duke’s chest. His body was like a freaking furnace. I was beginning to sweat with our daughters staring at us like we were crazy.
“Duke,” I hissed, trying to pry his grip loose. He didn’t budge. I smiled awkwardly at the girls before trying again. “Duke.” This time, I accentuated my words with a sharp jab to his side.
He let go with a groan, rubbing his eyes to clear away the sleep before leveling me with a glare. “Ow. What the?—”
“Morning, Daddy,” Harper said, breaking out into a fit of giggles next to Charlie.
Duke coughed, grabbing the nearest pillow to cover his lap. Morning wood was nothing to be ashamed of under normal circumstances, but honestly… I didn’t want to try to explain that to two nine-year-old girls. That would’ve been too much for me to handle.
“We weren’t sure if we should wake y’all up, but,” Charlie glanced at her phone, “we’re both late for school.”
“Yeah, like super late,” Harper added.
“Shit,” I cursed, hopping up to the sound of Duke’s muttered, “Fuck.”
“I should’ve set my alarm,” I muttered, hopping up from the couch. It was nearly ten.
Duke grabbed his phone and sighed. “I thought my battery would last until morning, but apparently not.”
“I kind of thought y’all were dead,” Harper said. “Dad never sleeps this late.”
“Neither does my mom,” Charlie added. She still had a shit-eating grin on her face.
Since I was a kid, I’d always run on minimal sleep. I was too much of a night owl to go to sleep early, but try as I might to sleep past sunrise, it never worked. No matter what time I went to bed, I was up by seven with no exceptions.