Page 37 of Laugh

Jesus Christ, this woman.

Chapter 13

He kiss kissed Me!

Haddie

Once Bamber and her friends left, the rest of the evening went smoothly.By the time eleven rolled around, I noticed Marcus was fighting to keep his eyes open and looking a little pale.

Whispering so no one else can hear, I lean toward him. “Marcus, are you doing okay? You don’t look like you feel very well.”

I grow concerned when he gives me a slow blink, then shakes his head like he’s fighting off his sleepiness and gives me a sheepish smile. “I’m good, Harry. But I think I’m going to head home. I sort of put off some of my work this week, so I need to play catch up this weekend. Early morning for me!”

My frown grows because I feel like he’s bullshitting me. Marcus doesn’t ever lie to me, so this feeling that he’s making excuses doesn’t sit well. He works remotely from home doing data entry, and he told me earlier this week that he couldn’t come over because he was busy working.

“You can go if you want, but I thought you told me I couldn’t come over to see you because you were busy working? Do they have you doing extra hours or something?”

I feel Beau’s hand slowly rub my back and I try to tamp down on my body shiver at his touch. It’s probably meant to be reassuring since I’m certain he’s listening in, but all it does is make thoughts of ‘Oh God, he’s touching my body’ race through my head.

Marcus can read me like the back of his hand, and he smirks. “No extra hours. I just had some late nights, so I overslept a few days.” Leaning forward, he presses a quick kiss to my cheek. “I’ll get my shit done so you can call me tomorrow afternoon and tell me all about tonight.”

Sighing, I nod my head. “Text me when you get home. Are you okay to drive?” After the two shots of tequila a few hours ago, he stuck to water for the rest of the evening, so I’m not too concerned that he isn’t safe to drive home, but I have to ask.

“Promise. Do you need my car for tomorrow night?” he asks, knowing that I normally need it to drive out to my parents’ place.

Looking over at Beau, silently asking if he still wants to go with me, I raise a brow in question. “I’m going with her tomorrow, so I’ll drive us over.”I knew he was listening in.

Smiling at Marcus, I whisper, “He’s coming for the extended version of Bamber’s meltdown. Maybe I’ll call you after that instead, because I think that altercation is going to be a much better story!”

Laughing, he hands me some cash to cover his portion of the tab, then gets up to say goodbye to everyone at the table. Turning to Beau and me, he lifts his hand in a wave. “See ya, Cap. Glad to hear you guys survived your night.” Then to me, he says, “I love you more than Michael Scott loves saying ‘that’s what she said’.”

I giggle, pushing away my worry. There’s no major reason he would lie, so I’ll just dig a little more tomorrow. “I love you more than Dwight Schrute loves beets.”

Beau snorts a laugh, and I beam up at him. “You guys areOfficefans?” he asks, eyes dancing between the two of us.

“Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica. Hell yes, we are!” I cross my fingers, hoping that even though he doesn’t know Star Trek, he knows this. That show is my go-to when I need to not think and find my happy place.

I wave to Marcus as he leaves, knowing I’ll be calling him with all the details soon enough.

Beau nods his head seriously. “Honestly, one of my favorite series.”

I can’t stop from clapping my hands together in excitement. “We should start it over and watch it together!”

“I think that can be arranged. You ready to get out of here?” The look he gives me when he asks is more heated rather than one screaming he’s ready for the night to end.

Swallowing back my nerves, I nod my head. Beau stands by my side as I make my rounds of goodbyes, giving Addie an extra long hug. Her whisper of encouragement followed by a double thumbs up eases my nerves. It’s nice to know that she approves of him. He keeps my hand wrapped up in his during the walk to his car, the drive back to my place, and up to my door.

His voice is low when he asks, “Will you invite me inside, Happy?”

My body trembles. There’s no stopping the verbal spillage as my cheeks heat. “Do you want to come in so we can have akisskiss? Because I’ll be really honest here, I’m nervous as hell. Not just because of the virgin thing, but the not knowing what the expectations are. Is this one of those cases where it’s a codeword for getting naked together and doing the horizontal tango? I’m not against that, but I should note that all womankind would probably think that doingthatafter a first date will probably give you the wrong–”

My mouth snaps shut when Beau takes a step closer to me, but since I’m already backed against my door, it only brings his body in contact with mine. Dropping his head down, his lips brush my cheek, before he presses his face against mine. His lips are close to my ear, and I can feel his breath when he rasps out, “Invite me in.”

“O-Okay,” I whisper, then spin around to unlock my door. I can feel the heat of his chest seeping through my dress, warming my back. The moment we both hear the door lock disengage, he turns my doorknob quickly to move us inside.

His arm wraps around my waist as he leads us forward. The sound of the door clicking shut makes me suck in a gasp of air. I release my keys and purse when he pulls me against him tighter. The thud echoes through my empty apartment. The sound barely registers as Beau’s lips trace up the side of my neck, causing my breath to hitch as my head falls to the side.

“I’m going tokisskiss you, happy girl,” he murmurs against my skin.

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