Page 58 of The Bachelor

“Are we going riding next weekend?”

He could hear the bigger question in her voice. He wasn’t sure what he was doing, or how to label it, or how not to fuck it up, but he did know he wanted to get to know everything about Avery O’Leery. “Yes, we’re going riding next weekend unless it rains. Then we’ll do something else.”

That’s as far as he was going with that. “Maybe I’ll get a new tattoo,” he added.

“Maybe I’ll get one too.”

That didn’t seem her style, but he could see a cute little music note behind her ear or something along those lines. “Whatever you want to do.” He kissed her head. “Now since we’re staying in after all today, how about I go down on you?”

It was fast becoming one of his favorite activities. Not that he’d ever disliked it before, but with Avery it was like a religious experience.

“Again? Are you trying to kill me?”

“With kindness.” He gave her a dirty smile before he shifted on the couch and found what he was looking for.

Funny that. He was pretty damn sure he’d found a lot of what he was looking for with her.

Avery sat on her couch with Lauren, painting her toenails and listening to her friend with concern. “I should have stopped you from doing that shot,” she told her, swiping hot pink onto her toes. People always said redheads shouldn’t wear pink, even on their toenails but Avery was finding she didn’t give a whole lot of care about what other people said anymore.

“Are you kidding?” Lauren waved her hand in the air and gave an emphatic headshake. “No. That was not your responsibility. I wouldn’t have listened to you anyway. I did what I wanted to do and apparently, that included nearly giving myself alcohol poisoning. We actually did like four shots. Because it was a “whiskey tasting” naked at his house.”

That made her snort. “Is that what we’re calling it these days?”

Lauren laughed, then groaned. “Oh, God, my head.”

Avery’s roommate Julia was out of town visiting her parents and her other roommate, Chelsea, tended to spend every weekend with her boyfriend at his place since he lived alone. Avery had wanted to spend another night with Shane but then Lauren had called her and in a way, she’d been grateful for the barrier. There was such a thing as too much of a good thing. She needed to be wrested from Shane’s bed and remember that she had a real life.

Though somehow, her life had inexplicably become intertwined with his and she didn’t know how to deal with that. Even more reason to get some space.

“How do you feel?” Avery couldn’t really tell how Lauren was feeling about having sex with Michael the drummer the night before. It was eight on Saturday night and they were waiting on Chinese food.

“I’m so hungover I can’t even tell you how I feel.” Lauren rubbed her forehead. “Why do I think I’m some kind of baller and can do four shots with a man twice my size? On top of three mixed drinks. It’s a miracle I’m alive.”

“It’s a miracle you remember sleeping with him.” Avery felt guilty for not pushing harder to know where Lauren was going. But then again, she knew if someone was hell bent on doing something, there was literally no stopping them. “Are you going to answer Zeke’s text?”

“No fucking way. He broke up with me via text then decided he wanted me back six hours later after he saw pics of me snuggling with the drummer from Annie Oakley on my socials. Fuck him.” Lauren sipped from a water bottle.

“Agreed. Fuck him. Was the sex good?”

“Honestly, I don’t really remember anything other than clothes ripping off and him being on top of me. The alcohol numbed my vagina. I had to fake an orgasm because he was just going at me for what seemed like hours and I was starting to get nauseous.”

That made her laugh. Then she wiped the smile from her face. “Sorry. That’s not funny.”

“It’s not funny. It’s ridiculous and annoying and a stupid human trick. I get the chance to have sex with Michael Farmer and I’m so drunk it’s a blur? I hate myself right now. Okay, it is kind of funny.” Lauren rubbed her face. “God, how do I get myself in these messes? I can blame the booze but the truth is, I saw a star, he flirted with me, and I jumped into bed with him.”

“Is it really a mess though? I mean, so what? You hooked up with a drummer.”

“Oooh, I like this new side of you.”

To be honest, she did too. “I went home with Shane last night.”

“Oh, Lord, we’re a pair.” Lauren tucked her feet under her butt. “I thought you said you’d never say yes to him.”

“Yeah, well, I was lying, apparently.” Avery eyed her toes. Their living room was tiny, and the coffee table was a huge trunk that belonged to Chelsea and basically took up the majority of the room. It was like being at home, cramped and with a lack of privacy. But tonight, she was glad the other girls were out. She and Lauren had to sort out their emotions. “He was ready to walk away and I kissed him first.”

“Oh, boy. So now what?”

“He says we’re going to date. Discreetly.” She believed him. Or at least she thought she did. Now away from him, she wasn’t sure what she could expect. She just knew she had no regrets about demanding he take her home the night before. Her co-workers were going to gossip no matter what she did, and if she and Shane were both on the same page, then it was really no one’s damn business anyway. She loved him. She wanted to spend more time with him.

---