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“That was not nothing.”
“No.” I’m still laughing. “It really wasn’t.”
“Was that a no?”
The question quiets me. Not because I don’t know the answer.
Because I do. I should probably give myself twenty-four hours to reassess this entire situation. Consider the ethics. Consider the consequences. Consider whether sleeping with a man who has been alive since Friday has already moved beyond questionable judgment into territory that requires its own committee. Instead, I tighten my fingers around his.
“No,” I say. “That wasn’t a no.”
Kell smiles.
“Good.”
“You’re very confident for someone who discovered sex tonight.”
“I learned fast.”
“That is unfortunately true.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Go to sleep, Kell.”
His smile stays exactly where it is. I close my eyes before he can say anything else.
His hand is still wrapped around mine, and the thought of waking up with it there refuses to fit into any category I know what to do with. We stay this way for a while, but neither of us suggests he sleep here. When I finally start getting ready for bed, Kell goes back to the guest room as naturally as if the question has already been settled.
I’m relieved. Sex is one thing, but waking up beside someone is something else entirely.
Sensible Laura is going to have several objections in the morning. She can file them then. Because God help me, tomorrow suddenly sounds like an excellent idea.
Chapter Eleven
Kell
Laura is dressed for work when I come downstairs Wednesday morning. Not completely. Her shoes are beside the kitchen table, and she is putting in her second earring while she stands at the counter waiting for her coffee, but the dark pants, blue blouse, and the way she has arranged her hair all mean the same thing.
“You’re going to work.”
She turns from the coffee maker. “That is generally what happens on Wednesdays.”
“What about sex?”
Her fingers stop at her ear. I wait while she finishes pushing the earring through, although she does it more slowly than she did the first one.
“What about it?”
“You said tomorrow.”
A laugh escapes her. “You really did mean tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know why I’m surprised.”
I don’t either. Last night she said tomorrow, and today is tomorrow. Standing here with her in front of me brings back what her body felt like under my hands and around mine. The rhythm deep in my chest has already changed.
