Page 24 of Inked Craving

Lee

Somehow, for the last three months, Paige and I had done our best to pretend that nothing odd had happened. Considering that we were now sitting across from each other at one of our favorite cafés, one that had nothing to do with her ex, perhaps it had worked. After all, the more we didn’t speak about the fact that I knew exactly how she tasted, precisely how she felt wrapped around me, the easier it was to pretend that maybe it’d never happened at all. Perhaps it was just a dream.

A vivid one where I could remember every single inch of her as she pulsated around me. How her body shook as she came. The way her mouth parted ever so slightly, and she got that look in her eyes that told me she wanted it as much as I wanted her.

But again, we didn’t speak about it.

Because that would require an awkwardness that neither of us could afford. I liked being near Paige. And, frankly, I wanted my skin intact. I had a feeling her brothers would skin me alive if they ever found out what we had done. And knowing her sister and the fact that they threw the wordcastrationaround willy-nilly, I did my best not to think about that, either.

“I think I should get a salad,” Paige said as she leaned against the back of her chair. She had her hand resting on her stomach, and though she was just barely showing now, I couldn’t help but smile.

“The baby wants a cobb salad, then?”

She scowled at me. “I don’t know what the baby wants. Probably fried chicken.” She cursed under her breath.

I pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t smile. “You want fried chicken now, don’t you?”

She shook her head. “I always want fried chicken. And the biscuits that make your mouth dry but are still buttery at the same time and so delicious. No, I should eat a salad. It would be good for me.”

“You’re allowed to have fried chicken if you want, Paige. You don’t eat crazily every day. You’re allowed to indulge yourself.” As soon as I said the words, I knew I should have phrased it differently.

Her eyes darkened, and she met my gaze for an instant before shaking her head. “No, no indulgences for me. I need to be steady and smart about the choices I make.”

I was going to pretend the pointed remark wasn’t made toward me. And maybe it wasn’t. Perhaps it was only about her food. But I didn’t think so. Yet, how would I know? It wasn’t as if the two of us talked about what had happened.

“Anyway. The spring salad with the peaches on it looks really good.”

I looked down at the menu and nodded. “You’re right. I was thinking about getting just a club sandwich.”

“That sounds good, too. I’m starving.”

“So you can keep food down today?”

She sighed. “That’s the hope. I want to believe that I’ll be like Brenna and only really have morning sickness in the first trimester. But considering my genes are the same as Annabelle’s, we may be looking at a full pregnancy’s worth of morning sickness.”

“I can’t wait.”

I wasn’t lying or being sarcastic. I liked being the one there for Paige. It gave me a sense of purpose that had nothing to do with work. Honestly, it wasn’t something I could usually say when it came to my life. In the months since we’d found out about Paige’s pregnancy, I’d kept to my promise. I tried to be there for her in any way I could. We were friends, first and foremost. And while we hadn’t talked about that night in her kitchen, we were still there for each other, no matter what. I even went with her to her appointments if one of her siblings couldn’t make it so she wasn’t alone.

And we were becoming closer. We were friends. And it wasn’t as if she’d completely closed herself off from her family. We still had Montgomery dinners nearly every week at one of her sibling’s houses or her parents’ house. I still went because I was a friend of the family. And, honestly, not many things had changed other than I sometimes held Paige’s hair back for her, and I knew far too much about the first few months of pregnancy than I had ever thought I would know before this. Maybe from an outsider’s perspective it was weird, but Paige didn’t have anyone else to lean on. Yes, she could talk to her parents and her siblings, and any of the multiple cousins, but...

Her siblings were all dealing with things, between new babies and adoption processes. Archer was also a newlywed, so the family had a million other things to focus on, including Montgomery Builders and the expansion that would lead to bigger and more lucrative contracts soon. Paige was working double-time on that to get the deal done before the baby came, and I was just glad I could be there for her when I could.

“Can I have a bite of your sandwich?” Paige asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

I snorted and nodded. “Of course. And a plate of fries for the table.”

“I’m getting a salad so I won’t eat so much fried food.” She scowled.

“The fries are just for the table. Meaning, I’ll eat three-quarters of them.”

“If you put fries on this table and eat three-quarters of them, I will stab you with my fork.” She grinned as she said it, and I shook my head.

It felt as if we had been doing this forever. Yes, Paige and I had been friends for years, but it wasn’t until recently that we had started to connect more. And not just because we had slept together. It was something more that I couldn’t put my finger on. And for a man who’d sworn off serious relationships, that should worry me more than it did.

Once we gave our order, we leaned back in our chairs and talked. I was grateful that we were in the corner of the restaurant, out of the way. The place was busy, but we were secluded and off to the side, at our favorite table where it felt as if we could be alone and could talk about whatever we needed to.

Usually, these days, it had to do with the pregnancy, and I was fine with that because that’s why I was here. To be her sounding board. Although, no matter how many pregnancy books I read, I still didn’t feel like I was up to the task. Maybe by the birth, Paige would feel comfortable enough to lean into her family more. Because the Montgomerys weren’t judging Paige, but Paige was judging herself and feeling lost because of the fact that Colton was still deciding what to do. And because that jerk was being the asshole he was, Paige was afraid to talk to her family about it. As if they would judge her. I didn’t think they would. However, if I said something like that, Paige would push me away. So, I didn’t say anything.

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