Page 30 of It's Complicated

He’d been gentle and exploratory, letting me lead but also taking over when the moment was too much. He could read me, anticipate my needs, and he’d poured all of that care and consideration into his kiss.

And now he was cracking jokes and acting like we hadn’t seen each other’s O faces again. Like we hadn’t shared that earth-shattering kiss.

Even with all my insecurities about the situation, I had no doubt he’d enjoyed it as much as me.

Isaac could read me like a book, but the opposite was also true. I knew him, and I understood how he worked. He’d been just as turned on, just as desperate as me.

He’d wanted it, and he’d enjoyed it, but now that the moment was over, I was so messed up by my own shit I had no clue what he was thinking.

“Blanket fort!” Cody, my five-year-old nephew, shrieked, running into the living room in nothing but a pair of turtle underwear and a single red sock.

“Blanket fort!” Sophia, his three-year-old sister, hollered, hurrying into the room after him, her little legs working double time as she tried to keep up.

“Cody,” Emma groaned as Cody raced up to the fort and swiped at the sides, looking for the entrance. “Where are your clothes?”

“Upstairs.” He found the flap and held it up. “Got it!” he announced triumphantly, then dove inside with all the enthusiasm of someone about to uncover sunken treasure.

Sophia skirted around the fort and stopped in front of me, a smile on her cherubic face.

“Did you have a good nap?” I asked.

She made a face. “Naps are for babies.”

“My mistake,” I corrected. “Did you have a good rest?”

She shrugged and eyed my juice box.

“I’m hungry,” Cody announced from inside the blanket fort.

“Me too,” Sophia said, turning her smile on Emma.

“I’ll get them some snacks if you want to make sure the fort is stable,” I offered.

She shot me a grateful smile and settled on the couch.

“I want grapes.” Sophia looked up at me expectantly.

I arched an eyebrow at her in question.

“Please,” she added with a demure smile.

“I want grapes too! Please!” Cody yelled from inside the fort. The side of it shook precariously.

“Careful,” Emma and I both said.

“I’m being careful,” he promised, his voice muffled by the blankets.

Sophia hurried away from me and stopped beside the fort. “Let me in.”

The flap lifted as Cody pushed it open for her. “Come on, Soph, check out the lights!”

Sophia crawled into the fort, and her exclamations of glee made me smile.

I’d strung some battery-powered fairy lights through the plastic fort supports, hoping they’d like them. I loved how such a simple thing could bring them so much joy.

Emma caught my arm as I squeezed past her to get to the kitchen. “Are you staying for dinner?”

I was tempted to say yes and extend my time away from the apartment, but it was my night to cook, and I hadn’t told Isaac I wasn’t going to be home.

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