“Don’t stop,” he whispered, his jaw clenched. “Keep going, baby.”
The silence that followed was short-lived, but said so very much.
She tried not to let the word mean anything. Tried not to let it soak into her skin or tickle her ribs. Tried not to blush as she broke apart around him, her climax definitely not attached to the thrill of being his baby, if only for a second.
Milo was right behind her, his face buried in her hair. If they both stayed completely still, they could pretend it didn’t happen. If neither of them looked at the other, they’d never have to admit how right it all felt.
Hanna leaned her head into his shoulder, her eyes fixed on the shelves beside them as she caught her breath.
“What’s that?” she asked, pulling at a piece of paper sticking out from between the wood of the bar and the drywall. An old Polaroid broke loose and she flipped it over as he brushed her hair over her shoulder with his eyes still closed.
“Is this your mom?” she said, a faded old image of a young woman standing in front of the bar, her hair falling in long dark waves, teased to hell and back. Milo snagged the photo from her hands.
“It is,” he laughed. “Dad must have stashed it back here.”
Neither of them pointed out the bright yellow sunflower emblazoned across her cropped shirt as they sat in the silence for another moment.
FIFTEEN
“So, about tonight,” Milo said over his eggs and bacon at the cafe.
They’d spent most of the night in his bed, watching old movies, and then not watching old movies.
Her ears perked up. “Sara texted me this morning, she confirmed Logan is going to the Giants game with us.”
“That’s okay. I can keep my hands to myself for a few hours. I figured I’d work from the office today and let you have the apartment to actually get some work done.” He smiled, and she giggled. They were both severely behind on their respective projects. “But maybe we could sneak away for a nightcap after?”
“That works for me,” she said between pancake bites.
“Great. And then tomorrow night I made a seven o’clock reservation for dinner.” He didn’t look at her as he said it.
She set her fork down.
“Don’t panic, Arizona. Just go with it, okay?”
She tried not to shake her head at the risk of alerting him to the spiral he’d ignited. It was just sex. All of it was just sex.
Until it wasn’t. In the bar the day before, they'd stayed together, frozen in a loaded silence, for far too long. It was all she'd thought about and, approximately every thirteen seconds, his voice rang out against her skull, whispering baby, baby, baby.
And if she spent one more second wondering about whatever was between them now, or where their time box stood, she was going to freak out.
“I gotta go.” Milo pushed his plate toward her, knowing that she wanted his fruit, and leaned forward to kiss her quickly. The boldness in public sent a thrill down her spine. “I’ve got a closet full of Giants shit if you want to borrow something.”
“Bye,” she tried to say casually as he leaned in for another kiss, but nothing about it was casual.
A moment after she watched him leave, her phone buzzed against the pink table.
DO NOT ANSWER
Hey, you at the cafe this morning?
It took everything in her not to respond that it was none of his damn business where she was, but it was decidedly easier for her to be nice after a night of panting against Milo’s neck.
HANNA
Yes?
DO NOT ANSWER
