Page 53 of Solo

My hand moves farther down and it takes me a second to realize I’m not lying on a pillow, I’m lying on an arm. Drew Markham’s arm. We’re nestled together, squashed up against one another on the big, soft couch in his den. We must have fallen asleep like this. I think. I’m a little fuzzy on the details of last night and there’s a wicked throb behind my eyes that isn’t from being sick this time.

His big, warm hand wraps around my waist from behind, pulling me into his chest. I feel his cheek against the top of my head.

“Good morning, Miss Brenner,” he murmurs in my ear. It makes me smile.

“Good morning, Dr. Markham. I wonder, sir, could you enlighten me as to our…activities last night? I’m not sure I recall everything that went on.”

“Oh, well, let’s see,” he begins, pulling the blanket farther down around us so I’m completely covered. “We drank too much. We kissed. We confessed our deepest, darkest secrets. We kissed again. We drank hot chocolate and kissed some more until finally…we fell asleep on the couch.”

“We didn’t…?”

“No. We didn’t,” he assures me. “You were a perfect gentleman.”

I snort and then we’re both silent for a long minute.

“Drew?” I ask, plucking up my courage.

“Hmm?”

“What does this all mean? For us?”

I feel him take a long, slow, deep breath from behind me. “I don’t really know, Katherine. Not exactly, anyway. I think we don’t hate one another.”

“I’d agree with that statement.” I chuckle.

“Good. I think we have some unexpectedly strong feelings for one another.”

“I’d agree with that statement, too.” I don’t chuckle this time.

“Very good,” he comments with a smile in his voice. “But I also think that we both know that there’s not much we can do about those feelings for right now. Not without one or both of us getting into a world of shit.”

Time for me to take my own deep breath. God, I’m so glad I don’t have to look at his face right now. “But, Drew, I don’t want things to go back to the way they were. Before.”

He sits up suddenly, and I find myself flat on the couch, looking up at him. His face is crumpled with confusion and concern.

“What? Of course not. Is that what you think, Katherine? That I want to go back to…to that?”

I blink hard. “I don’t really know what to think, Drew. I don’t really know what this is.”

The tension leaves his face all at once, raising his brows, softening his mouth and opening his dark eyes. It’s a reminder of just how devastatingly handsome this man is. And how I’ve been ignoring that fact for a very long time.

“I do,” he whispers as he leans down and kisses me. “It’s just got to simmer on the back burner a little bit longer. Do you think you can wait for me, Katherine?”

His breath is a soft breeze against my lips. It tickles me and I giggle a little.

“I can wait. But can the waiting wait until I leave this house?”

“Oh, I insist,” he says and I feel his hands on my rib cage. If he’d just move up a little. Or maybe down a little.

He shakes his head, as if reading my mind. “Same rules apply in the meantime. This is as far as it goes for now. Agreed?”

I see the conflict in his eyes. He believes what he says, but it’s a struggle for him. Somehow that makes me feel better. I’m not alone in my confusion.

“Agreed.”

He hunkers back in behind me and I sigh contentedly at the feel of his arms around me. I think we’re going to drift back asleep again until I feel the rumble of his voice in his chest.

“Katherine, why didn’t you audition for the New York Conservatory this year? You could have started their doctoral program in the fall.”