Page 101 of Not the Plan

She stared at the screen.No. That’s not enough.She deleted the new message.

Isadora:Thank you, gorgeous. When can I see you?

She hit Send.

—

The next evening, she couldn’t stop fidgeting after she rang the doorbell at Karim’s. He opened the door and before she knew it, he’d zipped her inside and folded her into his arms. His kiss was deep and intense, and it excited her as much as it soothed her. She moaned, his lips, his warmth, and his smell turning off all her thoughts and pushing her toward her needs. She slid her hands to the buttons on his dress shirt, beginning to remove the flimsybarrier. After two buttons, his hand cupped hers, stopping her. He pulled back to whisper.

“No, no baby…” He looked her in the eye, his forehead grazing hers. “Let me savor you for a little while.”

She smiled up at him. “Baby?” she whispered.

“Yeah.” He nodded, his gaze darting back down to her lips.

“Yeah,” she echoed, biting her lower one.

He growled and began devouring her again.

—

He’d been wise to leave a blanket on the couch. She appreciated the intent behind his desire to enjoy each other little by little, but they’d failed. They hadn’t even made it to his bedroom. He pulled the blanket over them, lying naked in a post-sex cocoon on the soft leather. After taking time to come back to themselves, he began gliding his fingertips over her skin. She loved the way he caressed her after sex. It wasn’t to arouse, but to appreciate, to have another way of connecting with her. She was in a perfect state, listening to his heartbeat.

“I’m sorry I was MIA this week,” he said.

She didn’t open her eyes. “It’s okay, baby.” She smiled, using that word for him. “RJ had to talk me down a bit, but it was a crazy busy week for us all.”

“Remind me to thank him. To be honest, though, I did use work as a bit of an excuse.”

She lifted her head, resting her chin on his chest. “An excuse for what?”

He shrugged, not looking at her. “Got a little freaked out. Still can’t believe you really want to be with me. Wanted to give you a chance to reconsider, maybe change your mind if you wanted.” He focused on playing with her hair.

She stilled his hand. “Why would I change my mind? Have you?”

“No, of course not,” he said, eyes wide. “I just…I don’t want to be the cause of any problems for you.”

“It’ll cause me more problems if you disappear on me.”

He smiled. “Not a chance. Just need some time to believe this is actually happening to me.”

“I wish I could take that away from you,” she said, running a hand down his face. “I wish I could make that pain and doubt disappear.”

“You know I feel the same way about you, right? I’m still so angry at the idea of you thinking you could be a disappointment to anyone.”

She chuckled. “That’s what RJ had to talk me down about. I decided I’d done something to disappoint you this week. He kinda got in my face about it.”

“Isadora.” He took her face in his hands. “You willnever, everbe a disappointment to me. It’s impossible. Odds are much greater that I’ll be a disappointment to you somehow.”

“No, gorgeous. I’m pretty sure that’s impossible too.” She put her head back on his chest.

“I’m serious. I’m sorry to talk about work right now, but things are weird. People are looking at me differently. And the amendment I drafted is not the one available for review online.”

She raised her head. “It’s not?”

“No. Not at all. I don’t understand what happened. It’s like…like a different document was put in place of the one I worked on. With different statute numbers. But somehow everyone’s signature is on the new version.”

Mine right at the top,she thought.

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