I keep going till I can hear her breathing settle. Pull my mouth away from her, and stand up. I try to discreetly adjust myself, but my light gray sweats do a shit job at hiding the mess I made.
“Oh,” Sutton says. “You?—”
“Came from getting you off. Sounds about right.” I sigh-laugh.
“Has that…uh…has that happened before?”
“Never.”
That appears to make her happy. I lean in and kiss her, addicted to the feel and taste. Sutton smiles against me.
I grab some paper towels and wet them, turning back to Sutton. Once she’s cleaned up and dressed, we head out, grabbing the duffle stuffed with our rain-soaked clothes and head to my car. I leave two twenties on the table.
“The rain stopped. Wanna put the top down?”
“Yeah, why not.
“Want to come upstairs?”Sutton asks me as I pull into the guest parking spot at her apartment, cutting the ignition.
It’s past midnight. My night of her being mine technically over, but I don’t argue. I open the door for her and scoop her into a piggyback ride when she wobbles.
I end up staying the night unintentionally.
We stay up late into the morning on the couch talking. A movie plays in the background, but it’s nothing more than white noise, neither of us able to pull our attention off of each other.
We talk for hours. Recounting stories from our shared childhood, moments in college we missed or were on opposite sides of the room to avoid each other. Every few minutes, Sutton has to shush me, sometimes pushing a finger into my lips, then gesturing with her head, curls moving with her in the direction of Elliot’s room. I kiss her whenever I feel like it.
Sitting crisscross and turned toward each other, our knees bump. Our hands are occupied with a serious and never-ending game of thumb wrestling.
It’s almost four when she yawns the first time. When the movie ends, I carry a dozing Sutton to her bed.
“Stay,” she breathes out. Eyes shut peacefully, chest rising and falling after she drifts off.
I know I should leave, but I don’t. I selfishly walk around her bed and pull back the comforter. Her bed is comfortable, but it’s being next to her that has me falling asleep quickly and having the best three hours of sleep I’ve had in months.
I don’t expect anyone to be up when I get home, but walking into the kitchen, I find Jaxon and Dawson sitting over bowls of cereal—some new protein cereal that tastes like stale Cheerios, but Captain Nutrition approved us to eat.
“Well, well, well. Where have you been, young man?” Dawson asks jokingly.
Jax laughs around a big bite, a strawberry falling from the spoon.
I pull a bowl from the cabinet and grab the yogurt from the fridge instead. Layering it with berries and peanut butter while they stare at me.
“Don’t worry,” Jaxon finally breaks their silence. “I tracked his location. He was at Sutton and Elliot’s, and we both know it wasn’t for Elliot.”
“Did you and Red have a sleepover?”
“Or was she trapping you there against your will? Roasting you to an inch of your life.”
“We watched a movie, and I fell asleep.”
“Uh-huh.” They make eyes at each other and leave it at that.
TWENTY-EIGHT
COOPER
Refraining from touchingSutton might be the death of me, especially when she’s two feet away from me and chewing on the end of a pen. Neither of us set rules. Neither of us defined what happened the other night. Neither of us have tried to make another move.
