That was an odd request, but she got a laugh out of me. “Are you serious?”

Alex laughed. “Please. It will help.” Her cheeks were pinched and her lips perked out. It was the sexiest pout I’d ever seen. Hot damn! I wanted to suck those pretty sweet lips of hers. How could I say no after that?

Gazing into her eyes, I sang to her. Sure enough, her eyelids started to flutter. She gave me a warm smile and slowly drifted off to sleep, and so did I. I don’t know how long I had been sleeping, but I woke up when Alex started bawling and talking in her sleep. “Don’t go daddy. Don’t leave me. Please stay.”

She hadn’t woken up like the last time. Seeing her like this was killing me. I scooted to her side, slipped my hand underneath her, and pulled her to my chest. With the other hand, I rubbed her back while telling her it would be okay.

I wasn’t sure if she was aware of what she was doing when she crushed into my chest, wrapping her arms around my neck tightly. Her body shook as she continued to cry and I knew the reason why. I had cried like that many times before, but alone. I felt her pain as if it were my own. All I wanted to do was comfort her, to take it away, but having her this close to me was driving me insane.

Allowing her tears to soak into my shirt, we both fell asleep again, but this time with our bodies entangled.

Alexandria

Feeling the body heat woke me up. Though somewhat groggy, I’d had enough sleep and blinked my eyes to open. I was surprised to find my hand on Liam’s chest, but his wasn’t that firm. Panicking and worried about where I was, I jerked back to see the sexy stubble and strong jaw line. I pulled back even further to see a dragon tattoo. My body was practically on top of Elijah’s. Crap!

Thinking of last night, I knew nothing happened. We were both fully clothed, but why was I on top of him? Oh, please don’t be awake. Feeling hot flashes rush to my cheeks, I peered up further and released a breath when I saw that his eyes were closed. Thank God!

Pulling away ever so slowly, I managed to get off the bed without disturbing him. After I picked up my pillow and my blanket, I started to tiptoe out of his room. Just before I left, I snuck a peek at his photos. I was assuming they were pictures of his family—his mom, his brother, but where was his dad?

Elijah got his dark hair from his mom, but I figured he looked more like his father since his brother’s facial features resembled his mom. They were a good-looking family. Hearing a snort sound, I snapped my vision to Elijah. Thank goodness he hadn’t awakened yet, but I panicked when I saw the clock on his nightstand. I had work in one hour. Working on Saturdays sucked.

Elijah

I was very much aware of Alex’s every move last night. How could I sleep with her body wrapped around mine? It was difficult when all I wanted to do was give in to my temptation and devour her.

Knowing how she would react, I pretended to be asleep. When I saw her staring at a photo of my family, it made me uneasy. I made a sound to get her attention. Yup, that worked.

Maybe I should have slept on the sofa last night. Now, I’d never be able to get her off my mind: the way she smelled like flowers, the way her body molded perfectly to mine, the way her hair tickled my face and arm, the way her hand ran over my chest. I was totally screwed. What was I thinking? That was the problem. I couldn’t think clearly around her.

Alexandria

One good thing about working on Saturdays was Lexy. Last week, I only got to see her couple of times since our schedules were different. Working together would not only make the time go by faster, but we would also have the chance to catch up on our gossip.

“Hey, Alex.” Lexy slipped her clear plastic gloves on.

I waved at her from the cash register, ringing up a customer.

“What are you doing tonight?” she mouthed, making a burrito that someone had ordered.

“Not sure,” I said, and then froze. Elijah strutted toward Lexy and ordered his lunch.

He looked tired, so that made me question if he was able to get any sleep last night. I wondered if he knew I was practically sleeping on top of him. Being the kind of sleeper that didn’t move around much, I had no idea how I got into that position.

“Why?” Lexy said to Elijah angrily. I had no idea what they were talking about. Elijah kept whispering in her ear while Lexy kept asking why. Finally with a huff, she threw him his plate, and he almost dropped it.

“Alex,” Elijah said, shifting his baseball cap. He was hiding his expression under it. “You sleep okay?”

“Yes, thank you.” It was all I could say as I tried not to look him in the eyes. I was afraid my eyes would deceive me, and he would know that a part of me enjoyed our bodies being entwined like that. After he gave me a twenty and took his change, he headed to his usual spot, turning girls’ heads along the way. They were checking him out. Since there were no other customers, I walked around the tables to pick up trash.

“Hey, Alexandria.”

Great! I knew that voice. I rolled my eyes, turned to him, and gave him a fake smile. If he weren’t such a jerk, he would actually be sort of attractive. He had a nice toned body, smooth face, and beautiful green eyes. I don’t know why, but my eyes went straight to Elijah, who was honing in on our conversation, then it shifted to Lexy who looked annoyed.

“What are you doing tonight?”

“Studying,” I said quickly. “Do you know what that is?” I don’t know why I was being rude to him. He didn’t grab my ass this time. Trying to brush him off, I went to the next unoccupied table, but I heard footsteps behind me.