I laugh along with her. “Eh, it was a stupid rule anyway.”
The alarm next to her blares, bringing me back to themoment, and I realize I have to leave soon if I want to make it to school on time this morning.
She groans and rolls over to silence it, swinging her legs around and sitting up so they dangle over the side of the bed. I get up and rest my head in my hand as I watch her. Still naked, I drink in the sight of her back, all those curves begging for me to reach out and grip them again.
“I guess we should get ready,” she suggests, getting up and walking to the bathroom.
“Or we could play hooky, stay in bed all day?” I half joke with her.
She comes around the corner with her toothbrush in her mouth and one eyebrow raised. “And here I thought you wanted to go slow?”
“I did, I just…” I trail off, getting up and standing in front of her. I take her face in my hands and kiss her forehead before she turns and spits out her toothpaste.
I open my drawer and grab some new boxers and put them on.
“I just want to get it right this time,” I finish as I watch her get dressed, leaning in the doorway and taking her in. The sight of just being in her presence, no matter what she’s doing, warms my chest.
“We will,” she reassures me, stepping into me and giving me a soft kiss. Both of us seem unable to part longer than a few seconds now. “We just need to talk about everything. The hard stuff, the good stuff, the in-between. We need to make sure nothing is kept from the other and try to find who we are together again.” She places her hands against my chest.
“Okay,” I agree, bringing her hand up and kissing her palm. “I can do that.”
“How are you feeling right now?” she asks, looking into my eyes.
“I feel good. Really good. I didn’t let myself imagine this too much, but now that you’re here right in front of me again, I won’t lose this second chance you’ve given me,” I answer.
“I know you won’t,” she reassures me with a soft smile, the look of adoration in her eyes aimed at me almost taking my breath away.
“I do need to go, as much as I hate it,” I start. “I don’t have any work clothes here, and since I have to stop at home, I’m going to be late if I don’t leave now,” I finish on a kiss and let her go, putting on my now-dry clothes from yesterday, then watch as she finishes getting dressed in her Second Chances T-shirt and skintight jeans—ones all I can imagine is peeling back off of her.
“Don’t look at me like that, or neither of us will be leaving this room anytime soon,” she warns, wagging her finger at me.
I chuckle when a muffled voice yells from the next room, “For the love of God, please don’t start back up again. My vibrator is dead, and I really don’t need live-action porn at 6:45 in the morning.”
I laugh, and Avery’s face goes red as she whips open her bedroom door to reveal Morgan standing there, her hip cocked and a bright smile on her face as she stares back at the two of us.
“As happy as I am about this reunion—and trust me, I’m thrilled—can we please be PG until after 8 in the morning?” she muses.
“Sorry, Morgan,” Avery says, giggling.
I move up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist and drawing her back to me until her back isflush to my chest. Morgan tracks the movement, her eyes getting bigger and her smile getting impossibly wider.
“So you’re back together? Thank goodness. I was getting exhausted trying to throw the two of you together,” Morgan comments.
“What do you mean?” Avery responds accusingly. I imagine her eyebrow is raised as she stares down her best friend, who apparently moonlights as a secret agent trying to push us together and into the same place over the past couple months. Several moments pop into my head that must have been orchestrated by Morgan, my head dipping in thanks to her for butting into our relationship.
“Yes, we are back together,” I answer, ignoring Avery’s question to Morgan.
Avery’s head whips back to me, an imploring look on her face as she stares at me.
“I’m going to go so you guys can talk about this, okay, love you, bye,” Morgan mutters quickly, then dashes off to her room and closes the door.
“What do you mean?” Avery asks as she turns in my arms to look at me. I hold her to me, unable to let her go.
“I mean that we’re together again. I’m yours and you’re mine. I’m not letting you go again, Avery. Don’t ask me to,” I respond, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and cupping her cheek.
“So boyfriend and girlfriend?” she muses, those big baby blues staring up at me.
“You have always been my girlfriend, pretty girl. Even when we were apart,” I answer her.
