Page 191 of Falling Backwards
He absently smooths a hand over his hair.“Routine stuff.I forgot they left a notice about it the other day.”
Indeed, within moments, a couple of maintenance people are in here bearing a new air conditioner filter and some bug spray.Luke and I try to scoot out of their way while they start tending to their tasks.Then his phone rings and it’s near me, so I see his mom is calling, and he decides to answer as he sits on the couch.
I get back to drinking my water.Thinking of his mom makes me think of our Thanksgiving plans, which make me think of food, which has me realizing I’m hungry and we haven’t landed on what to do for dinner tonight yet.We need to figure that out, and I could also use a shower, and I actually need to update my friends andmymom on me being safely with Luke now….
Shortly after we’re alone again, his phone call ends and I’m as slumped back into the oversized chair as he has come to be on the couch.We catch each other’s eyes and exchange a smile, but even though our lingering shared look turns into glances at lips, the air in here has obviously mellowed out.
I’m sad about the dwindled-away smolder we’d been in together.
I also can’t keep from grinning in amusement and understanding when I hear his stomach growl even from over here.
His smile becomes a grin, too, and he folds his hands behind his head.“Hate to say it, but I’m hungry.”
I nod.“Mmhmm.”
He looks at me for another second, then heaves himself up from the couch and comes to me.I scoot over enough to give him room to sit in the chair with me and he plops down there, then hooks his arm around my neck and tugs me in, his face nearing mine.
“What’s for dinner?”he asks.He kisses my lips and then the bridge of my nose.
I give the kisses back to him, then joke as levelly as I can, “Hmm.Let’s make eggs Benedict.”
The look that pops onto his face cracks me the hell up.
He starts to shake his head and undoubtedly say something like,‘I am way too hungry to try to cook all that shit correctly,’but I beat him to speaking.“I’m kidding!Don’t worry, I’m just kidding!”
His wide-eyed expression melts into bright relief and amusement.“Listen, I was about to say we can see if someone at Lucent will be a friend and make us a rogue eggs Benny, but there’s no way in hell I’m attempting to cook….”
We dissolve into laughter together while I nod and pat at his sides.“Yeah, no, I don’t feel like getting pissed off at homemade hollandaise right now.”
“Right?We’ve had such a good day.”
At that, his gaze goes a little bit flirty and his face tips in towards mine again.I want the new kiss he’s offering and I want it for longer than the ones we had moments ago, so I take it.
He lets it last longer, too, his arm around my neck drawing me a little closer yet.His other hand covers one of mine where it rests on his side, and his thumb swipes over my skin in a way that makes my nerve endings feel tingly and soothed at once.
When our kissing slips to an end, I think both about how much I love being like this with him and, rather suddenly, about pizza and cheese bread.
“Hm,” he muses.“What do you think about having pizza?Maybe cheesy bread, too, ’cause that sounds good.”
Freshly surprised and amused, I lean back enough so he can see the finger I point at him.“Okay, you might be a mind-reader for real.”
Excitement has his eyes widening and his mouth dropping into an open smile, and it isso silly.
And as we laugh together, I love it all: that silliness and all the other ways he’s good at making me laugh, how good it feels to be close to him, how steady and safe he makes me feel.
What a fullness it puts in my chest—what a sense of warmth, of light.
I have to hug him about it.
I memorize the strong hug he gives back to me.
Then I slip away, stand from the chair, and enjoy a better view of his smile before I pull him to his feet, too, so we can get the ball rolling on that cheese bread.After all, can this really be called a sleepover if we never order from a pizza place?
“Oh,” he says suddenly, “I have a little surprise for you.”He smirks at me.“And buying it was the thing I temporarily forgot to do, and I remembered itwithoutthe help of a reminder.”
Although I stand by my advice to use reminders for things, his lovable silliness strikes again.
I say, “A surprise?You shouldn’t have!Thank you!”
