He watched her, and his heart ached as he pushed her hair out of her face, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “How’s Rodney?”

“He’s good. He’s being released tomorrow for sure, and his pacemaker is doing great. It looks promising.”

“Awesome,” he said in relief, and she grinned.

“Yeah, he kicked me out.”

“Did he?”

“Yeah, I offered to help him in the bathroom, and he told me to leave now.”

Sputtering with laughter, he shook his head. “You hover.”

“I do. Badly,” she agreed, leaning her nose into his chin.

“Lucy told Benji she was pregnant today,” he murmured against the spot between her eyes. “It was sweet.”

“Aww, awesome. Did he cry?”

“Like a baby.”

“Sweet,” she gushed, kissing his chin as he exhaled hard, his eyes closing. “I brought dinner.”

“I love food.”

“I do too. Pizza too.”

“A girl after my heart,” he said, but then he paused, kind of regretting it, but she didn’t miss a beat.

“Yup, figured we could go at it and then go eat, then come back and go at it again,” she said with a waggle of her brows.

He paused. “Here?”

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t we go to your apartment?”

She was getting up then, though, grabbing Tricksie and carrying her out of the room before locking the door. “Because I want you here.” He watched as she turned on the radio, nineties R&B filling the room before she pulled off her shirt, then her jeans, mouthwateringly naked under her clothes as she came to the bed, a sexy little smirk on her face. “Where you can’t run,” she said with a wink, pushing the towel off his lap and taking his cock in her hands.

He went to protest, but then his cock was in her mouth, and, yeah, he was done for.

They ate.

They made love.

They watched a movie.

Made love some more.

And as they lay there, her body tangled with his, all he could do was think of a way to get her out of there. He felt awful for it. He wasn’t sure he could do this, but she wasn’t going anywhere. Blinking in the darkness, he felt her breathing softly, but he knew she wasn’t asleep. “You don’t need to get anything from your apartment?”

“So you can lock me out? Nope.”

That made him chuckle. She knew him too well. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“Sure.” Silence fell once more as she trailed kisses along his chest. “Go to sleep. I know you’re tired.”

He was. “I’m not tired.”

“Liar.”

Swallowing hard, he cleared his throat. “Oh, I didn’t tell you, Alex proposed to Wells.”

“Aw, that’s nice.”

“Yeah, wanna be my date?”

She scoffed against him. “You don’t want to sleep with me right now, but you want me to go to a wedding with you? Will we get separate rooms?”

He groaned. “Brie.”

“What?”

“Fine. I’m sleeping.”

“Good because I would love to go.”

He smiled. “Good.”

“Great.”

But it wasn’t great, he was having a panic attack, though she was right. What would he do? Expect her to sleep in a different room? That was stupid. He’d want to be with her, so what was the problem? Biting his lip, he let out a long breath. He could do this. It was time. He wanted to do this.

“I don’t really cuddle.”

She shrugged. “Me either,” she said, kissing his jaw and then his lips. “Goodnight.”

She rolled over, her ass on his hip, but he couldn’t move. As the silence stretched between them, he finally said, “Brie?”

“Vaughn.”

“I can’t sleep.”

She rolled over, and he could see the grin on her face as she looked up at him. “We’ve slept together. In the hospital.”

“That doesn’t count.”

“Why?”

“It just doesn’t,” he said, the nerves wracking him. “I don’t know.”

“I swear, this isn’t as weird as you’re making it. Just think, if you wake up in the middle of the night with a boner, all you gotta do is roll over and put it in. Boom, we’re banging.”

He thought that over. “That is very convenient.”

“It is. Now go to sleep.”

“Or I can put it in.”

“Or you can sleep ’cause you’ve already yawned during sex once.”

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. I bit you, and you were awake for the rest.”

A smile pulled at his lips. “But what if I roll on you?”

“I’ll kick you off me.”

“What if I snore?”

“I’ll smother you.”

“What if I fart?”

“Then I’ll fart on you.”

He couldn’t hold it in, he laughed, shaking the bed as she did too. Rolling on top of him, she cupped his face as his hands instantly came up to cup her ass. “I don’t want to leave. I want to sleep with you. Feel you. I’ve missed you for nine whole long days, and I just want to feel safe, and I do when I’m with you.”

It was too much to handle; he needed an out. He swallowed hard, holding her gaze. “I wear a retainer.”

Her brows pulled together. “Huh?”

“A retainer. That’s why I don’t want to sleep with you because I don’t want you to see it and laugh at me.”

She just blinked. “Like full headgear?”

“Yeah, I got hit in the mouth with the puck, and they’re trying to strengthen my teeth back.”

“Are you serious right now?”

He groaned. “No, I just wanted to scare you off.”

Snorting with laughter, she kissed him hard on the lips between their laughs. “I’m not scared off that easily.”

“Really? What if it got caught in your hair?”

“Then I would have pulled it out. It wouldn’t matter because we would have laughed through the whole thing.”

His lips quirked. “You’re right.”

“I know, and, Vaughn, I’m not going anywhere. I don’t know why you’re so worried about it because, dude, I’m in this. Really, I am.” His heart skipped a beat as she held his gaze. “Now smack my ass, kiss me goodnight, and go to sleep.”