“I’m never late,” Carly said.

“Which is why I could call ahead and deal with it.” His lips went to her neck.

She was fighting him, because this wasn’t right, but it was so hard. It would be so easy to just give in and let him have his way. Not only that, she wanted this as well. His lips felt so good on her neck.

Carly pulled away. “No, I can’t. If I’m going to be a parent, and we’re going to do this properly, then we have to have some ground rules.”

“You do know rules are meant to broken.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think so. They’re meant to be followed.”

“Some rules are made to be bent, though. Would you like to bend some with me?”

This time, she couldn’t help but laugh. “This is so tempting and you’re being so mean.”

Her body was on fire.

Sex was incredible. The first time, she couldn’t deny it, sucked. It was painful, uncomfortable, but it had also been fleeting, and after that, every time since had been amazing. Four times in total, once awful, three times amazing. She didn’t want this to end, and a part of her feared it would the moment she walked out the door.

Nate growled and then pulled away. She watched his nostrils flare. “You’re right, we’ve got to do this the proper way. So, I’ll bring you to your apartment, wait for you to get changed, and then I’ll take you to work. I’ll also pick you up, and don’t worry about Mitch, I’ll let him know I’m taking you home.”

Carly frowned. “How do you know about Mitch?”

“What?” he asked.

“Has Mitch told you that he takes me home every night?” Carly asked. It had never come up as important. Mitch was just being a good friend.

“Yeah.” Nate waved his hand through the air as if it was no big deal.

Shaking her head, she knew of course Mitch would mention it. This was Nate, and Mitch worked for him, and they were still close. They were all still close friends. It was crazy of her to think they didn’t talk.

It didn’t take her long to be ready, and she sat beside Nate as they drove all the way back to her apartment. There was a parking space outside of her building. He pulled into it and stayed in the car. Climbing out, she made her way to her apartment, only to find Sarah there, waiting.

“How are you?” Sarah asked the moment she walked through the front door.

Carly froze for just a second, a little taken aback by her friend’s wide smile. “I’m fine. You?”

She wanted to tell Sarah about everything, but instead she rushed toward her bedroom.

“You didn’t come home last night,” Sarah said.

“Yeah, I know, I stayed at Nate’s. It’s all fine.” She hoped her face didn’t betray how hot she felt.

“So, you and Nate, staying under the same roof, how was that?”

Carly pulled on pants and a shirt for the bar, and then turned toward her friend. “Same as usual.” She avoided looking at Sarah, as she didn’t like lying to her. This was a lot harder than she thought it was going to be.

The idea of keeping her and Nate’s agreement a secret was so it didn’t impact their friends. This felt like a massive deal right now as she looked at Sarah. Did her friend already know? No, there was no way she could know, that was impossible.

Sarah suddenly released a sigh.

Concern flooded Carly and she went to her friend. “What is it?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just shit from Dalton, Reese, and Mitch, the same old same old.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?” Carly asked. She had to be careful because some of the same old same old tended to get all four of her friends in trouble. Sarah didn’t always have good ideas. They always sounded like a lot of fun, but most of the time, they ended in disaster.

“I have this friend. This other friend and I have another friend. They’re close friends, and they’ve been in love with each other forever, or at least that’s what people tell me.” Sarah nibbled her lip.