She lay under him, weak and wildly happy, with her lips curved against his shoulder because his heart pounded against hers.
She’d let him lead this time, she thought, but he’d ended up as wrecked and satisfied as she had. She stroked a hand down his back, and over his very fine ass, because she could.
“My idea.”
He managed a weak laugh. “A good one.” He shifted to draw her against his side. “Yeah, this is good.”
“If we use my math and formula, we didn’t actually lose the bet.”
“I think, under the circumstances, we can forfeit the bet. We still won.”
She decided if she were any happier, little pink hearts and singing bluebirds would shoot out her fingertips. “I guess you’re right.” She let out one contented sigh. “I have to get up really early.”
“Okay.” But his arms came around her, signaling she wasn’t going anywhere yet.
She angled her face up for one last kiss. “Worth waiting for?”
“Definitely”
She closed her eyes and slept in his arms.
LAUREL WISHED SHE HAD A PENLIGHT. AND A TOOTHBRUSH. FUMBLING around in the dark the morning after never got any easier, she decided. At least she’d found her bra and one shoe. She let out a grunt of satisfaction when her seeking fingers hooked on the elastic of her panties.
A shirt, a shoe, and her pants to go, she thought, and her purse was downstairs where she’d dumped it. There she’d find mints and cab fare.
She’d have killed for coffee. She’d have maimed for even the scent of coffee.
On her hands and knees she continued to search the floor, then awarded herself a mental
aha when she came across the other shoe.
“What are you doing down there?”
“Sorry.” She sat back on her heels. “I’m looking for the rest of my clothes. I told you I had to get up early.”
“How early is early? Jesus, it’s barely five.”
“Welcome to bakers’ hours. Listen, if I could just have the light for thirty seconds, I could find the rest and get out of your way so you can go back to sleep.”
“You don’t have a car.”
“I’ll call a cab from downstairs. I’ve got everything but my—” The light flashed on, causing her to squint before she covered her eyes with one hand. “You could’ve warned me. Just a second.”
“You look ... interesting.”
“I bet.” She could imagine it well enough. Naked, her hair looking like a couple of cats had wrestled in it, squatting on the floor holding underwear and shoes.
Why couldn’t he be a heavier sleeper?
“Two seconds.” She spotted her shirt and debated which was less dignified. Crawling over to get it or standing up and walking over to get it. Crawling, she concluded, was never dignified.
Naked didn’t matter. He’d seen her naked. But he hadn’t seen her naked in the morning when she wasn’t even close to the low end of her best.
And damn it, she wished he’d stop smiling at her that way. “Go back to sleep.”
She stood, stepped over for the shirt. Her shoes went flying when he grabbed her and pulled her down on the bed.
“Del, I have to go.”
“This probably won’t take long.” He rolled on top of her, making it absolutely clear her bed hair didn’t put him off in the least.
When he lifted her hips, eased inside her, she decided there were some things even better than coffee in the morning.
“I’ve probably got a couple minutes.”
He laughed, nuzzling his face in the curve of her shoulder.
She let it build in her, slow, soft, sweet, the rising up with quickening pulse and sighing release. Everything in her went warm and loose with him filling her, heart and body.
The fall, as gentle as the rise, made her wish she could just curl up with him and sleep all over again.
“Morning,” he murmured.
“Mmm. I was going to say sorry for waking you up, but it turns out I’m not.”
“Me, either. I guess we’d better find the clothes so I can drive you home.”
“I’ll take a cab.”
“No, you won’t.”
“Don’t be silly. There’s no reason for you to get up and dressed and drive there and back when all I have to do is call a cab.”
“The reason is you spent the night in my bed.”
“Welcome to the twenty-first century, Sir Galahad. I got myself here, so I can—”
“You know, you’re in a very strange position to start an argument.” He braced on his elbows to look down at her. “If you keep it up for about ten more minutes, I should be able to give you one more reason you’re not taking a cab.”
“That’s a pretty optimistic recovery time.”
“Want to see who’s right?”
“Let me up.And since you’re going all gallant, how about scoring me an extra toothbrush?”
“I can do that. I can even get some coffee into a couple of travel cups.”
“For coffee, you can drive me anywhere.”
IN UNDER FIFTEEN MINUTES, AND ARMED WITH A TALL COFFEE, Laurel stepped outside. “It’s raining. Pouring,” she corrected. How had she missed that? “Del, don’t—”
“Stop arguing.” He just grabbed her hand and pulled her into a dash for the car. Drenched, she climbed in, then shook her head at him when he got behind the wheel.
“It’s not an argument.”
“Okay. How about a discussion?”
“Better,” she allowed. “I just wanted to avoid setting a precedent where you’d feel obligated to drive me home, or that sort of thing. If I follow an impulse I should handle what’s connected to it. Like transportation.”
“I really enjoyed the impulse, but regardless, when I’m with a woman, I take her home. Consider it a Brown Rule of Thumb.”
She did consider while tapping her fingers on her knee. “So, if you followed an impulse, I’d be obligated to drive you home.”
“No. And no, I don’t consider that sexist, I consider it elemental.” He glanced over, all sleepy midnight eyes as he drove through the rainy morning. “Equal rights, equal pay, choice, opportunities, and so on. I’m for them. But when I’m with a woman I take her home. And when I’m with a woman, I don’t like the idea of her driving around in the middle of the night, or alone at five-thirty-whatever in the morning if there’s a way around it.”
“Because you have the penis.”
“Yes, I do. And I’m keeping it.”
“And the penis shields against accidents, breakdowns, and flat tires?”
“You know what’s always been interesting, and occasionally frustrating, about you?You’re able to turn the simple into the complicated.”
It was true, but it didn’t change the point. “What if I’d had my car?”
“You didn’t.”
“But what if I did?”
“I guess we’ll find out when you do.” He turned into the drive.
“That’s evasive.”
“It is, isn’t it? How about I give you a point back? I won’t walk you to the door.”
She cocked her head. “But you’re going to sit here until you know I’m inside?”
“Yes, I am.” He leaned over, cupped her chin, kissed her. “Go bake a cake.”
She started to get out, then shifted back and gave him a longer, much more satisfying kiss. “Bye.”
She dashed to the door, then turned, dripping, to wave as she let herself in.
Then, alone in the quiet, she leaned back on the door and indulged herself. She’d made love with Del. She’d slept in his bed, awakened beside him. A lifetime of dreams had come true in one night, so she was allowed to indulge herself in private, to grin like a maniac, hug herself, and feel utterly, foolishly wonderful.
Nothing she’d imagined had come close to those moments, and here alone in the quiet she could revel in them. She could remember each one and savor it.
What happened next was anyone’s guess, but now, right this minute, she had what she’d always wanted.