“I can’t imagine how stressful that must be.”
“You’ll see. Wait until Addison and Avery get sick at the same time. That will be a test for you, young man.”
“I can’t wait.” Rafe sat up and stretched.
“Where are you going?”
“I was going to bed, but I think that’s the wrong answer.”
“Complete wrong answer.” Sloan leaned forward and kissed him on the mouth. “Will you cuddle me for a little while? I like the way I feel wrapped in your big strong muscles.”
“Oh yeah?”
Sloan laughed quietly as he made his pecs dance. “Come here.” Sloan climbed on top of him and settled her weight against his as he wrapped his arms around her.
“I missed you today,” she whispered as she peered into his blue eyes. “You know how when you click out of an app, but you don’t close it and it’s running in the background of your phone?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s kinda how my brain is when I’m operating. That’s the app at the forefront, but then all these other apps are running in the background. I feel like I’ve downloaded your app and it’s running in the background all day now.”
Rafe just stared at her, saying nothing. Sloan started giggling and the longer he stared, the harder she laughed. She buried her face in his shoulder and laughed uncontrollably.
“Sloan.”
She laughed even harder, shaking her head. She’d die from embarrassment before she looked him in the eye.
“Sloan.”
“I can’t.”
“Sloan.”
“No, I won’t. I refuse,” she said, even as she looked up anyway. “Do you understand that I could have said something so much cornier?”
“There was something worse?” he asked with a straight face.
“Oh, so much worse. I won’t tell you what exactly, but it does involve the word ‘giddy’.”
“I see,” he said, before his expression softened. He reached up and lightly ran his thumb over her cheek. “I thought about you all day.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. You were the only app at the front of my brain phone.”
“Yes, bitch. That’s just what I wanted to hear.” Sloan snuggled closer, taking in the warmth from his body. She didn’t really relax until he placed a few kisses on her face. They lay on the couch together, letting the Frasier rerun play until the end of the episode and then Sloan knew it was time to call it a night.
“Let me at least walk you to the stairs,” Rafe said, as he turned off the TV.
“You’re such a gentleman.” They crossed the living room, hand in hand, then Sloan climbed to the third step and turned to drape her arms over his shoulders. She still wasn’t eye to eye with him. “Goodnight,” she whispered.
He moved to the first step, pulled her closer and then he kissed her. Sloan had given her whole adolescence to studying medicine, but that didn’t stop her from dreaming of what it would be like to go on a date with a boy, have him bring her home and kiss her goodnight on her parents’ front porch. There had been plenty of times when she’d been bitter as hell about missing out on that. Instead, she’d jumped right to sneaking around with Drew, visiting him at his condo. But this, kissing Rafe on the carpeted stairs, illuminated by nightlights, was so much better.
They exchanged another set of goodnights and another long kiss before she forced herself up the stairs. Sloan checked in on Avery and Addison, then changed and climbed into her bed. She’d missed the girls like crazy when they went to stay with their dad in a few days, but she couldn’t wait to finally spend the night in the same bed with Rafe. She couldn’t wait to wake up in his arms. In the back of her mind—her brain phone—she couldn’t help but wonder how long it would be until they were in the right place to change sleeping arrangements permanently. Instead of dwelling on how badly she wanted that to happen, and how it was way too soon to be thinking in that general direction, she decided it was best to try and get some sleep.
Wednesday Night
A conversation with Xeni via text
