Page 94 of Designs on You

She climbed onto the bed and lay down next to him. “Excellent nap.”

He rolled over to face her. “You ready to go out for dinner?”

“Mmm. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty comfortable here. How do you feel about pizza in bed?”

“I feel pretty good about it. How do you feel about pepperoni?”

She scrunched her nose. “How do you feel about sausage and mushroom?”

He did the same thing with his face. “I feel like we’re about to have our first argument.”

She laughed. “Okay, then. Let the fight begin.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

The door to the bathroom opened and steam poured out, along with Natalie, wrapped in the hotel’s bathrobe, a towel on her head. How could a woman dressed head to toe in white fluff look so…hot?

Yeah, Eugene, you’ve got it bad for his woman.

No lie there.

“Just FYI,” she said as she grabbed a tube of lotion from the dresser, “I’m taking that steam shower home with me. You can bill me for it.”

He grinned. “Got it.”

He’d intended to take Natalie out for a nice dinner last night. Instead, they’d ordered pizza and stayed in bed, watching movies until…well, hell, he couldn’t remember what time they’d fallen asleep. They’d talked about anything and everything from their childhoods to college and best friends and enemies and first loves and heartbreak. Eugene couldn’t ever remember being so open and comfortable with anyone. Natalie made it easy for him to tell her things he’d never told anyone. Maybe it was because she hadn’tjudged him for some of his stupid mistakes and admitted she’d made a few herself.

She’d told him they’d both been very young when they’d broken some hearts or hurt someone’s feelings, and as long as they learned from it and tried not to do it again, then it was a good lesson.

She made him think, and that was a good thing.

They’d slept in, so after they got dressed, they headed downstairs to have a late breakfast.

“I don’t want to eat too much,” Natalie said as they took their seats in the dining area. “Need to save room for beer and hot dogs at the ballpark.”

He laughed. “Yeah, that’s all important.”

“Not to mention nutritious.”

They had coffee and ordered their food. Natalie took a sip and sighed, then immediately yawned.

“You stayed up too late.”

She slanted a look at him. “And who’s fault is that?”

“Yours. You talk too much.”

She sputtered out a laugh. “Oh right. You gave me a blow-by-blow of your entire childhood. I even know who your second grade crush was.”

“Hey, Tildy was the love of my life. We meant something to each other. At least until she stole my favorite pencil, crushing my dreams of us living happily ever after.”

“No doubt thereafter clouding your view of women.”

“Nah. Then there was Melissa in third grade, Amelie in fourth, oh, and then I took Heather to the sixth grade dance.”

“Wait, wait,” she said. “What happened to fifth grade?”

He shrugged. “None of the girls liked me then. I don’t know what was wrong with them.”

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