Page 49 of The Holy Grail
“No. You have to work when I’m the only one here, so … I’ll pretend like you’re not a smoke show and you smell like the contents of a dumpster.”
Even though it hadn’t been meant to be funny, Jules could still see the edge of humor in it. “Okay.”
He watched her open the driver’s side door with slightly jerky movements, but before she could get into the car, he stopped her by putting both hands on her face and bending to press a kiss to her temple. It might be the only chance he ever had to kiss her, and hewasn’t going to let it go; granted it wasn’t the kind of kiss he wanted, but he’d have to make do with it.
Evan heard the quick intake of her surprised breath and savored the moment for longer than he should have, before pulling away from a person he was pretty sure he was in love with … for the second time in his life.
It couldn’t be overstated how much it really fuckingsucked.
Chapter 14
Spilling some tea
After giving Paige a body-crushing hug, Jules pulled back to look her friend over. Today, for their lunch get-together at Macaroni’s, Paige was wearing a pair of soft gray, maternity leggings and a matching jersey tunic that draped perfectly over her expanding baby bump. Now near the end of her second trimester, and long past the point at which she’d miscarried in her first pregnancy, she looked relaxed and happy.
“You look great,” Jules said, after they’d been taken to a nice booth and were sitting across from one another.
Paige grinned. “Thank you. I feel great.”
“So … morning sickness?”
“It’s gone, thank God. Barfing at random times during the day gets old really fast.”
“I can imagine.” Jules paused, then asked, “Hemorrhoids?”
“Are you asking if I have any?”
“Yes. I’ve heard that’s common.”
“Um, well, common or not, I’m not aware of having any. Would you like to check?”
“No, I’m just asking, as any good friend would. What about pregnancy hormones?”
“Yes, Idefinitelyhave those.”
“Is it true what they say about them?”
“You mean about them making you horny twenty-four hours a day?”
Jules tilted her head. “Obviously.”
“Yes, it’s true.” Paige chuckled. “Oh, my God, is it true.”
“Well, I hope David’s taking plenty of vitamins, so he can keep up.”
“He’s keeping up just fine … so far.” Paige’s lips twitched. “Although, the other night I think he might have been pretending to be asleep when I got into bed.”
“Why was he in bed before you?”
“I was finishing my nightly ritual, which involves applying large amounts of lotion to my entire body—you know, to help avoid stretch marks.”
“Seems like something David could help you with.”
“He usually does, but I’d jumped him a couple times that day, so he probablywasactually tired.”
“Poor guy.”
The two women shared a laugh, and then Jules pointed toward Paige’s breasts. “Let’s talk about those.”
