Page 122 of Mr. Charming

Tedi nuzzles her head into my neck, her labored breaths easing back to a normal rhythm. “I love you.”

“I love you back.” I run my hand up her side.

I’m still trying to believe that we’re here. That Tedi’s in my condo and we’re making a go of this. A part of me still thinks I’m dreaming.

She loosens her legs, and I lower her to the floor.

“I’ll be right back.” I head to the bathroom to get rid of the condom.

When I drop it in the trash, she’s at my back, her arms wrapping around my waist and her cheek on my shoulder blade. Perfection. This feels like perfection. As if she couldn’t stay away from me for such a short amount of time, so she’s joining me.

We stay like that for a minute, basking in the feeling of being here, together.

“Now, get out. I have to go to the bathroom so I don’t get a UTI.” She giggles, kissing my back before unwinding herself off me.

“Still shutting the door?” I ask, stepping around her to give her the bathroom.

“Yep.” She pushes the door shut.

I grab our clothes off the floor by the front door, walk to my bedroom, and toss them on the bed. She’s in the doorway moments later, watching me shove my legs into a pair of sweats.

“Do you have anything for me?” She steps in, stripping the T-shirt off her body.

“Are you kidding? What’s mine is yours.”

She goes to my dresser and opens a drawer.

“Fair warning though, I might go all caveman alpha male seeing you in my clothes.”

She thumbs through the T-shirts, doesn’t pull anything out, and shuts the drawer. Instead, she walks to my closet, and I hear her pushing aside the hangers, as if she’s searching for something specific. I sit on the edge of the bed, watching her.

She sighs and pulls a sweatshirt off a hanger. Turning around, she holds it up to herself, and I laugh.

It’s her favorite sweatshirt of mine. Old and worn and the one I toyed with getting rid of so many times but couldn’t.

“Do you remember?” She tosses it over her head and saunters across the room to me.

“I do.” I give her a warm smile.

We were on vacation and got stuck in a rainstorm. Running into the nearest store, we bought two sweatshirts. Then we got back to where we were staying and used the excuse of getting warm to strip and slide under the blankets for some skin-to-skin contact. It’s one of my favorite memories with her and one of the reasons that sweatshirt still hangs in my closet.

Tedi claimed both of them as hers after that. I wasn’t complaining.

She drops one leg on the right of my hip and the other one on my left, straddling my lap.

“Are you hungry?” My hands find her ass, tugging her the rest of the way to me.

“Yeah, but nothing crazy. What’s with this Chicago pizza I keep hearing about?”

“It’s deep dish, and it’s so good. And you have to try it.”

She nods, kisses me, and crawls off my lap, situating herself beside me against the headboard. “I like your place. Right next to Colts’ stadium, huh?”

I eye her, and she laughs. Fucking Decker Davis. I’m not sure I can ever look at him the same. Then I grab my phone from the pocket of my jeans and pull up the pizza place I usually order from.

“Hey, someone came to see me in the stands today.”

I glance from my phone to her. “You sound hesitant. Did someone hit on you?”