Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
“Those too. The more skin, the better.”
Silas took care of the bottoms on his own and rolled onto his back next to me. Completely naked. “Now what?”
“Lie on your side. No…other side.”
“Can’t.”
Oh, boy. I draped a towel between our hips like a terrycloth curtain and did my best to ignore how very freaking surreal this was as I scooted close enough to press our chests together.
“Try to relax.” I might as well have been talking to myself.
This was…insane. I was a big man, and years of outdoor work had honed my body into decent shape, but Silas was bigger. He was more muscular, harder, and thicker. I doubted he had any fat on his bones. And it was impossible not to notice that he was anyone’s definition of good-looking—square jaw, chiseled with light scruff, high cheekbones, long lashes, brilliant blue eyes, and plush lips.
But he wasn’t perfect. His features were marred with small scars—a moon-shaped one under his left brow and a nasty jagged one that ran along the side of his face by his ear. Trophies from old battles.
“What should I do with my arms?” Silas grunted.
“Whatever you want. Pretend I’m like a body pillow. This isn’t about intimacy…obviously, it’s about getting warm.”
He stiffened slightly. “I don’t know if I—”
“Hey, trust me. I’m not any happier about this than you are, but I’ve officially run out of ideas.”
“What about a hot shower?”
“What happens when you step out of a hot shower and the air is cold and all the heat evaporates and you’re at square one again?” I countered. “Or what if you lose consciousness and slip or—”
“I’m not going to lose conscious-sssness.” Silas gritted his teeth in apparent frustration.
“I get that this is uncomfortable, but this is science. You need heat, and I’m a good source.” I hoped he wouldn’t make any homophobic asshole comments and make me regret any of this, but for insurance purposes, I added, “We can agree this house is a cone of silence if you’d like. Whatever happens here, stays here. Got it?”
“Uh…okay. If you’re a pillow, I’m going to move my foot…here.” He hiked his foot over my ankle. “Is this cool?”
“Sure.”
I rested my arm at my side, and quickly realizing it wouldn’t help him, I set a tentative hand on his hip.
“If I get a woody, it’s not y-you,” he stuttered.
“Don’t talk. Just…close your eyes and try to sleep.”
“Yeah, fucking right. We’re spooning. How am I supposed to sl-sleep?”
“If we were spooning, your ass would be pointing the other way, genius.”
He chuckled. “Or yours would.”
My mouth twisted involuntarily. “Shh. Have you ever done any breath work?”
“Wh-what?”
“It’ll help. Inhale for four counts, hold for seven, and exhale for eight. I’ll count with you. One-two-three-four. Now hold—”
Silas busted up laughing. “S-sorry. I’ll try again. Fix your voice, though. You sound like Dracula.”
I pursed my lips in mock annoyance, mimicking The Count from Sesame Street on my next effort. Imitating comical voices was one of my evil powers, much to my kids’ delight or sometimes chagrin. “No good?”
“Actually, it’s great. K-keep going.” He snickered.
It didn’t go any better on the third or fourth take. Silas’s laughter was infectious, and finding humor in odd circumstances made the weirdness tolerable. After a few minutes, his breathing steadied and his teeth stopped chattering. His eyes were closed, but I wasn’t positive he was asleep. I didn’t want to disturb him, so I stayed as still as possible, watching the glow from the fire play across his face.
I felt like a voyeur, and if I hadn’t been so steadfast in my resolve to mentally create a safe distance, I’d have been worried about being caught perving.
Not that I’d act on even a trace of attraction. The one nice thing about hobbling into my forties was that I had iron-clad control over my libido.
Oops.
I’d spoken too soon.
In my defense, I hadn’t been this close to a man—lying pressed against each other—in a long while. Random hookups didn’t count. Not that there’d been many of those recently. Small-town living wasn’t conducive to fucking around. Everyone found out what you were up to at some point…no matter how cautious you were.
A few of Silas’s lingering glances made me wonder if he might be bisexual too, but I wouldn’t ask and I’d probably never know. I just wanted him to get better and ideally, get the hell out ASAP.
With that in mind, I lifted a corner of the blanket and oh-so-slowly inched away. I waited till I was positive he was out to gather my clothing and get up. The room was dark, but the crackle of wood in the fireplace and Silas’s snoring were a welcome contrast to the wicked wind howling and the scrape of a tree branch on the window. At this rate, the power would go out and the generator would take over any minute now.