9. Minnie

CHAPTER 9

Minnie

I come awake when a light shines brightly in my eyes. It takes me a moment to blink the sleep away. I’m pretty sure when I went to sleep, a couch was involved, yet now I’m in a bed, surrounded by Clay’s scent. His pillows, his sheets, and in his room. It all starts coming back to me. He carried me up the stairs, telling me to sleep in his bed, and I asked him to join me. I look to the side and see he’s not there. What is beside me is Jasmine. On top of the pillow, no less, sleeping blissfully without a care in the world. One thing is for sure: Clay’s animals are living their best life.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you up.” My gaze leaves Jasmines and slides to Clay’s. My breath leaves me, and I’m stunned silent. He’s standing in the doorway of the bathroom, the light pouring around him, but that’s not what has the air whooshing out of me. Nope, that would be him standing there in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. His hair is wet and slicked back, jaw clenched, eyes darkening, and my core slickens with desire. I can feel my nipples tighten to hard peaks. There’s no hiding how Clay is making me feel, especially when I watch his nostrils flare.

“It’s okay.” I lick my lips and sit up in bed, not wanting to miss the full package that is Clay Garcia. When I talked to Lennon about love at first sight, I didn’t delve into lust at first sight. There are some things your older sister shouldn’t know, and that’s one of those. My eyes continue their path down every dip and divot of his body, shoulders that can hold the weight of the world broad enough to help me when he didn’t have to. I’m shocked to see his abs, counting them two at a time: two, four, six, and eight. Who freaking knew this was even a thing? I never did. Sure, my sister told me her fictional characters that are famous dukes from the regency era do, but those are in books. This is real freaking life, and I’m getting an up close and personal view.

“Let me grab some clothes, then I’ll be out of your way.” The last thing I want is for Clay to put clothes on or leave, but what more can I say to convince him to sleep with me?

“Clay.” My voice cracks on a whimper. I watch his slow gait as he moves to what I now know is the closet, wishing so badly he would abandon his destination and look at me again. The only good about him walking away is that I’m able to continue taking in everything that is one very fine cowboy. His back competes with the front, it’s so muscular, and he’s got a tapered waist with two dimples on his lower back. If I were in the comfort of my own room, I know exactly what I’d do.

My hands are already moving. Trying to keep them away from my breasts and center is taking a considerable amount of effort. Wetness pools between my legs, and my thighs tighten, trying to keep from rubbing them together, but nothing is helping. The pulse only heightens when he opens the closet door. Clay’s movements only make me want him more. His muscles tighten, contracting before relaxing, and as he steps inside the closet, he does the last thing I ever thought he’d do.

He drops the towel.

“Dear God.” The words escape me as I see Clay’s bare ass.

“Like what you see, Clementine?” My eyes move from where they’re glued to his backside to where Clay’s head is turned over his shoulder. A cat-ate-the-canary smile appears on his face.

“Maybe. I’m not sure.” He arches his eyebrow at me, licking his lower lip at my response.

“And what do you need to be surer?” I pull the covers back, attempting to get out of bed. “Stay there, sweetheart. I can’t be trusted, not with me naked. Not with you in my bed, your clothes doing little to hide your lithe body from me.” His voice comes out thickly, gravely, and now I’m wondering what I can do to change his mind. He returns to his task after dropping that little bombshell, covering himself, and I’m left with my mouth hanging open. Mainly because I saw a small glimpse of what he has to work with. There’s no way a man can be that big, can he?

“Clay, you are sleeping with me tonight, right?” I ask once he’s done pulling on a pair of tight boxer briefs that molds perfectly to his sculpted ass.

“Sleep, yeah. Anything else, not tonight. As much as we both want it, you’re going to be sore, and no way am I gonna last long enough for you to get yours before I get mine,” he states as he walks toward me, the shorts he’s wearing doing nothing to hide exactly what I do to him. A fact I’m well aware of when I see the full package from the front.

“Fine, if you insist.” I fall back on my pillow. Clay moves Jasmine to the foot of the bed before climbing in beside me.

“I do. You gonna lie on your side of the bed, or you gonna move your sweet ass next to me?” He slides his arm beneath my neck, pulling me closer without waiting for my answer.

“Next to you, obviously,” I say with a small laugh. His lips touch the crown of my head before he hits the lamp on his side of the bed. When I noticed Clay turning the light off in the bathroom, I did some quick thinking and turned on the lamp so he wouldn’t be lost in the dark.

“Right where you’re meant to be,” he croons. His warm body cocoons me, and even though this is fast, faster than anything I’ve ever done or felt before, I’m going to jump in headfirst. My arm wraps around his stomach, and my leg hitches over his thigh, causing Clay to let out a hiss under his breath. I settle in, he does the same, and the last thing I remember is Nala’s nails clicking on the hardwood floor before feeling the depression from her weight on the bed. It’s clear sleeping with Clay means sleeping with his animals, and I’m finding I like that a whole lot.