Page 134

I reach into the bedroom and turn on the lamp.

“Bed.”

Chapter twenty-three

Colt

The backs of my legs meet the mattress. I sit, still holding Astrid’s hand, and she comes with me.

The packet is still in her fist. She puts it beside the lamp and steps between my knees.

I put my hands at her hips. “You tell me.”

“I have been.”

“I noticed.”

She bends and kisses me.

She gets my shirt off my shoulders and lets it drop, and her palms come down my chest slowly enough that I feel every place she stops.

I get my hands under her thighs and bring her onto my lap. She comes down with a knee either side of me, still in the shoes. I reach behind her and work the first strap loose and let it go. Then the other. They hit the floor and she settles lower and puts her mouth level with mine.

“Those were for you.”

“I know what they were for.”

She sits back on my lap without leaving me anywhere else to look.

I look anyway.

“You are staring.”

“You’re naked.”

“You took the shoes.”

“Team effort.”

Her mouth moves. Not quite a smile.

I slide my palm up her bare back. “There it is.”

“What?”

“That thing you do when you’re trying not to laugh.”

“I am not trying.”

“Then you’ve got a problem.”

She kisses me before I can keep going. Slow this time, and not because she’s unsure. Because she has apparently decided I can wait.

Her fingers come down my chest. Stop at my stomach. Keep going.

She gets the button open, lowers the zipper, and slides her hand inside.

I breathe in.