Page 104 of The Sweetest Return

“Clothes can’t be smart-mouthed.”

“Yours can.”

I laughed despite myself.

“They be saying a lot.”

“You are insane.”

“So what you got on?”

“Nothing important.”

Dre went quiet.

Too quiet.

My stomach dipped.

“Mani.”

“What?”

“You naked?”

I pulled the sheet higher against my chest and looked toward the closed curtains like they might save me.

They did not.

The sheet slipped over my breasts as I moved, and my breath stuttered at the sudden drag of fabric over my nipples. The suite probably had some obscene thread count designed to make people feel rich and rested, but right then every soft inch of cotton knew too much. My nipple rings pressed against the fabric, and the sensation went straight through me, turning both peaks tight and sensitive beneath the sheet.

That had always been one of the quickest ways into my body.

A mouth there.

A tongue.

The right amount of pull.

Damien had liked my breasts. Complimented them. Touched them like they were beautiful, which they were. But Dre had always treated my nipples like they were connected to every other place I could feel pleasure.

Dre wasn’t in the room.

My body did not seem to care.

“You’re very nebby this morning,” I said.

“That wasn’t a no.”

“It wasn’t a yes either.”

“It didn’t have to be.”

My thighs pressed together again.

He exhaled slowly, and the sound moved across my skin as though he were close enough to pull the sheet down himself.

“You always did like sleeping naked after I got you worked up.”