I throw her a brazen look. “Want me to kick you out at the speed of light?” I tease.
She finds my antics humorous enough. “Well, it’s been fun.” She swings her legs to the edge of the bed and drags the blankets with her.
Okay, she’s leaving? Meaningless sex, right?
When she stands, she has a sly smirk on her mouth when she glances over her shoulder at me. “Gotcha.” She’s joking with me.
Getting out of bed while shaking my head, I walk to my dresser to find a pair of sweatpants, meanwhile Lainey gives up on trying to fix the zipper I broke on the side of her dress.
“Want a coffee?”
“Tempting, but I actually need to go shower, change, and pick up Enzo at 10.”
“You could shower here if you want,” I offer.
She wiggles her finger side to side. “Nuh-uh. I’ll never leave then.”
A cocky grin hits me instantly. “Ah, so Iamgood.”
Lainey bites her smile. “I mean, not bad.”
Rolling my shirt down over my body, I dangerously meet her eyes, and her little joke just won’t do this morning. “Guess I’ll have to try harder next time.”
Her breath gets caught somewhere inside of her. “Next time.” I can barely hear her, but I do. “So, there will be another time?” She sounds doubtful.
Taking another step closer to her, I refrain from shaking her because she already knows the answer. “Why not?”
“I guess we know what this is.” Her bottom lip is trapped between her teeth.
My hands land on her shoulders, and I direct her to turn. “Exactly.” Walking behind her, I lead her straight to my kitchen. “You don’t need to run away if that was actually what you were doing. Remember, I have decent coffee.”
“Okay, okay. You win.”
“I always win.” I’m not sure my vigor of an answer is about this or my natural hockey talk.
She giggles, either way.
My hands vacate her shoulders when we are in the middle of the kitchen, and I begin to think about the coffee machine but stop and catch her off guard with a kiss. One where she loses her balance, but I wrap my arms around her.
Fuck morning breath. We both had enough candy canes last night to keep our breath fresh until New Year’s. That means we don’t need to delay a morning kiss.
But we escalate, and next thing I know her hand sneaks between us and heads down to the waistband of my sweats because I’ve been hard since 0.02 seconds after kissing her, and her body is pressed against mine.
Our noses touch and our mouths part. Our breathing is heavy, and the urge to rush into throwing her over my shoulder and carrying her back to my bedroom runs strong.
However, I’ve been on Santa’s naughty list, which is why fate decided that my cell should start vibrating on my counter where I left it on the charger overnight.
I groan, but I feel Lainey smile against my mouth. “Go.” She pushes me slightly away.
“Not cool.”
Walking to my phone, I see the name on thescreen as clear as day, and I know that my mom will not relent. It will be a call, voicemail, text, then another try in about an hour.
I grumble a noise and bring the phone to my ear. “Yes?” I dryly greet her as I stare at Lainey.
“Ho-ho-ho to you too.” My mother is too cheery for me at this time of the morning.
Lainey must hear because she stifles a laugh.
