“Just a few too many.” He runs his hand through his wet hair. “And I’m not going to stop something that feels good. I’m sure your hand was enjoying it too much. Now sit up straight.”

I watch as Alex walks over to my desk and grabs a plate and a glass of something. My head hurts too much to even pay attention to his words. “What’s this?” I ask as he sets the plate on my lap. “You made me breakfast?”

He sets the glass down on the nightstand beside me and I peek over to see that it’s orange juice. “Yeah.” Without another word, he walks into the bathroom. I almost think he’s going back to his room, until he emerges a few seconds later, holding something in his hand. He places two pills into my hand and crosses his arms over his chest. “Ibuprofen. Take those and eat your food.”

Not questioning him, I do as told. The first bite of food causes me to smile at its deliciousness. “Oh my goodness, Alex.” I point down at the toast before taking another bite and quickly chewing it. “This is absolutely delicious. Wow.”

He smiles. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

I toss a piece of egg at his head. “Cocky much?” I laugh as he grabs my hand and takes a bite of the eggs that I was just about to eat. “Very much so.” He chews the eggs and rubs a hand over his stiff abs. “What you doing before work?”

“I was going to stop by and visit Tara. You want to come with?”

He nods his head and starts backing away to the bathroom. “Yeah. I’m sure she misses the shit out of me.”

I laugh, accidently spitting the mouthful of toast out. “Seriously?” I cover my mouth and smile. “It’s only been like a week. Trust me, she does not miss you.”

He flashes me his dimples. “We’ll see about that.” He gets ready to walk out of my room, but stops and grabs onto the frame. “Oh and Lucas left for work already. He said he’ll see you around one.”

Figures he wouldn’t say bye. “Alright . . . thanks.” I take a sip of my orange juice. “I’ll shower after I eat and then we can go. Sound good?”

“Everything out of your mouth sounds good.” He attempts to catch the egg in his mouth as I throw it at him. “You have a horrible aim. I’m going to go downstairs and work out for about twenty minutes and then take a quick shower. I’ll shower downstairs so I don’t slow you down.”

Eyeing his body up and down, I swallow, remembering the dirty sounds coming from the downstairs shower last night. I tried so hard to block them out, but it was pretty hard to miss. I have to admit that hearing Alex fuck, both turned me on and bothered me at the same time. A part of me wanted to imagine myself taking her place, while the other part wanted to pretend that I wasn’t imagining it at all.

Then Lucas came up here saying dirty things to me about Alex . . . once again, turning me on so bad that I practically knocked him down and jumped on his dick. We had wild, meaningless sex, and then I sent him down to his room. Sleeping in the same bed as Lucas is something that I haven’t done yet. I’ve only slept next to Alex, and for some reason . . . I want to keep it that way for now.

“Sounds good. We can take your truck.” I smile while taking another bite of food.

“You just can’t get enough of my awesome driving, can you? You like it fast and wild.” He winks. “I like that.”

I point my fork at him. “Just hurry up so we can get going.”

“Sure thing, babe.” He dodges out of my room, leaving me grinning from ear to ear. He always has a way of making me smile. I honestly don’t know what I would do without him.

After I finish with breakfast and down the pills that Alex gave me, I start searching through my closet for fresh clothes to wear. Settling on a pair of old jeans and a black tank top, I throw my clothes down onto the bathroom rack and listen for the shower downstairs.

I can’t tell if he’s already inside yet, so I throw on the first shirt that I see and run downstairs to see if he’s still working out. I just remembered that I have the early shift at the bar today so we really don’t have a lot of time to waste.

By the time I get to the rec room, Alex is standing up beside the huge weight bench, wiping sweat from his face. My eyes trail down, following the beads of sweat dripping down his heaving chest, wetting the front of his tight briefs. My breath catches in my throat as I notice the shape of his dick moving beneath the fabric with the rhythm of his heavy breathing.

He notices me standing here and smiles as he pulls the towel away. “I’m getting in the shower now. Am I holding you up?”

I watch as every muscle in his body flexes to his movements as he reaches up to dry his hair with the towel. Shaking my head, I respond. “No. I was just making sure you were about to jump in the shower. I only have two hours before I need to leave for the bar.”

He tosses his towel aside and walks over to me, throwing me over his sweaty shoulder. He walks us out of the room, down the hall, and sets me down at the bottom of the steps. “Well then, we better hurry up.” He turns around to walk away and my eyes land directly on his firm ass. “Meet me by my truck in twenty minutes.”

Mmm. . . . so perfect. Too perfect . . .

“Alright.” I jog up the stairs and quickly strip myself in my room before closing myself into the bathroom and turning on the shower water. I shake my head, trying to clear it. Living with Alex is just too damn much.

I’m going to be in a world of trouble with this boy . . .

TWENTY MINUTES LATER, I’M FOLLOWING Alex outside and to his truck. He opens the door for me and grips the back of my thighs, boosting me into the seat. “Hold on, Firecracker.” He winks and shuts the door, before jogging around the truck and to the driver’s side.

Turning to me, he notices that my seatbelt isn’t on, so he reaches over and secures it before slamming his door shut and buckling his own. “You know . . . I think I can manage to put on my own seatbelt.”

He laughs while turning the key in the ignition and shifting the truck into reverse. He turns to me. “Nah, you definitely can’t handle that.” He starts backing out of the driveway while still talking. “Don’t think that I haven’t taken notes of the times I’ve seen you driving without a seatbelt. That shit won’t happen on my watch, Tripp.”

Turning red, I look away, embarrassed. I sometimes forget when I’m in a hurry, but I hadn’t thought that anyone else noticed. That’s just another reason that Alex will feel the need to take care of me now. I hate making him feel that way.