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“To get you some water.”
He walked into the kitchen and as he stood at the fridge with the glass under the icemaker, he glanced around. A few hours ago, this room was filled with kids and laughter, now he stood in it naked after one of the hottest sixty-nine sessions of his life.
It felt…balanced. Right. Sort of like this was what life was supposed to be like. That thought immediately made him uncomfortable so he did his best to shake it off.
When he walked back into the bedroom, he found Laura lying curled up on the bed, her mouth was open and she was snoring quietly. She looked like an angel.
He set the water down, slid into bed beside her, pulled her against him and closed his eyes. As he drifted off to sleep the same feeling returned to him that he’d had in the kitchen moments before. This, being with Laura like this, was everything he never knew he always needed. She was his home.
22
The distinct aromaof bacon drifted through the air. That was the first conscious thought Laura had before she pried her heavy lids open. Out of habit, she reached out and grabbed her phone from the nightstand. Her blurred vision made it impossible for her to read the time. But she did notice that she had multiple notifications. Texts and calls.
She rubbed her eyes as she sat up and realized that bacon wasn’t the only thing she was smelling; she also inhaled the distinctive aroma of coffee. Her eyesight wasn’t the only thing that was fuzzy; her brain was foggier than a mirror after a hot shower in winter.
Phone still in hand, she pushed up to a sitting position, dragged her heavy legs off the side of the bed, and looked around. She was in her room. There were men’s jeans on the floor.
Knox. He was here.
The past three days flashed in her mind like a blur. The kids. Him staying and helping. The kids leaving. The dancing. The shower. The sixty-nining. That was the last thing she remembered.
They’d had sex, but not for the reason they’d agreed upon. Even though she knew that reason was really just an excuse for her to have hot, no-strings-attached sex before she settled down into motherhood,hedidn’t know that.
So what was last night about? And why had he stayed to help her with her nieces and nephews?
She’d accepted his help because, come on, what person in their right mind would turn down help when they were babysitting eight children? As the realization of the past few days through the lens of having slept revealed itself, panic rose in her like a wave at high tide, then crashed over her, sucking her beneath its strong current.
She’d fallen in love with Knox. They’d been playing house. They’d been intimate purely for pleasure’s sake, not for reproductive goals. They’d gotten too intimate.
Her phone fell on the mattress as she scrambled out of bed. She pulled on her sweats, and the first thing she saw was his T-shirt. She grabbed her phone and saw that she’d missed several calls from her family. Her mom and all of her sisters had called. She had fifteen missed text messages as well. As she scrolled through them, she noted that they were all asking about Knox.
Apparently, the kids had been talking up a storm about him. He was a hit with her nieces and nephews, and everyone wanted to know what was going on between the two of them.
She shot back a few messages saying that he was renting the apartment above the shop, and he stopped by to let her know something about the plumbing. He saw that she had her hands full, and he helped her out in her time of need.
Even as she sent the texts, she doubted her family would buy that, but they had no evidence to the contrary. And, thankfully, Laura hadn’t made it a habit of lying to her family. In fact, this was the first time her nose would be growing as if she were Pinocchio.
Her personal life had always been an open book. Full transparency. For better or, more often than not, worse, she’d never kept anything a secret.
She was still looking down at her phone when she noticed the light on her screen came on, but no sound came out. It was on silent. That had to be why she hadn’t been woken up by so many messages.
Had Knox put her phone on silent?
What if there was an emergency?
He couldn’t do that.
This "fling," this "last hoorah," had definitely gone too far.
Without bothering to put on pants, her bare feet slapped along the hardwood as she marched down the hallway toward the kitchen. Music played through the Bluetooth speakers, and her heart clenched at the memory of being in his arms the night before as he guided them around the kitchen.
Moisture pooled in her lower lids, but she wiped the unshed tears away and told herself to suck it up. She could breakdown later. Now, she needed to end this.
When she entered the kitchen, she stopped up short as she drank in the sight of Knox shirtless, wearing only dark gray sweats that molded to his backside. Never in her life would she get tired of looking at that view. The man was physical perfection, which would be bad enough on its own.
The fact that he was also honest, hardworking, funny, great with kids, kind, thoughtful...
No, she cut herself off.
