Free Enjoying Trouble (Trouble #3) by Dee Bridle Page A

together after everyone went to bed used to be our thing.
    I heard the internal door from the garage open and then close. Clearly not thinking straight, I dived across the kitchen to turn the light off, cloaking the room in darkness. I went to hide next to the counter, crouching down and listening out for him. I couldn’t survive his satisfied sex face. Not tonight. I was just barely holding on as it was.
    His footsteps started their way up the stairs and then stopped. I stopped breathing and shut my eyes in frustration. He would have smelt the chocolate as soon as he had come in. I waited in silence, wondering whether he was coming into the kitchen or continuing on his way to bed. I shouldn’t have come back here tonight. Our words had been so final tonight that I just knew I should have stayed far away.
    Not hearing any more movement, I opened my eyes in the darkness and was then blinded by the switch of the kitchen light. My head popped up and I looked over the top of the kitchen counter to see him leaning against the kitchen entrance, watching me. Embarrassed, I stood up from my hiding position and didn’t meet his eyes as I curled some hair behind my ear. I had been caught out and I felt so damn silly.
    “You never used to drink your hot chocolate in the dark and on the floor,” he said, breaking the uncomfortable silence between us.
    “Don’t knock it until you try it,” I mumbled, still not looking at him as I picked up my mug and took a sip. He continued to watch me as he leaned casually against the door frame, his thick arms folded across his chest. I took another sip, looking anywhere but at him.
    “Can’t sleep?” he asked next.
    “Nope,” I said into my mug.
    “Fuck, is that a spider?” he said suddenly. I instantly looked over to him to see where he had found a spider. I hated spiders. None of them deserved to live and I planned on killing every single one that roamed the earth. I only found his amused grin as he continued to watch me. There was no spider, only a six foot god making me crazy. I took in his eyes that were alight with adrenaline. He had driven home fast. Someone else had made those eyes burn tonight. Had she satisfied him? Why was he home and not wanting another round with her? Angry with myself and the situation I had put us both in, I suddenly wanted to hit out at him and wipe that gorgeous grin off his face.
    “Was she a dud in bed?” I asked cattily.
    “So this is how it’s going to be from now on? We’re going to bitch at each other and just throw away the awesome friendship we had?”
    I concentrated on my mug of hot chocolate, feeling stupid. Of course I didn’t want that. I was being bitchy because I wanted him and couldn’t have him. I wish I had the balls to just come out and say that to him.
                  “But for your information, she wasn’t a dud. I just wasn’t in the mood for a second round in a single bed in a dorm room,” he said, stepping into the kitchen. I watched him from the corner of my eye, move over to the fridge and grab the milk. I suddenly wanted to be in a different time from here, where hot chocolate was our thing after a big night of clubbing or a hardcore session of sex. Where we used to talk and laugh about everything and nothing in those early hours. He started to make himself a mug of the chocolate goodness, eating a marshmallow as he went. I watched his familiar routine of scooping sugar into his mug along with the chocolate, knowing he liked it extra sweet. I swallowed and stood silent, holding my mug tightly, wanting to say so much but not saying anything.
    He stirred his mug, then picked up another marshmallow, tossed it up and caught it with his mouth. Just as I tried to hide my amusement, he tossed another one up, this time for me. Just like I had been pulled back into the past, I leaned over and caught it with my mouth. I started to chew on it, smiling slightly before hiding it in my mug as I took another