Then he steadied himself and carried her to her bed, kicking the door closed behind him and plunging the room into darkness. She reached out and hit the switch on her metal tree. A warm glow filled the room, and she saw him tugging at the hem of his shirt.
“No,” she told him, pushing up to her knees on the mattress so she could reach him. “I want to do that.”
And in the twinkling light of her little tree, Lucy unwrapped her gift. Her hands on his naked body might have been the worst idea ever, but it was a birthday she’d never forget.
* * *
Nick was glad this morning was limited to the final walk-through with the homeowner and getting a check because there was no way he could be trusted with power tools today.
His body was tired, though for an admittedly good reason. After making love, he and Lucy had gotten out of bed and eaten more of the delicious cake. Then they made love again before lying awake in the dark, talking about how chocolate and sugar at well past bedtime wasn’t a great idea. But they both confessed to having no regrets.
It was Nick’s mind spinning that was causing him problems. Spending the night in Lucy’s bed had been the best thing that ever happened to him. Allowing himself to do it was one of the worst ideas he’d ever had.
He already wanted to do it again, and resisting the urge wasn’t going to be easy.
Lucy had still been asleep when he’d left for work. After sliding as silently as possible out of her bed, he’d gone to his own room to get ready. Deciding whether or not to leave her a note had eaten up five minutes of his prework morning routine.
On the one hand, being gone when she woke up didn’t feel right. On the other, what would he say? It didn’t make sense to tell her he’d call her later. He’d be coming home later. She knew she’d see him. And a quick thank-you note feltreallywrong.
In the end, realizing he was going to be late to the jobsite had made the decision for him, and he’d tried not to overthink it while following the very picky homeowner around the finished house.
Finally, large check in hand, Nick was able to get in his truck and leave that job behind him. They’d be starting a new one tomorrow, but for now—thanks to Gray’s meticulous attention to detail keeping the homeowner from coming up with a punch list of his own—they all got the rest of the day off.
Since Lucy was only working weekends at the Keel now, her car was in the driveway when he pulled in. He wasn’t sure what to expect when he went inside, and he was dreading the possibility she was upset he’d left without saying goodbye or at least leaving a note.
Lucy was sitting sideways on the couch, with only one light blanket over her legs. When he walked through the door, she looked up and smiled. Then, putting her pen between the pages to hold her place, she closed the notebook she’d been writing in and set it on the table.
“How did it go?” she asked, sounding totally like herself and not at all upset.
“Good. We got paid and now it’s on to the next job.” He stepped out of his boots and walked to the fridge. Going straight to the food seemed a better play than hovering in the doorway, unsure of whether she’d expect him to go over and kiss her hello or not. “I’m starving and we have the rest of the day off, so I came home for lunch.”
“You probably won’t be surprised to hear that I ate the rest of the cake for breakfast.”
He chuckled, opening the deli meat drawer. “I was pretty sure you would, so I didn’t get my heart set on it. You want a sandwich?”
“It was abigslice of cake.”
Nick shook his head and then grabbed a beefsteak tomato out of the crisper drawer. His parents used to argue about whether or not tomatoes were meant to be kept in the fridge, but he kept them there because that was where he always found them when he was a kid. He still didn’t know if his mom was right, but she’d clearly won all of the arguments.
After he’d made himself a couple of bologna and tomato sandwiches—with extra mayo, of course—he pulled out a chair and sat at the table. Lucy joined him, sitting in her usual seat, and sifted idly through the mail he’d grabbed on his way in.
Because he was trying not to stare at her while his brain tried to navigate how to handle last night, Nick looked around the kitchen at anything but her. And then he spotted the list on the fridge.
“You should have a bite of this,” he said, holding up half of one of the sandwiches.
She looked up from a sales flyer and wrinkled her nose. “No thanks.”
“It’s on our shenanigans list,” he reminded her. “One bite, so we can cross it off.”
“Oh,” she said, pointing at him. “So now it’sweandour, but I never agreed to it going on the list in the first place.”
“One bite.”
“Fine.” She got up and walked around to his side of the table, plopping down in the chair next to him.
When he extended the sandwich, he thought Lucy would take it from him. Instead, she leaned closer and took a decent-sized bite while he held it. Initially, her nose wrinkled again, but after chewing it thoroughly and swallowing, she didn’t look disgusted by it at all.
“It’s good, isn’t it?”
