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“And I’m not planning to bolt because this feels intimate.”

“That’s also good.”

“I may leave eventually because I have work tomorrow and no clean clothes here.”

“That’s an acceptable reason.”

She laughs softly and tucks herself closer. I rest my cheek against the top of her head. There are things I could tell her. How good this feels. How much I’ve missed having her body warm against mine. I don’t need to say all of them at once. After a few minutes, Laura lifts her head. “You’re thinking.”

“Yes.”

“Loudly?”

“Not this time.”

“Progress.”

I kiss her forehead. She stays where she is for another minute before saying, “You don’t have to come home with me tonight just because we had sex.”

“I know.” I run my hand down her back. “I could come because I want to.”

Laura laughs. “You’re impossible.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I. But I think I want to stay here tonight.”

She pauses, then nods. “Okay.”

“I want to finish the portrait.”

She looks at me for a long moment, and I can tell she understands exactly why I need to finish it tonight.

“And tomorrow night, I want to sleep with you.”

“At my house?”

“Yes.”

“I’d like that.”

“So would I.”

She leans into me again, and we stay this way while the afternoon light moves slowly across the floor. Tomorrow night, I’ll sleep at Laura’s because I want to. Some nights I’ll sleep here because I want to. Neither choice has to mean I’m leaving the other behind.

Having somewhere else to go doesn’t feel like distance anymore. It feels like having a place of my own and still choosing to come home to her.

Epilogue

Six Days Later…

Laura

Kell is driving us to Rachel and Locke’s for a barbecue, his new learner’s permit in his wallet and me beside him. I’m still getting used to seeing him behind the wheel, not because he looks uncertain there, but because he doesn’t. One hand rests high on the steering wheel, the other loose near the gearshift, and for the last ten minutes he’s been quietly annoyed by a pickup crawling along ahead of us.

“You could pass him.”