Page 70 of Bound Lies

He looks up at me then, with a deep crease between his brows.

“You’re sure?”

“The bed is so huge an elephant could sleep between us. As long as you stay on your side, I think we’ll both survive.”

After a long pause, he eventually nods before untangling himself from the chair and crossing over to the bed.

I watch him out of the corner of my eye as he grabs a pillow and tosses it on the floor before pulling back the covers.

“It should be illegal to still have such visible abs after eating a boatload of pasta,” I mutter as he climbs into bed beside me.

The mattress dips under his weight, and suddenly, the bed doesn’t feel so big after all.

“So, you admit you were looking?”

“It’s hard not to when you insist on parading them around all the time.”

Kieran chuckles, and I quickly roll onto my side so that I’m facing away from him so that he can’t see how red my cheeks are.

“I can parade other things around if you’re getting bored of the abs.”

I flick off the lamp. “Go to sleep, Kieran.”

The bed shakes as he laughs, and every muscle in my body tenses.

Even though we’re not touching, heat radiates from his body.

It would be too easy to shift a little closer, maybe brush my thigh up against his or accidentally brush my hand over his stomach or lower…

Don’t think about Kieran.

“Good night, wife,” Kieran whispers into the darkness.

For some reason, those words have my thighs clenching together.

I shouldn’t enjoy Kieran calling me his wife so much, considering the fact that legally I’m not, but I do. It’s like he owns me, and that sends a thrill rushing down my spine, straight to my core.

I squeeze my eyes shut and try to focus on literally anything else.

There are a couple of chapters I still need to review for my economics exam that I should really be focusing on. Yes, that will work.

A negative externality can be defined as…

Kieran shifts beside me, and my thoughts immediately switch from Economic Theory to his huge muscular body.

Would it be the worst thing in the world to turn over and kiss him?

I swallow hard and pull the covers up to my chin as I wait for sleep to pull me under.

This is fine.

Everything is totally under control…

I wake slowly, blinking as the soft morning light peeks through the heavy curtains.

The room is warm and still, and I let out a sigh as I bury myself deeper beneath the covers. But as I shift, I notice that Kieran’s arm is wrapped around me, and I freeze.

His chest is pressed against my back, and I can feel the steady rise and fall of his breath against my neck.