Page 80 of Some Kinda Romance

39

DASH

Iwoke up with Serenity lying on my chest and the glow of early morning sunshine already warming the room.

Fuck. I fell asleep.

I couldn’t say I minded waking to her, but I hadn’t planned on it. Sneaking out of her building in the daytime was going to be difficult, considering that there was no back entrance, but despite it not having been my intention, I couldn’t find any shred of real worry inside about having to deal with the press when I left.

Her golden hair was splayed out over my arm, her body soft and warm against my side. Instead of feeling trapped by her leg draped over my knees, I felt strangely comforted. I didn’t want to move, which was unusual for me when waking with a woman.

Smiling as I glanced down at the top of her head, I pressed a kiss to her hair and reached for my phone, unlocking it and scrolling through the breaking news headlines until I felt her stirring. I lowered the phone to my side, watching as her eyes blinked open and her brow furrowed when she must’ve realized she was lying on a person.

Without a moment of hesitation, her gaze jumped up and met mine, and a moment later, she smiled lazily. “You’re still here.”

Her voice was husky with sleep, the expression in her eyes still soft. I nodded, bending slightly to brush a kiss against her shoulder. “Yeah, I’m still here. I’m sorry. I meant to sneak out after you fell asleep, but I dozed off too and only woke up a few minutes ago.”

“That’s okay,” she murmured, rolling away from me and spreading her arms above her head in a mighty stretch. “I’m kind of glad you fell asleep too. At least it means you had a good time last night, right?”

“I had a great time last night,” I corrected gently. “That doesn’t mean no one is going to see me leaving your place, though.”

Relaxing out of her stretch, she stuffed a pillow under her head and lay down again, facing me. “We’ll deal with it when it happens. Besides, didn’t we say we’re not hiding anymore?”

“Sure, but saying it and coming out as a couple in public are two very different things. It should be alright, though. I’ll just ignore them.”

She chuckled, arching a teasing eyebrow at me. “Oh, so you’re going to do something entirely different to how you usually act with them, then. Good to know.”

Settling in on my side and facing her, I realized neither of us was in any hurry to leave this bed. Eventually, we were going to have to, but for now, I was enjoying just lazing around with her.

“Do you really think last night was great?” she asked curiously. “I thought you didn’t like dancing.”

“That’s not the part of the night I was referring to.” I smirked, laughing when she reached out to land a playful punch to my shoulder. “Kidding! I’m kidding. The dancing was fun too. Not as fun, but fun. I’m just a little surprised that you managed to bring out that side of me.”

“The dance-like-a-sexy-god side?” she teased. “I’m surprised that side of you exists at all.”

I chuckled. “Mom made us all take lessons when we were younger. Although I don’t remember a style of dance called sexy-god, but I’ll take it.”

“Okay, and now I’m surprised that your mom made you take lessons and you actually paid any attention.”

I shrugged. “According to her, a gentleman should know how to dance. The alternative, apparently, is men simply hopping around a dance floor or standing completely still while watching others dance like some kind of creeper, and she didn’t want that for us. She got our attention by putting it that way.”

Serenity laughed softly, the sleep melting away from her eyes. I had to admit I really fucking liked being here to see it. “If I ever have a son, I’m coming to your mother for lessons on how to raise him. She seems to have some tricks up her sleeve about how to make boys listen.”

“Well, she’s had some practice,” I joked. “She only had five of us. By the time she got to Corbin, I think she’d learned every trick in the book. I’m sure she’ll be happy to share her wisdom.”

“He’s the youngest, right?” she asked. “Corbin.”

“Yep.” I told her more about my brothers as we finally got out of bed and got dressed. Then we headed downstairs to make breakfast together.

Just like a real couple.

We spent as much of the morning together as we could, but I had to go meet my mom, and Serenity had to get to the office for a couple hours.

She walked me to her door, leaning into me as she looped her arms around my neck. “Are you sure you can’t stay? I could always go in a little bit later. I just have to check on a few things. It’s nothing major.”

“I’d love to, but I can’t.” I planted my hands on her hips, bending my head closer to hers. “I need to go home, shower, and change before I meet my mom and Richard. I’ll text you later though, okay?”

“You better.” She pushed up on her toes as I bent down a little more.