AllFreeNovel
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Honestly,Ideserveamedal for my self-control. Once we got inside the house Lucy heads straight for the couch and grabs her laptop. Apparently, she’s got an idea for her second book. I turn on the TV and flip through some channels while she works—her back against the opposite side of the couch and her feet in my lap. It’s the kind of domestic simplicity I didn’t realize I’d been craving. She hums along to whatever she’s listening to on her AirPods, while I hold her ankle loosely through the blanket over her legs, my arm stretched on the back of the couch.
“I’m hungry,” she declares, startling me.
“Okay, what do you want?”
She scrunches her nose and taps her chin in the most adorable way, the light from her laptop making her eyes practically glow.
“Pizza,” she says with a nod.
“Pizza it is. Want me to call it in for delivery or do you want to go out?”
She looks at my feet in her lap and snuggles deeper into the couch, making me laugh.
“Delivery sounds good.”
I gently lift her legs off me and place them on the couch, standing up and placing one hand on the cushion by her head and the other on the one by her hip. She looks up at me with wide eyes and slightly parted lips. I kiss her lightly on the forehead and she hums appreciatively. Where’s that self-control medal I was talking about?
“I’ll call it in, be right back.”
“M’kay.”
She puts her earbuds back in and I step outside on the back deck to call in our pizza. Once that’s done, I walk inside and lean against the door, my arms crossed over my chest as I watch Lucy. She’s scrolling through what she’s written so far, her bottom lip tucked between her teeth.
I step a little closer, trying not to gain her attention as I read a little over her shoulder. One of the characters says something funny and I can’t help but let out a strangled laugh. I immediately step back and clamp a hand over my mouth, but apparently, I was standing too close and Lucy hears me. She slams her laptop shut and rises on her arms, whirling around to face me.
“You were reading it!” she accuses.
I hold my hands up and take a few steps back. “I was. But not much, and only for, like, max five minutes.”
“Five minutes?” she shrieks, standing up. “A lot can be read in five minutes.”
I realize now isn’t exactly the time to goad her, but she looks so cute standing in front of the couch with her hands on her hips and her hair up in a wild bun, eyes glaring at me and lips in a hard, thin line.
“Believe me, I know.” I smirk.
She furrows her brow, and I am almost ninety percent sure the woman just growled at me. She’s gone feral. I take a few more steps back as she rounds the couch and stalks toward me.
“How much did you read?”
“Is it too late to say nothing?” I wonder innocently.
“Yes,” she hisses.
“Right, thought so.” I rub the back of my neck.
“How much, Wyatt?”
“I was bound to read it eventually, Luce. You have to know that. I am incredibly proud of you, and I plan on buying like ten copies and creating a million different emails to leave reviews. Just like I’m going to do with the first one, which, by the way, I have already read. And you didn’t freak out about that one.”
She bites her lip and stops advancing on me as her toes meet mine and my back hits the wall. She pulls the sleeves of her sweater down over hands and stares at our feet, her cheeks flushing.
“I’m not ready for you to read it yet,” she whispers.
“Why?” I wonder.
“Because . . .” She takes a deep breath and lifts her head, her eyes meeting mine. “I had a plan, okay? And you’re messing it up, so stop.”
I swallow my laughter and cross my arms over my chest. “A plan, you say?”
