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SADIE
Lying sprawled out across Drew’s chest, I lazily explored his abs—my fingers coasting across the ridges and dipping in and out of the valleys—while his idle fingers ran through my hair. The sun peeked through the curtains, although neither one of us were ready to start our day. We lingered in a half-asleep state cocooned in blankets.
We’d passed out, woken up, and reached for one another three more times in the middle of the night. Despite it being the first time Drew had sex without his leg, he quickly mastered topping from the bottom. To call last night incredible would be a massive understatement. It was one of the most intimate and intense experiences of my life. I was left raw and vulnerable but renewed at the same time.
I considered myself pretty well-adjusted, all things considered. But one night of soul-connecting sex with Drew had accomplished more than years of therapy ever had.
The question now was, what version of him would I get this morning? Had he taken everything we said last night to heart, or was he going to have all his walls raised again and go back to business as usual?
A stone sank in my belly.
My phone buzzed from the pile of clothes on the floor.
“That thing has been going off for the last forty minutes.” He grumbled the words into the crown of my head and his sleep-rough voice had me ready for round five.
Buzz.
I let out an annoyed whine that was muffled by his broad chest.
Buzz.
“So not ready for the outside world right now.”
“Come on,” he said, sitting up and grabbing a clean sleeve-thing for his leg out of his nightstand. “I’ve gotta piss and you can let everyone know you’re alive and well and to leave you the fuck alone.” He grabbed his prosthetic off the floor and slid it on before walking over to the pile of my clothes and fishing out my phone.
His eyebrows rose when he took in the number of notifications on the screen.
“Popular lady.” He tossed it to me then sauntered to the door and threw a dirty smile over his shoulder. “Take care of all that. Then we can crawl back under the covers and spend the rest of the day in bed.”
All my nerve endings lit up in excitement. I was awake and ready to tackle the day now.
Scrolling through my phone, I winced at the number of missed calls and unread texts. I had a voicemail from my parents, who’d realized what the date was around midnight last night. My dad left a message apologizing for calling so late and said he hoped I was hanging in there. I shot a text off to him to let him know I was on an assignment, doing fine, and I’d talk to him later.
There was a message from Eirin reminding me I had two more days to get my pieces to her. Scrolled right on by that one. I’d already decided how I was going to handle my rewrite of the Everett piece—it was just a matter of pulling the trigger and sending her a revised version. As far as the relationship article went, I was still working out my strategy on that one, but I knew I couldn’t write about Drew.
Ward had sent a series of messages saying he hoped I was doing all right but also to call him when I was able to because a bunch of “sketchy suits” had been in the office the other day and he thought Eirin was on the brink of selling HypeKey or something. I wanted to spill everything about last night, but I didn’t even know how to sum up my feelings, and I didn’t have enough time to call him before Drew got back from the bathroom.
Sadie: I’m amazing. Got big news but can’t talk right now. I’ll call you later. Promise.
Ward: Girl, you better. Shit is getting weird over here.
I ignored the swell of anxiety his message caused. Even if Eirin sold HypeKey, a deal like that had to take months, right? I just needed to hang on to this job through next month. If everything was clear on my next checkup, then I’d have time to find a new job and new insurance.
“What’s this face about?” Drew leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, as if it was totally natural that he stood there in all his naked glory for me to see.
My brain short-circuited at the sight, especially the tapered vee between his hips leading down to the promised land that was usually hidden away under a waistband.
“Huh?” I asked.
With a self-satisfied grin, he stalked over to the bed and sat down next to me. He pressed his index finger into the furrow between my brows. “What’s going on? You were making your angry-concentration face a second ago.”
I huffed. “I don’t have an angry-concentration face.”
“You do, and it’s cute.” He booped my nose. “Now, am I going to have to take your phone away or are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
“I’m sure it’s fine.” I sighed. “My coworker said there’s some weird stuff going down at work, but my job is kind of weird at baseline. It’s nothing to worry about.”
He sobered at my mention of work. When I’d asked him about Axel Everett after our first night together, had he been hiding the truth like the rest of the town? The idea sent a jab of hurt through me. But it wasn’t fair to assume without giving him a chance to defend himself.
