Page 100 of Northern Twilight


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My phone pinged.

Still at my parents. Been helping Dad with work project. Meet me here?

I should be grateful my boyfriend and Dad had eased up and were letting me go places by myself this week, considering everyone was on edge about the break-in. Especially as the police hadn’t gotten in touch about the CCTV footage yet. Instead, I was agitated. Despite Lewis’s weak protests, I’d moved into the guest bedroom.

Waking up to realize my boyfriend was taking care of himself in the bathroom instead of making love to me, I’d been hurt.

I knew we’d talked about taking it slow, but I was beginning to wonder if there wasn’t more to it. Lewis was serious about sex. It was important to him. Not that it wasn’t important to me, but it obviously wasn’t good for him unless emotions were involved.And I got that. Sex with Lewis was explosive, and I think it was because of how we felt for each other.

But did that mean he didn’t want to have sex because he still didn’t trust me with his emotions?

That’s not how he made me feel otherwise, and it was confusing the heck out of me. I mean, he got me pregnant, for goodness’ sake, so it wasn’t like he couldn’t have sex when our emotions were up in the air!

Last night he’d gone and dropped the surprise that he was taking me on dates three and four from my teenage list of dream dates: We were going to Edinburgh to the theater (he wouldn’t tell me what play) and to visit the National Museum. He’d booked us into the Scotsman Hotel and had planned this lush weekend getaway. I assumed he’d only booked one room, which was kind of a problem since I’d moved out of his bedroom to give him space.

The fact that I felt like I was coming out of my own skin didn’t help. Every inch of me prickled with awareness when I was near him or even when just thinking about him. I had goose bumps, hard nipples, and slickness between my thighs on a regular basis. I’d eventually googled it and apparently, it was not unusual to be extremely horny late in the first trimester and during the second.

Last night, I’d taken care of myself in my lonely guest bedroom and was louder than I intended when I came. This morning, Lewis had watched me with a brooding intensity that made me want to jump him.

We needed to talk about it before I combusted all over him.

The plan was to broach the subject with maturity and calm.

However, after my decision to talk to Lewis about our non-sex life, he kept us so long at his parents’ house, I had no option but to head straight to bed when we got home. Then I was up at three a.m., so there was no time then either.

Lewis was at work when I returned to the house in the afternoon. The security system hadn’t been installed yet, and I’d promised not to be home alone without him, but I needed a nap.

An ache filled my chest as I wandered into the primary suite instead of the guest room. Lewis had made the bed, but I found myself kicking off my flats and getting in on his side. I wrapped my arms around his pillow, inhaling the scent of his aftershave and feeling a mix of desire and sadness.

The water from the moat around the house glimmered in the afternoon sun, and I let the peaceful magic of my surroundings lull me from my sadness into sleep.

I dreamed of Lewis. Of him slipping into the bed beside me and sliding his big man hand down my shorts, his thumb finding my clit.

I dreamed he fucked me until I was hoarse.

A sound jolted me out of sleep, and I blinked against the brightness of the room because I’d fallen asleep before I could lower the hidden blinds.

Footsteps on the staircase brought me out of my foggy, aroused state.

“Callie!”

Grumbling, I shoved out of the bed, hot and sweaty from the midday nap and the dreams.

“Coming!” I called and then winced at my poor choice of words. “Or not,” I muttered.

Lewis was at the fridge, a glass pressed to the built-in cold-water dispenser. He scowled at me as I reached the top of the stairs and stepped into the living space. “You said you wouldn’t come here alone.”

I glowered right back. “I needed a nap.”

Instantly, his face fell. “Why? Are you okay?”

Not in the mood for his mixed signals, I huffed impatiently and moved into the kitchen to grab my own glass of water. “I’m fine. I was up early so I needed a nap.”

“Are you … pissed off at me for some reason?”

“Nope.”

“You sound pissed off.”