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Nothing planned. Nothing proper or polite about it.
    Incredible .
    â€œWhat’s got you smiling so early?” Nate’s morning-rough voice stroked over her like a soothing caress, bringing her attention to the hard line of his stubbled jaw and the soft amusement in his blue, blue eyes. They were intimately wound together. Arms and legs and bare skin everywhere. It felt goodand, though today they wouldn’t be lovers, Payton wasn’t about to rush from the bed or give up the warmth of his body, the steady thump, thump of his heart sounding beneath her ear, or the shelter of his arms around her. She couldn’t. Not yet.
    For now, they were comfortably entwined. Or at least they were until Nate reached down her back with one hand and pinched her bottom.
    â€œHey!” she squeaked, ineffectually trying to pinch back at skin too muscle packed to give.
    â€œThe grin. Tell.”
    Inching her bum out of pinching distance, she raised a brow. “So desperate to feed your ego?”
    â€œMmm, so it’s an ego-feeding grin. Tell me more.”
    She took a deep breath, weighing the temptation to share her indecent revelation. He’d never judged her before…but this was different. Telling in a way she wanted him to know but was afraid to reveal. After what they’d done last night, she might have finally killed the good girl misconception, and owning up to what had her smiling—the part beyond finally being in his arms—might negate all the progress she’d made. Casting a sidelong glance his way, to that devilish smile and waiting stare, the temptation proved too much to resist. Her eyes squeezed shut and she fessed up in a rush of breath. “I’m thinking you’re the first notch in my bedpost.”
    There! That wasn’t so bad. It was freeing, in fact. And—
    Her eyes blinked open as Nate froze beside her, every muscle in his body gone taut and his breathing at an abrupt halt.
    Her chin pulled back. Not quite the “partner-in-crime” kind of response she’d hoped for.
    He couldn’t be insulted . But now that she thought about it, she wouldn’t feel great about being described as a notch either.
    â€œYou weren’t a virgin.” The words rasped out more plea than question or statement.
    Momentarily stunned, Payton could practically feel his cold dread at the thought she’d saved something so special for him. That the night he’d given her on condition it be casual be so spectacularly significant. That she’d deceived him.
    â€œNo!” Her hands flew to the sides of her face as she shook her head in vehement denial. “I wasn’t a virgin, I promise! I meant ‘notch’ like uncommitted. Sex for sex’s sake.” The beginning of her reckless adventure. He didn’t need to know how special being with him truly was to her. After today it would never be an issue again. She wouldn’t let it be. “Don’t panic, please.”
    Nate’s relief was a palpable thing, like a rush of air back into the room, the return of pressure with a whoosh.
    â€œI wasn’t panicking,” he scoffed, pushing to one elbow on his side. “Pretty little princesses don’t make me panic. Especially not when they are…” he lifted the sheet for dramatic effect, offering a quick leer at her prone body before meeting her eyes again “…naked.”
    Relief washed through her at the ease with which he recovered, but a lingering tension remained and his expression turned serious. Concerned.
    â€œAre you okay about this, Payton?” Catching a wild curl with his finger, he pushed it over her ear. Let his mouth pull into a crooked twist when it sprang free and bounced back in front of her eyes. “With last night being the only night?”
    She took a steadying breath. “I am if we go forward as friends.”
    In those first minutes after the kiss became real in the hallway, she