Sacha squeezed me back, wrapping his arms over the tops of my shoulders. "You're very welcome."

We stayed like that for a moment, then two moments, five moments, eight moments. One of his arms loosened around me before I felt him smooth a hand down my wet hair. "You know you don't have to buy me anything ever,” I said. "I'd let you in even if the only thing you brought was bad breath."

He laughed while rubbing that free hand smoothly over the small of my back. "I know."

"Okay."

His hand slipped an inch up the back of my shirt, fingertips brushing my bare skin at the same time his mouth dipped down to my temple. "I like that you don't expect me to buy you things, that's why I do it."

Something tugged at my brain, making me think of Ronalda and how Sacha would pull her chair out for her, and how she wanted him to sacrifice so much for her. Maybe he did things like that because she demanded it? I pushed the thought away, not wanting to think of her when it was me in this moment with this beautiful man.

"Thank you, anyway." I told him dumbly, breathlessly.

Sacha pulled away just an inch before tipping my head back. He gave me a sly, seductive smile. "You're the easiest person in the world to please,” he breathed, kissing my cheek softly.

The fact that he was kissing my cheek and I was standing there handling it as if it wasn’t a big deal was something I was going to replay later on when the moment was broken and I wasn’t living in it any longer.

"Is that a good thing?"

His smile morphed again, into one that made me think of a secret. "It's a great thing."

Chapter Twenty

Sacha poked me in the side. "Stay awake."

I didn't even bother covering my yawn as I eyed him sleepily, the television a steady hum in the background. The last time I'd looked at the clock, it showed that it was after three in the morning. Eli had woken me up early to explain that our flights had been cancelled and that we'd be leaving the following afternoon instead.

I wasn’t sure why he hadn’t just told me at a normal hour in the day instead of at the crack of dawn, but then again, I didn't know why my brother did half of the things that he did.

My gray-eyed, self-proclaimed best friend was lying on my bed, shoulders pressed against the headboard while I sat cross-legged next to him, nodding off. "I'm sleepy, but you can stay," I told him with a yawn again.

"Come here," he murmured, patting the empty space between our bodies.

What do you do when a man like Sacha Malykhin wants you to lie down next to him? You do it. Preferably naked, but I was too tired to even think anything more suggestive than that. So I settled for a tired smile and untangled my legs to scoot into the designated spot. I stretched out next to him while he moved to lie flat against the bed, extending his right arm out for me to lie on top of. He curled his arm as soon as I settled in, pulling me over so until I had my head on his chest.

I may have draped my arm over his stomach as nonchalantly as possible.

"You're warm," I mumbled against his black T-shirt. I yawned again and blinked, trying my best to stay awake and enjoy our closeness. “I never told you,” I yawned. “You look just like your mom.”

“You think so?”

I nodded into him. I hadn’t told him what his mom had said. I didn’t see the point. Then there was also the fact that I wasn’t sure what the hell she meant by ruining my life, so… I was going to let it go and blame it on her being a diva. “Girlish features and everything.”

His chest rumbled under my head. “You always know what to say to make me feel like a million bucks.”