Page 87 of One-Star Romance

And she saw everything, because unlike with other people, she didn’t want to look away from him. She refused to close her eyes for one moment despite the rush of feeling overtaking her. His discipline, his rigor, his control, they’d all added up to something richer than she’d had with anyone else. But when she’d made him lose that discipline and control entirely? That had been the best part. What they’d just done together had felt sweet and passionate and more intimate than she’d realized was possible. But that wasn’t all, she thought as he kissed her forehead.

It had also felt like a beginning.

36

Gabby returned home from the hospital a few days later, dazed and in pain but full of relief. They treated her like a queen, as she deserved. (Well, except Christina, who thought she was a queen herself. She kept insisting that her mother get out of bed to play with her and didn’t understand why Gabby wouldn’t obey.)

There was so much going on that Rob and Natalie agreed that they wouldn’t broadcast the fact that they’d started sleeping together. At least not yet.

After dinner, when Christina had gone to sleep, the four of them would watch a movie in the living room, Angus, Rob, and Natalie piled onto the couch while Gabby stretched out in the recliner beside them. They made their way through old comfort movies and buzzy new ones that had gone straight to streaming because of the pandemic. The night they watched the new movie written by that former teen starlet who had spent so long as a cautionary tale, they all ended up crying, even if it was far from perfect.

As the movies played in the dark, Rob was always hyperaware of Natalie’s body on the couch, inches away from him. Sometimes, they’d sit under a blanket, and she’d slowly move her leg over until it pressed against his, and whole plot developments of the movie would pass by without Rob’s awareness, because the only thing he could concentrate on was the woman beside him. One night, she brushed her hand against his thigh, moving it slowly higher and higher. He looked over. She regarded the screen as if in deep contemplation, but the corner of her mouth quirked up ever so slightly. He ended up having to go to the bathroom for a moment to cool down, and texted her: You are extremely cruel. Also extremely sexy.

One day, up in his room alone for a moment, he felt an irresistible urge to listen to Frank Sinatra. For the entire length of “It Had to Be You,” he simply stood next to his bed and nodded along, a silly little grin coming over his face. The moment the song ended, he shut his computer and shook his head, because he was being ridiculous. He should not let himself get carried away, even if he’d never felt this way before.

Each night, after everyone else went to bed, he’d knock on her door or she on his, and they’d try to be as quiet as possible. Rob had never thought of himself as a cuddly person. He was very particular about his sleeping position—flat on his back—and how silent he liked the room to be—as the grave—but he found himself not wanting to let go of Natalie after they were done. He lay awake as she drifted off, listening to the softening of her breath, inhaling the scent of jasmine and sex on her skin, and half the time he ended up falling asleep too before he’d made himself let go of her.

It was all stolen kisses in the pantry and secret glances until one morning, when Rob ran into Angus in the hallway as he was creeping back to his own room.

“Well, well, well, what is happening here?” Angus had said, the biggest grin spreading over his face.

“Erm,” Rob said, scratching his chin, unable to keep his cool.

Angus ran forward, grabbed Rob’s hands, and jumped up and down. “Finally!”

37

Natalie and Rob were lying in bed, their legs tangled together, as Rob told Natalie about his new job at the literacy start-up. She propped herself on her elbow and watched him as he grew increasingly animated, describing some of the data they were getting back about their program’s usefulness. She bit down on a smile, but not quickly enough.

“What?” he asked, cheeks going a bit pink. “Oh, am I going on too much?”

“No! I just remember when I used to try to get you to tell me about academia, and you were practically monosyllabic.”

“I think, to my utter surprise, this is a better direction for me.” He ran a finger up and down her arm, and she shivered. “But what about you? When are you going to write another novel?”

She shook her head and flopped back onto the pillow. “Never.”

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s true! Why would I want to give the world another chance to break my heart? With Meant 2B, I get to be creative without having to bare my soul. Besides, so many people would kill to write for TV. I’m incredibly lucky.”

“That’s true,” he said.

She poked him. “But?”

“I know you’ve said you don’t want to be selfish about your writing. But I just hope you don’t go too far in the other direction.”

“I’m not! I love collaboration.”

“Sure.” He rolled over on top of her, bracing his hands on either side of her body so he could look her right in the eyes. “But you also want to make something that’s fully yours.”

“How do you know that?”

“To write a book that captured her heart on a page, and then captured others’ hearts as they read, seemed the most magical thing a person could do,” he recited.

“What…what did you say?” she asked, her belly fluttering.

He gave her a half smile. “I think you heard me.”

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