Page 76 of Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake
“It was a one-off thing,” Lizzie added.
“Totally. Won’t happen again.”
Lizzie nodded, ignoring the way her heart felt like it might punch through her chest. Getting up, she swung her legs off the side of the bed and headed toward the bathroom, walking off any weird feelings that were trying to cling to her.
“Yup, never again,” she said, shooting him a smile beforeclosing the bathroom door behind her, unable to shut out the emotions swirling through her stomach.
It would all be okay. It was nothing.
One little slipup didn’t mean anything.
… Right?
Chapter 35
Week seventeen. Le bébé is the size of a crème brûlée.
Lizzie and Rake were doing really well at their “never again” agreement. Over the following month, they only broke it five times.
Which was truly remarkable since Rake was so damn hot and Lizzie was so damn horny. But could either really be blamed for screwing each other senseless one morning when the coffee took an extra-long time to brew? And, really, it was only economical and environmentally friendly for them to shower together from time to time. Ifperhapsa dick slipped into a mouth or fingers into a pussy now and then while Rakemaybegrowled about how sexy he found her tiny baby bump or the swelling of her breasts, it was a small trade-off for trying to preserve water.
But the crucial point was that, after the most recent time, they’dfirmlyagreed to no more totally platonic hookups.
And they’d already gone five days without one.
Growth was a beautiful thing.
A huge reason for their recent success was the disgusting heat wave melting the city. The building’s air conditioner was tuckering out, and the coolest they could get their unit was a staggeringeighty degrees, causing Rake and Lizzie to say fuck it and open the windows and invest in some fans.
It was a particularly unbearable night, soft city noises and curls of humidity pushing in the open window, adding to Lizzie’s discomfort. She flopped and flailed beneath the suffocating sheets, unable to find any relief. After another minute, she let out a loud, suffering sigh, peeking over at Rake’s sleeping form as she did so. When he didn’t even twitch, she gave it a more aggressive attempt.
Still nothing.
“Hey,” she whisper-yelled, poking his bicep. “Rake. Hey.”
Rake squinted one eye open and looked at her, his cheek smooshed into the mattress. “What, Birdy?” he mumbled, his voice heavy with sleep.
“Can you turn on your tiny-ass fan?” she whispered, sitting up and nodding at the small thing on his nightstand. He blinked at her a few times before rolling and flipping it on.
“I was sleeping,” he said, turning back to stare up at the ceiling, his voice less groggy.
“That’s so weird,” Lizzie said, kicking the sheets off them both. “Because I wasn’t.”
Rake was silent for a few seconds, before he let out a sigh and sat up, swinging his legs off the bed.
“Come on, let’s go,” he said, grabbing their crumpled quilt and tucking it over one arm.
“Go where?” Lizzie asked.
Rake didn’t answer, just reached out an impatient hand and gently tugged her from the bed. He marched them toward the door, dropping her hand to grab two pillows off the couch as they went. Lizzie smiled, a gooey, delicious smile as she followed his sleep-rumpled form out the door and down the hall. His hair stood on end, his T-shirt and sleep shorts lightly wrinkled and clinging to him. These simple things shouldn’t have caused a punch of tenderness to strike her in the chest, but they did.
He pushed the button for the elevator, then scrubbed at his face, shaking his head as he tried to wake up.
“Are you abducting me?” Lizzie asked with a grin.
Rake yawned in response.
Lizzie hadn’t noticed at first, but he had hit the up button for the elevator, the little green arrow illuminating and pointing toward the ceiling as the doors slid open. Lizzie moved in after him and watched as he hit the button for the top floor. Lizzie looked at him with raised eyebrows.