Page 63 of Falling Together

Blair gently threw Nolan back onto the couch and pointed a finger at him. “Excuse me. Did you just call me a poopy butt?”

Nolan laughed and nodded. “You’re a big smelly poopy butt.”

Blair had no idea why a kid calling her names was making her so happy, but she couldn’t stop smiling as she attacked Nolan with tickles and enjoyed his laughter in response. She could really get used to this being her life—coming home from work to Nolan and Erin. One of them making dinner while the other entertained the kid. It sounded pretty damn perfect. It was also nothing but a fantasy because Erin hadn’t mentioned anything else about their beach rendezvous. It was actually the opposite. The last few weeks of babysitting had been kept completely professional, and Blair hated it. She wanted to flirt with Erin. She wanted to feel Erin’s skin underneath her fingertips, even if it was only for a few seconds. She wanted so much more than what Erin was willing to give her, and she was really trying to be okay with that even though it was extremely hard.

“Can we play dinosaurs?” Nolan asked, saving Blair from a complete spiral.

“Let’s do it!” She spent the next hour in an imaginary dinosaur world with Nolan until Erin announced dinner was ready.

Blair carried Nolan into the kitchen and found that Erin had made baked potatoes with cheese and chicken fingers.

“I know it’s not the healthiest meal, but it’s what we had,” Erin said, as if she were embarrassed.

“Are you kidding me? My parents aren’t home tonight. If I wasn’t here, I’d be eating ramen noodles. This is much better.”

“Ah, so that’s why you came, huh? For my amazing home-cooked meal.”

“You caught me.” Blair set Nolan on the ground, then walked over to Erin and had to stop herself from putting her hands on Erin’s hips. “It has absolutelynothingto do with the company.”

After filling their plates, the three of them sat at the kitchen table and talked about Nolan’s day at school, the new projects Erin was doing for work, and how the first two days of training went for Blair. Blair went into excruciating detail about everything she had done the past two days in an effort to prolong the meal as much as possible. She didn’t want to leave, but she knew once she was done eating, she wouldn’t have a reason to stay.

Luckily, Nolan gave her a reason. “Mommy, can Bear read me a book and tuck me into bed tonight?” he asked as Erin cleared his plate from the table.

“You’ll have to ask Blair, sweetie. She probably wants to get home so she can get ready for another day of work tomorrow.”

You couldn’t be more wrong, Erin.Blair looked between Nolan and Erin and shrugged. “I’m okay with it if you are. Since Marisol started school, I’ve really only been hanging out with my parents. It would be cool to spend time with other people for once.”Especially if those people are you two.

The smile on Erin’s face told Blair that she was happy she had agreed to stick around. “Perfect. Any chance you want to help with bath time too?” Erin laughed as though she were kidding, but there was honestly nothing Blair wanted more.

“I’m down.”

After taking a few minutes to convince Erin that she wasactuallyokay with giving Nolan his bath, Blair headed upstairs with him while Erin finished cleaning up from dinner. Blair spent the next half hour yelling at Nolan to keep the water in the bathtub while she struggled to get him clean. She was relieved when Erin finally came up and told Nolan he had to get out and get ready for bed.

Blair worked with Erin to help get Nolan dressed, then asked him to pick out a story. Blair climbed into Nolan’s bed to read to him while Erin sat beside it, watching the interaction as if it was an episode of her favorite show.

After Nolan suckered her into reading a second book, he yawned and wrapped an arm around Blair. “Snuggle me until I fall asleep?”

Blair held Nolan tight up against her, but instead of focusing all of her attention on him, she looked over at Erin, who was sitting beside the bed and already staring at her. The intensity of her stare took Blair’s breath away. She wanted to know what Erin was thinking about while looking at her like that. Of course, she couldn’t ask, because that would wake Nolan from his drowsy state and make this whole process take ten times longer. She could still enjoy that look and imagine everything it could mean though.

When Erin’s lips started to move in silent words, Blair’s imagination went even more wild. Was she telling Blair how she really felt? Inviting her back to her room? When Erin lifted her eyebrows and nodded toward Nolan, Blair realized it wasn’t anything that exciting. She was trying to tell Blair that Nolan had fallen asleep.

Erin nodded to the door, then stood and walked out of the room. Blair carefully extracted herself from Nolan then climbed out of bed and left the room as well. When she closed Nolan’s door behind her, she was surprised to find Erin was standing just inches from her.

With Erin so close, it was hard to catch her breath. She wanted to reach out and touch her, but her hands were glued to her side. She struggled to force words out that she hoped would come across as flirty and fun. “I’m not the babysitter anymore, you know,” she whispered, but the way her voice cracked didn’t make it come across in the enticing way she’d hoped.

The small smile that had been on Erin’s face dropped and she looked toward the ground. “I know. I’m sorry. I promise if Nolan asks you to do something like put him to bed that you can say no. I don’t want you to feel that way.”

Wait. Why is she apolo- OH! She thinks I’m upset about putting Nolan to bed. Very smooth, Blair.Blair rolled her eyes at herself. So much for being fun and flirty. “No,I’msorry. That’s not what I meant. I love when Nolan asks me to do stuff. I can’t even begin to explain how happy it makes me. I meant I’m not the babysitter, so we can be…” She let her words trail off because she didn’t want to make Erin think she was forcing her into anything she wasn’t ready for.

Erin stared at her the exact same way she had in Nolan’s bedroom, and Blair’s mind went back to the night they stood right outside this door and almost kissed for the first time. At that time, it had felt like nothing but a pipe dream, but after everything that had happened between them, Blair wondered if she should just lean in and take what she wanted.

When she slowly started to move in, Erin shut her eyes. “Do you want to stay and watch a movie with me?” She took in a long shaky breath, then opened her eyes and pushed it out. “As a friend. I’m sorry. I know it’s pathetic that I’m still so stuck on my past. I want to move on, but I can’t.”

Blair reached out and grabbed Erin’s hand. Even though that response wasn’t what she hoped for, Blair wanted to be understanding. She couldn’t imagine deciding to spend her life with someone just to have them walk away. Of course that would mess someone up, and for that reason, Blair was willing to be patient. She would take her time and prove to Erin that she wasn’t like the other people who were able to just walk out of her life. “If a friend is what you need, that’s what I’ll be.”

Being Erin’s friend was much harder than it sounded, especially when Blair found herself snuggled up on Erin’s couch almost every night for the next week-and-a-half, watching a movie together after Nolan fell asleep. By the following Friday night, Blair’s fingers were itching to touch Erin in any way they could. The subtle flirtation between them that had become less subtle with every passing night certainly wasn’t making things any easier on her.

When Erin sat on the end of the couch that had become “her spot” for their movie nights, Blair sat down close beside her instead of in her normal spot at the other end. Erin didn’t say anything, but Blair could tell their closeness was having an effect on her based on how dilated her pupils were. When Erin pressed play on the movie they had agreed on, Blair placed her hand on Erin’s thigh. Erin stared straight ahead, but her breathing became heavier. Since Blair’s goal wasn’t actually to make her uncomfortable, she decided to move her hand. Except, as soon as her fingers disconnected from Erin’s skin, Erin brought her hand down on top of Blair’s to bring it right back to where it had just been.

---