I lean a hip on the counter, cross my arms over my chest. “You’re holding it for three minutes and then breaking the news to me, gently.”
He checks his watch.
I check him out.
He eyes me while also eyeing his watch.
I check him out even harder.
“Stop that,” he murmurs, now entirely focused on his watch. “You’re distracting me from my time keeping.”
“I’m just standing here,” I retort. “Can’t even stand in my own bathroom anymore.”
He snorts. “More like eating me with your eyes.”
A laugh escapes my feigned outrage. “I don’t think that means what you think it means.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he responds. “Time’s up.”
I grimace, suddenly feeling like I’m going to vomit. He reaches for my hand, tugs me closer, wraps his arm around my back. “It’s going to be okay, Cass. Regardless of what this test shows, it’s going to be okay.”
I nod, even though it doesn’t make me feel any better. He goes to say something else but I motion to the test he’s still holding in his hand. “Get on with it, then.”
He glances at it quickly then sets it down on the counter on the other side of him. “What do you want it to be? Truly?”
Torn, I shake my head and shrug at the same time. He gives me a stern look, crosses his arms over his chest just to remind me that bossy Ren is still here. “I don’t think I’m ready. At least not today.”
He takes my hand again, this time pulling me in front of him so we’re both facing the mirror. “Then I have good news.”
My eyes close, my breath catching in my throat. I meant it when I said I wasn’t ready today, but that didn’t prepare me for the odd feeling of relieved sadness that falls over me.
He gives me a little squeeze, so I open my eyes, nodding. “It’s for the best right now.”
“If you want to give yourself adequate time, then we should use birth control.”
I make a face, suddenly exhausted but knowing we need to figure it out at some point.
“You don’t have to make any decisions right now, Cass,” Ren says softly, his hands resting over my stomach. “I know I joke about not getting any younger, but there’s no rush. We do things whenever you’re ready and not a moment before.”
“And if I’m never ready?”
“Then you’re never ready,” he answers easily. “And I never have to share you with anyone else, ever.”
I smile at him in the mirror, lean my head back against his shoulder as I think over all that has happened.
The heartache. The confusion. The pain.
The excitement. The joy. The love.
Sighing, I allow myself to enjoy the weight of his arms around me, the warmth of his breath on my neck when he lowers his head. The twinkle of mischief in his gaze when he lifts his head and winks at me in the mirror.
“We could,” I whisper, turning in his arms, my hands going to the back of his neck. “Go back to the deal.”
His eyes narrow, but his hands move to my waist then slide to my back, coming to a rest right above my ass. “You gonna try to leave me?”
I roll my eyes in response to his idiotic question and then choose to ignore it entirely. “Especially that part about the free use.”
“Free use?” he mutters, suddenly looking interested.
