Page 56 of On My Side (Quiblings #3)

Audrey

Playlist: Oh shit…are we in love? | Valley

January

“Okay,” I say, zipping the suitcase closed. “I think I have everything.”

My train to the city leaves in half an hour, and I’m mentally running through the packing list I made for the conference.

Ren lounges on my bed, legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankle while he reads a smutty book on his e-reader.

He offered to help me pack, but I told him the best help he could give me was his presence.

He blushed, smiling bashfully, and it was damn precious.

“You have the stockings you want to wear with the green pencil skirt?” he asks, swiping his finger across the screen to turn the page.

“Fuck,” I mutter, turning and rummaging through the open dresser drawer for my sheer black stockings. “What would I do without you?”

“You’ve spent years doing just fine on your own,” he says, eyes still on his e-reader. “You’re able to breathe because you don’t have to anymore.”

I shove my stockings into the front pocket of my suitcase before joining Ren on the bed and snuggling my face into the side of his neck.

“Piper’s staying with Annika, right?” he asks, putting his e-reader down and kissing my temple.

“Mmhmm,” I agree. “She rode her bike over a little earlier.”

“With her stuff?” Ren asks, seemingly impressed.

“She’ll come back and switch stuff out as she wants.” I snuggle closer into him. “I have a great idea.”

“Is your great idea to skip the conference and stay in bed instead?”

“You said it, not me.”

He tilts my chin and kisses the tip of my nose. “Nope. You have to go be a badass and think about how needy you’ll be the next time I’m in your bed.” He nips at my lower lip.

“Brat,” I grumble.

“Come on, Aud. Let’s get you to the city so you can show everyone how magical you are.” He reaches around me to grab his car keys from the bedside table. I, meanwhile, make no attempt to move.

“I don’t feel magical, I feel like a potato. A potato going to a gathering of sweet potatoes and trying to pretend it’s as pretty and sweet as the rest of them on the inside.”

“Hey.” Ren tilts my chin up, forcing me to meet his eyes.

It’s fucking sexy of him. What a dickhead.

“I don’t want to hear you shit-talking potatoes again.

Or yourself. Potatoes are magic, and so are you.

Potatoes are versatile and resilient. Like you.

Also I’m only happy if I have you or some sort of potato dish in my mouth. ”

I pull away. “You’re weird as hell.”

“We’ve always known that, sweetheart. What does it say that, despite me being weird as hell, I can still make you come so hard you cry?”

“Okay, that was once ,” I sputter, cheeks reddening.

“Yeah, literally this morning,” he counters. “I had to make sure you would be able to feel me the whole time you were away.”

He drives me to the train station and kisses me before I make my way to the platform. I take a deep breath, both terrified and eager to see what comes next.