Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77717 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77717 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Lauren stretches her arm, fingers brushing my bicep. I tense. There is no way I can sleep like this when all I can think about is parting Lauren’s legs and diving in between.
“Can you, uh, move over?” I ask.
“It’s okay if you touch me,” she says. “But not like that,” she adds before I can make a pass. There is no middle ground. If I’m touching Lauren, it’s leading to something. I bring my arms close to my body, figuring I’ll just stay like that until I fall asleep. Lauren laughs. “You’ve never just literally slept in bed with someone before, have you?”
“Nope,” I tell her. “I’ve never stayed the night with someone like this either. Especially someone I’m attracted to. This is weird.”
Lauren laughs again and moves her pillow, scooting closer to me. “Here,” she says and rests her head on my chest. I swallow hard, feeling something rise inside me, something other than desire.
“I don’t like to cuddle,” I say out loud. “But this is nice.” It feels right. Holding Lauren like this, innocently, softly, brings me a sense of content I never thought I’d feel. “Your no-sex rules includes blowjobs, doesn’t it?” I ask, joking. Though I wouldn’t turn one down.
“Sorry to disappoint, but yeah, those are out.”
“That’s what I thought. Just checking.” My eyes close and I rest my head against hers. “Have you told anyone else?”
“No. I want to wait until the first trimester is over. Which is only about a month away now.”
“Fuck, that sounds scary. I thought we had more time to figure this parent shit out.”
She chuckles. “I don’t know if I ever will.”
“You’ll be a good mom.”
“I hope so.”
She doesn’t return it with a “you’ll be a good dad.” Because she doesn’t know. I want to be angry with her, but I share her doubt.
“There’s a lot I don’t know,” she says.
“I don’t think anyone is fully ready. We’ll get it. Together.”
She holds me tighter. “Together. I like that.”
Oh, Lauren … if only you knew how much I’ve wanted to be together, what I would have given to make you mine.
My arms are still around Lauren when I wake up. Her dogs have joined us in bed, and we’re all crammed together like one big happy family. I’m uncomfortable, and the arm Lauren is laying on is all pins and needles, but I don’t dare move.
I kind of love this.
“Morning,” I say to Lauren when she opens her eyes. Her hair is a mess and there are pillow crease along her cheek. I reach over and brush her hair out of her face.
“Morning,” she says back and runs her hand up my arm. “This is a different kind of waking up together.”
“Very different. Is that bad?”
She smiles. “Not at all.”
I kiss her forehead. “Good.”
We stay wrapped up together for a few more minutes, then Lauren gets up to use the bathroom. After, she lets the dogs out and offers to make breakfast. I go into the kitchen with her, and together we make pancakes and eggs.
“This is new to you too, isn’t it?” she asks when we sit at the table.
“Eating breakfast with someone? Yeah, it is. But it’s nice. I would say I should have done this years ago, but I probably wouldn’t have had it with you.”
She smiles and a bit of color rushes to her cheeks. “Are you busy today?”
I shake my head. “I usually go to the gym with Colin in the morning on the weekend, but I’ve been avoiding him.”
“He won’t stay mad at you forever.”
“We’ll see. Are you busy the rest of today?”
“No.”
“Do you want to do something together?”
Her smile returns. “I would like that. Any ideas?”
“I don’t care as long as it’s with you.”
“This counts as our second date, right?” I ask Lauren. We dropped her dogs off at the dog park—doggie day care is a real thing and Lauren utilizes it all the time—and stopped for lunch at a small diner. “It should, and then I’ll only have to take you out one more time until I get some.”
Lauren laughs, grabbing a French fry. “I change it to three formal dates then.”
“What, this isn’t fancy enough for you? Come on, I’ll take you to Taco Bell tonight. Bam. Three dates done and over with and we can make another baby.”
She laughs again and shakes her head. “That’s not funny. And don’t tempt me, Noah.”
I wiggle my eyebrows. “So you’re thinking about it.”
“I’m thinking about tacos, not it.”
“Liar.”
She purses her lips. “Fine. I might be thinking about it, but only because of hormones.”
I lean back and run my hands over my chest. “You want this.”
“Stop it!” she laughs and looks around. “People can see you!”
“Right, right. I don’t want to tempt those old ladies over there.”
“Hey, I hear they give pretty good blowjobs when they take out their dentures.”