Page 56 of A Lesson for Laurel

He still wasn’t sure what the fuck that was. He never got answers and had been thinking about it longer than he should have.

Was he that hard to love? Was he not enough?

You can’t change if you don’t know what you did wrong.

“You sure do,” he said. “But that isn’t all you’ve got to offer.”

She laughed and it sounded more like a rumble with her light brown hair covering her face. “I wasn’t talking about sex.”

“Neither was I,” he said.

She lifted and flopped on his chest, her tank top cool to his bare chest, her hand moving under the sheets and cupping his balls. He was growing fast. “But now that it was brought up.”

“You’re bringing it up,” he said.

“I like how fast I can,” she said. “Did we use all the condoms?”

He laughed. It might have felt that way, but they used the one he brought and two out of her new box. “Not even close.”

“Good,” she said. She sat up and pulled her tank over her head, her breasts bare for him. He reached quickly, but she slapped his hand away, got a condom, and tossed it at him. “Put it on, I’m getting to work.”

He barely had time to open it before she was on top and laughing.

Thirty minutes later, he walked into the kitchen. He’d taken a shower and put his clothes on from yesterday, which he hated to do. But if he was going to walk home for fresh clothes it defeated coming back and keeping this cozy thing they had going.

“Are you making me breakfast?”

“You made dinner,” she said. “I’m all about sharing.”

“So I’ve learned in the last twelve hours.”

She turned from the eggs she was watching and leaned on the counter, her hands behind her. She was in leggings and a T-shirt, fuzzy UGG slippers on her feet. “Were you turned off by it?”

His mouth opened and closed. “Are you kidding me? I’m a man, right?”

“Last I checked,” she said. “Which wasn’t that long ago.”

“Why would you ask me that? Has someone made you feel that way in the past?” He’d hunt the bastard down to find out why anyone would ever dim the spark of Laurel if that was the case.

“No,” she said. “I mean, I don’t know. I never figured out why Philip went to other women when he could have had me when he wanted. In the past several months I worried I wasn’t enough, but if he was out there doing things that would make me feel uncomfortable then that wasn’t going to work either.”

He pulled her into his arms. “Don’t compare us. Don’t even think of him when we are together. It’s his loss. I bet he didn’t know how to handle you.”

“Handle me?” she asked, leaning back and looking at him.

“You are too much woman for him, but the right amount for me. You need someone on your equal ground. That is all I’m saying.”

She closed one eye at him and gave him a quick kiss. “Nice save.”

“I’ve had some practice with my Smooth Words 101 class.”

She laughed. “You’ve got more of a personality than I thought you did at first.”

“Because I didn’t talk much when we were laying pavers in the yard?” he asked. He went and poured himself a cup of coffee and then noticed her cup was empty. “Do you want another?” He loved she ground the beans this morning and didn’t use the one-cup maker on the counter.

“Please,” she said.

“Just a little cream, right?”

---