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I grinned. “Even when I crack my head open on your counter?”
“Okay, maybe we could avoid a repeat of that one.” He shifted me so I came off of him and then I stretched out along his body, tucked between him and the plush couch.
I sighed, contented, and melted into his arms. I was a limp noodle of pleasure.
He played with my hair idly, smoothing it away from my face and scraping his nails along my scalp like the world’s best hairdresser massage. “You really are stunning, Laurel. Everything about you makes me want to just… steal you away. Keep you here. Keep you all to myself and wrap you in bubble wrap so you don’t get hurt anymore.”
“Mnh,” I said, my eyes falling shut as the cloudy afternoon fell into hazy gray mist outside the windows around us.
He squeezed me tight to him. “No, you don’t. We’re going to eat dinner. I thought you said you like food.”
“I like you,” I muttered sleepily.
He chuckled. “Ah, Miss Brook. You’re unraveling me.”
I was the one who had been unraveled. The tightly coiled, knotted mess of my body and heart had suddenly been looped over Lachlan’s hands, and it was like he held every thread of my happiness. It was the most wonderful, terrifying feeling.
Nineteen
Laurel
It shouldn’t have surprised me that Lachlan had prepped an amazing dinner ahead of time, or that he was a fantastic cook. He was racking up a tab I’d never be able to pay back. It should have scared me more, but as we sat on his bed eating lemon chicken and quinoa (yes, it was delicious), and he forced me to eat salad (also amazing), I couldn’t find it in my heart to care. The anxious part eased away, and we discovered a shared love of mocking zombies in apocalyptic movies.
Lachlan had also bought me a nightgown, apparently, which he dangled in front of me as I sat wrapped in a sheet with our empty plates in front of me. I eyed the blue, silky strip of cloth with wide eyes. “You bought me lingerie?”
Lachlan cocked his head, considering the nightgown. “Babe, if I buy you lingerie, there will not be this much fabric.”
I snorted. “Okay, but you anticipated a sleepover.”
“So did you,” he pointed out as he wrapped the soft nightgown around my shoulders like a scarf. “Which is why you aren’t trying to go home to get Calla to bed right now.”
He had me there. With a dignified lift of my chin, I took the nightgown, but stood from the sheets totally naked. Lachlan sucked in a breath through his nose. Grinning, I bounced off the bed and sashayed to the bathroom with my phone, intending to check on Calla and wash up a bit before putting on the pretty, lacy gown.
I texted my mom to make sure Calla had gotten to bed alright, and then I looked up and saw the toothbrush I’d used the last time I’d been there. It was upright in a black ceramic dish right next to Lachlan’s. Looking at our toothbrushes, so benign and mundane, his electric and fancy-looking, and mine soft and purple… my brain short-circuited. It did the thing I’d been trying to avoid since the moment I’d seen him in the ER.
I imagined. I wondered what it would be like ifthiswith him could be real and not just a temporary fling. I added a pink pony toothbrush to the picture, and my heart did somersaults.
As I slipped the nightgown over my body, marveling at how soft and slightly stretchy the fabric felt on my skin, my phone made a telltale fart sound. I glanced at the screen. I’d been ignoring Jason’s texts for a week, now. I let him Facetime Calla as they both requested, but I didn’t bother talking to him on a personal level. And it had been so freeing.
I swiped up on the screen and tossed his message aside, whatever it was. Then a text from my mom came through, and she assured me that I could enjoy my night with my doctor. With a winky face. Gag. I mean, she was right, butgag.
I had barely opened the bathroom door before Lachlan had snatched me to the hard planes of his torso. He fitted my ass against his erection and his fingers did a clever dance across the silk fabric over my nipples. I groaned, letting my head fall forward. I hung my weight on his strong forearm. “Lach, I literally just put clothes on.”
“I don’t know why,” he murmured. He swept my hair off my neck and dropped a kiss on my exposed neck. “I shouldn’t have bothered. New dress code.”
“Hm?” I asked, already half-dazed by his hands and mouth.
“No clothing. Ever.”
I laughed. “Sounds practical.”
Lachlan picked me up under his arm like a bag of mulch. I squeaked in protest, but he ignored me, carrying me straight back to the bed. “I’m not practical. I’m selfish. Are you taking it off, or am I?”
I chuckled as he tossed me onto the bed. He really didn’t have to ask twice.
* * *
Moonlight slanted through the small basement apartment window above the kitchen sink. I leaned against the counter, letting the edge of it dig into the small of my back, hoping it would wake me from my nightmare.
