Page 10 of One Pucking Destiny

Happy birthday to me.

CHAPTER

FOUR

ARI

My naked body up against his, I lay my cheek against his chest. A soft duvet covers us. This guy gave me three delicious orgasms and the best sex of my life. It’s surreal how a day that started with a self-imposed pity party has turned out like this.

Bash trails his fingertips over my back. “You know, this doesn’t have to be a one-night thing.”

“Stop.” I push my hand against his chest. “Let’s just appreciate the night for what it was.”

I can’t deny how comfortable it feels lying in Bash’s arms. The few one-night stands I’ve had were nothing like this. They both included a quickie followed by a deep alcohol-induced sleep where I woke up early and left, never to talk to the dude again. Maybe this timewasn’t a lackluster quickie, but it will end the same—with me leaving. It has to.

“Look, I get that you don’t want a relationship, but we could do a friends-with-benefits thing when I’m in town. You can’t deny we have amazing chemistry.” He kisses the top of my head.

“Let’s talk about something else.”

“Ari, come on. I know you want to do that again, and I a hundred percent do.”

I yawn. “I’m too tired.”Unfortunately.

I can hear the smile in his voice. “I know, me too. But I’m talking about another night.”

“You’re missing the point of a one-night stand, Bash. It’s one night. I already told you that’s all I can do.” Lifting my face from his chest, I prop myself up and run a finger over the butterfly tattoo on the inside of his arm. “Tell me about this.”

He grins. “Very manly, I know. Hattie and I got them for our eighteenth birthday. Twin tattoos. She picked them out.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were twins.”

“Yep, born just two months apart.”

“What?” I give a small laugh. “So there’s a story behind this.”

“Yes, it’s your classic tale of parents thinking they can’t conceive, so they hire a surrogate only to conceive two months later.”

“Oh yes. Classic. Happens all the time.” Amusement lines my voice.

“It’s actually not crazy uncommon, believe it or not. At least that’s what I’m told. I have no idea of the actual stats.”

“So who is older?”

“Hattie.”

“So she was born via surrogate?”

He nods. “Yep. Mom and Dad’s bun… someone else’s oven.”

“That’s pretty cool.”

“We think so. We’ve always been really close. So tell me about yours.” He slides his hand over the tattoo under my rib cage.

“Twenty-first birthday present to myself. I’ve always loved butterflies. They represent all sorts of really cool things, depending on what source you’re reading. For me, I love the whole ‘born a caterpillar, morph into a butterfly’ thing. It’s like your beginning doesn’t have to be beautiful for your end to be. We have the ability to change and make our lives stunning.”

“Your beginning wasn’t beautiful?”

“Well, I was born to a teen mom whose entire family and boyfriend abandoned her for having me. So you could say my entrance into this world wasn’t the best. Not that I remember any of that.My mom always worked to make our life beautiful.”

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