Page 88

I step out of the shower and call his phone. He answers on the first ring.

“Hi.”

“Can you talk?” I ask.

“Yeah, I’m in the car. I had to leave my crew at Grayson’s to come meet another client. Did you sleep well?”

“Not really,” I say. “Did you?”

“Me neither. Was I the cause of your lack of sleep?”

I didn’t expect him to bring it up so fast, but it’s better this way. “Yes. Something obviously went wrong, and it was awkward.”

“I’m sorry. I got in my own head and ruined our evening.”

“You didn’t ruin the whole evening. It was odd. Tell me why you got in your own head. What happened?”

He pauses. “It felt like too much all of a sudden. We’re taking a big step to go out with A, and it got to me.”

I flinch like he is in front of me. “I didn’t ask for that.”

“I know. That was all me. You were perfect. You are perfect. Everything was. I didn’t know how to react. I’m bound to do stupid things. You know?”

And there’s the thought that maybe he’s not ready for this.

I chew on the inside of my cheek. “Yeah. If it’s too much too fast, we can always table it for later. If it’s not a good time, we can pump the brakes on this whole thing.”

“No,” he says quickly. “I think—no, I know, that it wasn’t really about Ayla. It was that I wanted to stay with you. I wanted to hold you all night, to make love to you again, to wake you up with my mouth, stroking you with my tongue until your body shook.”

His honesty disarms me and sends my body into a twister of raw need for him.

“All that would have been okay with me,” I say even softer than before. God knows how much I want that. Now that I picture it, I can almost see us like a warm mirage, cocooned in my bed. I want that more than anything.

“I know. It’s just…”

“You have Ayla.”

“Does that make you mad?” he asks.

I frown. “That you have her? Of course not. I met you as her dad. I know the time may come for us to get there…”

Maybe?

“It will, Lux. I wouldn’t have taken this step with you if I wasn’t planning on following through.”

“Okay, then,” I say, not knowing what else to say.

“Oh, by the way, the crew should be there in an hour. We’re running late. I sent you a message.”

“I didn’t see it. Lauren woke me up, like, twenty minutes ago, and I jumped in the shower.”

“So, you just showered?” His voice drops.

“Yeah, I’m about to get dressed.”

My phone begins to beep with the universal FaceTime tune.

I pick up, and his gorgeous smile fills my screen.