Page 99 of Sugar Baby Mine

“Hell no.”

“Do you work out at all?”

“No.”

“Then I wouldn’t expect that of you.”

“So you don’t mind that I’d rather eat the inside of all the triple stuffed Oreos I can find than do any exercise beyond sex?”

He laughs, and I realize I’ve been craving this—this easy companionship, the comfort of him next to me even when I’m a hop skip and a world away.

“No, I don’t mind, Emmeline.”

“Okay,” I breathe, leaning into the space of his arms as they wrap around me. A hug has never felt more comforting.

“Let’s go to bed.”

His arms tighten around my waist and I cling to his shoulders as he lifts me off my feet, walking the short distance to the bed before letting me go as he leans over the mattress. I bounce against the duvet, leaning up on my elbows.

“Get comfortable. We’ve got snacks,” he hands me the bowl from the nightstand and then turns to his suitcase stored in thecloset, “and I brought you something I hope you’ll enjoy.”

Scooting to the head of the bed, I shimmy under the covers and rest the bowl in my lap. It’s filled with a hodgepodge of different things we bought at the store, all mixed together. Popcorn, habanero cashews, crispy snap peas, peanut M&Ms, sour gummy bears, and green grapes. I pick out a cashew first, crunching down on it while Ben digs through what’s left in his suitcase.

By the time he comes back to the bed with two books in hand, I’ve figured out the bowl. How it stops me from just eating a handful of something at a time, mindlessly eating what all tastes the same.

“You did this very purposefully.”

“It’s called dopamine snacking. “ He slides beneath the covers and in this huge bed, he feels so far away. “The different textures, flavors—I read that it’s good for sensory stimulation. Helps concentration.”

“You read it?”

“Yeah,” he shrugs, “when I was reading up on ADHD.”

My head tilts, watching him settle in place. It’s only when the chocolate melts on my tongue that I remember the M&M in my mouth. Crunching down on the peanut, I point a crispy snap pea at him. “And what’s this?”

Ben offers out one of the books to me. It’s a paperback with a matte print cover, shiny foil over the title’s lettering, and intricate details hidden in the background. I haven’t held a physical book in a while, but it feels good when I thumb through the pages.

“I picked it up the other day, I thought you might like it.”

I skim the back for the blurb, sinking back into the propped up pillow. It’s a story about a fae who gets bitten by a werewolf and falls ill with a curse having to team up with said werewolf to find the cure for both their afflictions. And of course, failing to resisteach other along the way.

My gaze jolts up, and I smack a hand across his chest. “Shut up. This sounds so good.”

“Hopefully you enjoy it then,” he says with a soft smile, capturing my wrist to lay a kiss on underside. Letting me go, he waves his own book in the air, and I recognize it as the pirate and siren romance I’d told him about a couple weeks ago. “And I’m going to read this one.”

“It’s so good,” I can’t help but gush, my fingers itching to flip through it as well as I recall my favorite chapters. “I think you’ll like it.”

“We can talk about it once I’ve read a bit.”

“Looking forward to it.” And I am, because I haven’t had anyone to talk to that isn’t Cora for a while, and while she shares my love of reality TV, she doesn’t enjoy reading.

I move the snack bowl between us, turning onto my side to get comfortable and crack open the book. Once I’m done rearranging myself, Ben spreads his arm along the back of the pillows and his fingers play with the strands of my hair fanned against them. He sacrifices the need to use both hands, setting the book down every time to turn the page.

It feels so normal, so right, to lay in bed and read. He’s not even distracting beyond the sound of him breathing, the crunch of the snacks between us when either of us takes a bite. For the first time, I find myself flipping through the pages with ease, without having to read paragraphs twice or three times over.

Chapter 25

There’s a pit in my stomach, growing darker through the weekend. It doesn’t help when Ben treats me so reverently. The only thing that makes it go away is sex. And there’s plenty of that sprinkled throughout the day and night. But the relief lasts as long as the drop from my orgasm and soon I’m craving that dopamine again.

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