Page 60

Lacey put her hand under my chin and pulled me close for a soft kiss. “I’m glad you decided to stay.”

“Me too,” I said. Yes, I was still tired, but last night had been worth it. So fucking worth it.

Lacey stretched her arms and then turned on her side.

“So. Breakfast? Or sex? Or breakfast sex?” she asked, wiggling her eyebrows, looking so ridiculous that I burst out laughing.

“I like to keep my food and sex separated, personally,” I said. “Food and sex can be a recipe for infection.”

Lacey made a face. “Okay, no breakfast sex.”

I was about to say that I wanted sex first and then my stomach growled and made the decision for us.

“Breakfast first,” Lacey said, kissing my belly as I tried to push her away.

* * *

“You could give my sister a run for her money when it comes to eggs,” I told Lacey as we ate breakfast on the couch together. She’d made poached eggs again on top of hash browns with crumbled bacon, cheese, and hot sauce along with fresh strawberries.

“I feel like I should meet your sister again,” she said, stealing one of my strawberries as I tried to fight her off with my fork.

“You’ll see her at book club,” I said, finishing my coffee. Lacey didn’t have any kind of creamer, so I’d used milk and sugar with some fresh vanilla extract and cinnamon, and it wasn’t terrible.

“That’s right,” she said, finishing her plate, and setting it on the coffee table.

“Don’t worry, she already likes you. But I did grill her girlfriend when they first got together, so she might try and pay me back for that. Just to warn you.”

Lacey flexed her arm and looked at it. “I think I can take her.”

I kissed her flexed bicep.

“I don’t know, I’ve fought Sterling before and she’s vicious.”

“Still think I can take her.” Lacey put her arm around me and pulled me close for a kiss.

“Now that we’ve had breakfast, is it time for sex?”

I nodded. “It’s absolutely time for sex.”

Lacey kissed me one more time before getting up and throwing me over her shoulder as I screamed and told her to put me down.

She only did when she tossed me onto the bed again.

* * *

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d spent this long in bed, and it was exactly what I wanted and needed. Lacey and I fucked fast and slow and every way in between, and ended up in her tub with bubbles and wine for me and beer for Lacey.

“Arrowbridge isn’t so bad, you know,” she said out of the blue.

“Did you get a job for the Chamber of Commerce?” I asked, laughing. Why was she bringing this up?

“No. I was just thinking that it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Of course, I’d visited my grandfather before, but it’d been a really long time. I’m not saying it’s the greatest place on earth, but it’s not the worst.”

I splashed a little bit of water at her. “You should tell them to put that on the town sign.”

She drained the rest of her beer and set the bottle out of the way. “Admit it. You don’t hate it here.”

She was persistent about this and I didn’t know why. What was her angle? It wasn’t like she was staying here, so why was she going so hard for Arrowbridge?