After showering away the smoky smell and blow-drying myhair, I change into sleep shorts and a camisole. I’ve only had one middle-of-the-night call all summer, and I’m praying I don’t get interrupted tonight.
I do, however, receive a picture of a rash on Kane’s abdomen with a text from Ezra that reads: Please tell me this isn’t an STI. A phone call and a few investigative questions later, I suspect it’s simply a reaction to laundry detergent or body wash. When Ezra tells me he hasn’t bought any new soaps or detergents recently, Kane admits that he spent the night at his boyfriend’s last night. Ezra switches into dad mode, and in turn, I call him out for all the scandalous behavior I witnessed him and my brother get into when they were in high school, thus shutting down their little spat.
Millie laughs in the background, and since I’m anxious that she might hop on and ask me about my relationship with her brother, I fabricate an excuse about getting called into work and abruptly hang up.
I talk to my parents for a while, catching up, but before long, I’m eager to read on my Kindle until I inevitably fall asleep.
Just when I’ve gotten close to what I fear is a third-act breakup, my door opens.
Asher stands in the frame, shirtless, with a pair of plaid pajama pants slung low on his hips, looking like a wet dream come to life.
“Knock much?” I feign aggravation, then set my e-reader on the nightstand.
“Sorry. You’re right.” He steps back and closes the door, then quietly knocks.
The absurd redo has me rolling my eyes and laughing. “Come in.”
Come inside me, my subconscious screams.
He closes the door behind him, then stands at the foot of the bed, grinning.
I sling back the covers. “I could have been getting off, you know.”
He chokes, then smothers the sound with a cough. “Why weren’t you?”
I bat my lashes at the beautiful man. “I was saving my orgasm for you.”
“Fuck, Claire.” He heaves out a breath. “That’s so hot.”
He face-plants onto the bed. But by the way he nuzzles against my chest now, he’s exhausted.
That’s okay; the sex can wait.
He wraps an arm around my belly and I play with his damp hair.
The domesticity of the moment causes emotion to swell inside me, but I temper the reaction.
My breath parallels his as I inhale his pine and citrus scent and soak in the moment. But eventually I break the silence. “Did you have a good time with your friends?”
“I did, thank you,” he says into my neck. “They really liked you, you know.”
“I liked them too.”
He rests his chin on my chest, searching my face. “Yeah? Were they what you thought they’d be?”
I chuckle to myself. “Kind of. Except I didn’t realize Ray was such a zaddy…”
“Hey!” He pinches my side, causing me to squirm. “What about me? Iama daddy, after all.”
“I know, which is exactly why I can’t call you that. Plus, that’s what Millie calls”—his eyes go wide and my heart leaps into my throat—“Never mind!”
Asher groans. “You were not about to say what I think you were about to say.”
With the most serious face I can conjure, I reply, “Absolutely not.” Then mime zipping my lips.
“I should spank you for that.”
“Do it, Pretty Boy,” I tease.
