“Come on. Let’s get you under the covers.” I pulled down one side and gently pressed his chest, urging him to lie back.
He grabbed my arms, looking panicked. “Don’t go,” he whispered. “Please don’t leave.”
My heart thumped hard as I stared into those pleading brown eyes. No matter how drunk he was, no matter if heremembered it or not, he still had someone come on to him tonight. Someone who wasn’t listening to his very clearstop.
When Shea had approached me, pointed down the bar and explained that Beau had clearly had a few too many, that maybe it was time to cut him off, we’d both watched the woman slink up to him. Get too close. Put her hands all over him. Logan called me over, too, so I knew it was bad.
The protectiveness he’d excavated from somewhere deep inside me had ignited. If he was drunk, he really shouldn’t have been doing anything with a stranger.
We’d thought it was a harmless flirtation…until we got closer. Beau clearly told her not to touch him and even pushed her hands away. When she didn’t listen, my vision practically spotted with the rage that flashed through me.
I’d never been so angry in my life. What if we hadn’t seen that? What if she’d gotten him to go with her somewhere? It could have been so, so bad, and it was all my fucking fault for bringing him there in the first place.
So…with Beau staring up at me now, begging me to stay with those eyes, I couldn’t say no. I hadn’t been planning on leaving, anyway. I was gonna sit in his chair and watch over him while he slept in case he got sick.
“Please,” he said again. Softer this time. His eyes rolled shut, then popped open again. He blinked, looking even more distraught than a second ago. “Please?”
“Okay,” I groaned, and kicked my shoes off, sliding in next to him fully clothed. He immediately nestled into my chest as I pulled the covers over us, his fingers loosely holding the material of my shirt, and when he let out a small, contented sigh, I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around him.
I was so fucked.
It wasthe feeling of something hot and hard against my ass that woke me up. I peeled my eyes open, just staring for a moment at the unfamiliar surroundings in the pale morning light. Looked down at the freckled hands clutching my chest. At my own hand that was wrapped around one of those freckled wrists.
Beau’s breaths were feather-light against the nape of my neck, his heart a gentle beat against my back. I hadn’t woken up in someone else’s arms in so long that, to be here now, with Beau wrapped around me, was almost surreal.
And terrifying.
Because I liked it.
I liked it way too much. And I couldnotlet myself like being with Beau like this.
I tried to slide away from Beau. His hold on me tightened and one of his legs slid over mine. That move pushed his erection right into the crease of my ass and along my taint.
I froze. Choked on my next inhale. Beau was big, and the feeling of him right there, brushing along all the most sensitive parts of me, sent a burst of pleasure pulsing through me. I was wearing linen shorts, and he was still in his boxers, but we might as well have been naked for how thin the material of both pieces of clothing were. When he shifted again and I felt the tip of his cock brush along the back of my balls, a strangled moan erupted from me.
Fuck.Fuck.
Beau rocked his hips, just the tiniest bit, and my eyes rolled back in my head as my hand tightened around his wrist.
“No,” I gasped, trying to untangle myself from his hold. Beau would be horrified if he knew what he was doing. He was still asleep, for fuck’s sake. He was probably dreaming about some pretty Midwestern woman.
I got tangled up in the covers and fell out of the bed, hitting the floor right on my hip bone. A jolt of white-hot pain shotthrough me. I lay there as my heart raced wildly in my chest, staring up at the ceiling.
“Lea?” Beau’s morning voice was husky and much deeper than normal, and another swift pulse of arousal surged through me. His face appeared over the edge of the bed, his brow furrowed as he stared down at me. “What’s—what are you doing in here?”
“I—” Fuck,breathe, Lea. Get your shit together. “I, um—you don’t remember last night?”
Beau’s brows furrowed even deeper, and when he looked at me, then down at himself, his eyes widened in horror and he inhaled sharply. “What?” he whispered. He went pale, his mouth opening and closing before he said, “I didn’t—oh my god, did we—” He made a sound in the back of his throat, like he was choking.
“Wait…” I said slowly. “Oh, god,no, Beau—we didn’t—we didn’t do anything, I promise!Nothinglike that happened last night,” I rushed to say. “I swear. We came back here and went right to bed. Tosleep,” I corrected. “You asked me to stay with you.”
Beau’s eyes were wide, and a flush began to creep across his cheeks. He covered his face with his hands and groaned. “I can’t—I’m so, so sorry, Lea.…”
I stood up on shaky legs as Beau stared at a spot on the floor. “Hey,” I said softly, waiting for him to look at me. But he wouldn’t, and I wondered just how badly I’d fucked up, staying here the whole night. I should’ve just let Shea handle him.
A fierce voice whisperednoin my head. I was the one who needed to take care of him. It was me who was supposed to do that.
“Beau,” I said. “Can you look at me?”