In Service of Love by Laurel Greer

Author:Laurel Greer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-06-09T20:29:42+00:00

* * *

A few hours later Asher woke with Maggie somehow lying sprawled across his chest as well as half the bed. Good thing she had a king mattress.

He smiled to himself. This was comfortable: both the mattress, and the woman he was sharing it with. A warm, irresistible cocoon. Given he wasn’t due to pick Ruth up from her sleepover until mid-morning, he was tempted to go shut the lights off—they’d managed to pass out with them on—and stay. Damn, Maggie would look good sleepy and languid, lit up by early sunshine.

She probably wouldn’t want that, though. He suspected she hadn’t anticipated “sleeping together” would literally mean sleeping together. He gave her back a quick stroke, inhaling the berry-sweet scent of her curls, which tumbled over her face and tickled his neck. The alarm clock on her bedside table shone 2:14 in bold, digital blue. He really wanted to stay burrowed under the covers, to better learn the weight of her limbs. But waking up to doubt and awkwardness? Not worth the risk. Better to disappoint her by leaving than by sticking around.

“Maggie?” He shifted out from under her, kissing her forehead as he settled her on one of the pillows and pulled the covers up to her chin. “I should scoot.”

“Mmkay,” she murmured. One of her brown eyes opened a crack. “You, uh... You could...” She woke up all the way, eyes widening. “Right. Leaving. Not staying. Good call.”

He kissed her again before dragging his butt out of bed and putting his clothes back on. She sat up, holding the covers over her naked torso. Her teeth pulled at one side of her lower lip. Concern marked her brows.

“Everything all right?” He put his socks on, studying her.

“Yeah.” She squeezed her eyes shut for a second. “Do you want to go out for coffee this week? Or lunch?”

He could hear that the invitation came through gritted teeth, but he got the sense it was her forcing herself to push past her own limitations, not extending it out of a sense of obligation. He mentally scanned his schedule. He was running some of his cultural programming in the afternoons, but that was during his usual hours. Parenting, however, was a total buzzkill when it came to free time. “I have my lunch hours. Other than that, I’m in dad mode every day. Ruth is going to have to put up with doing her homework at the training facility for a few nights so I can get the cabinets done.”

And as much as he liked seeing Ruth hero-worship Maggie, he didn’t want to introduce Maggie as more than a friend right now. Not until he got a better handle on where this was going and what Maggie wanted. But how to bring that up? There wasn’t really a way. Not without freaking Maggie out with words like “commitment” and “step-parent”.

Maggie seemed as lost in thought as he was, staring at a point off to his right. After a few seconds, she fixed him with a determined gaze.

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