Page 58 of The Baby Bargain

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Her smile widens. "Perfect." She turns back to the TV, but I can still feel her attention.

The whole fucking movie, her attention stays on me.

She watches me watch.

Then we put on the sequel.

She falls asleep in my lap.

And, fuck, it feels more right than anything has in a long, long time.

Chapter Thirteen

Ariel

Iwake on Chase's couch, pillow beneath my head, blanket over my body.

It's warm and safe and comfortable and completely inappropriate.

We need boundaries.

No, I need boundaries. I need to draw that line betweenperson helping me get the thing I want more than anythingand—

Okay, I'm not really sure where the boundaries are. But I will figure it out.

We, uh… we're friends. That's a good enough word.

I find the sketchpad on his counter. Leave a note.

Thanks for everything. I have to get to work. I'll call you when I have some responses. I want to set up a date for Friday.

I want it to be with him.

I want to watchThe Lost WorldandJurassic Park Threeand even the unfortunate reboots. (Which are nonsense, but also full of dinosaurs).

Then, I want to study his selection of comic books, to see where our tastes overlap. Does he obsess over heroes who are energetic and clever likeSpider-Man? Is he more into brooding martyrs likeDaredevil?

Does he like dark, gritty storylines or fun, bright ones?

Does he prefer people who work alone or dysfunctional teams?

I want to know more about him. I want to know everything about him.

My fingers move over the paper. It's filled with tattoo mock-ups.

His style.

Big and bold like something out of an old comic.

Thick lines. Bright colors. Strong shading.

Mom would love it.

Mom would love him.

She'd tell me I'm crazy for doing this with anyone else.

I think. She rushed through the talk—she wanted to be the one to give it to me—but she underlined a few things: Sex should be fun, beautiful, and totally consensual.

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