Page 45 of One Night With You

“Let me make you something quick to eat, and we can just hang out while we do some work.”

He wiggled his brows, and I rolled my eyes.

“I meant actual work. But you know, whatever.”

“Naked work it is,” he shouted, and I laughed, getting out of the car.

“I like your place,” he said, as I closed the security down, and flipped the locks. It was so ingrained in that moment that I didn’t even think about it, but I saw him notice.

Only, I had done it out of habit. Not out of fear. And not even because Kingston was here with me. I didn’t think that a couple of lessons in self-defense was really going to save the day, or keep me any steadier, but maybe, just maybe, I was figuring out how to be okay.

Or maybe I was just making a big deal out of everything.

“I can make a quick pasta, some lemon and chicken. There’s some defrosted in the fridge.”

“That sounds good. You let me know what you need help with.”

“I actually don’t mind people helping me in the kitchen. Unlike some of our friends.”

“They’re so mean,” he said with a laugh, and we ended up in my kitchen, cooking together, each of us taking breaks to look at our phones and work, and it felt natural.

Everything felt safe. And that wasn’t a word I used lightly, not anymore.

“Okay, you have to tell me exactly how you made that sauce,” he said as we finished our dinner, and rinsed off our plates before putting them in the dishwasher.

“I literally just added some wine and lemons and hoped for the best.”

“That’s how my dad Lincoln cooks, my dad Ethan iswaymore analytical.”

“I wouldn’t have imagined that,” I said sarcastically.

“I know right? Considering his job.”

“I almost want to ask how it was like living with two dads and a mom, but then I saw the way that they were with you, and it just felt right. Like you just had somebody else there in your life that loved you.”

“You nailed it on the head. It was always a littleawkward at soccer games or PTA meetings. But people got used to us. And poly relationships that create families are becoming more mainstream now. There’s even TV shows with those kinds of relationships that are canon.”

“I know, you’re so blasé now. No longer pushing the envelope.”

“Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure the Montgomerys will find a way to make a poly cube or something.”

“I am one hundred percent sure I could not handle that. Way too many limbs.”

“And I don’t like to share,” he whispered, before leaning down and pressing his lips to mine.

I shut the water off, and groaned, moving so he could cage me against the counter.

I should have felt worried, should have wanted to push him away. But I didn’t. Instead I moaned into him, sliding my hands up the back of his shirt.

“When do you have to go to work?”

“Kane will be here in an hour,” he said as he nibbled at my jaw.

“That should be enough time.”

“We’ll see. I still need to finish eating.”

And when he went to his knees and shoved down my sweats, I groaned.

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