Page 122 of Save Me

Alone.

He wished they could crawl back into bed to finish what they started multiple times the night before, but right now, he knew it wasn’t possible. His head was pounding and the rest of him felt like hammered shit, so…

Definitely no sexy time.

Yet.

As if reading his mind, Ivy walked over with a bottle of ibuprofen and a bottle of water. “You looked like you were in pain.”

All he could do was nod. There were so many things he wanted them to talk about, but…not right now. He swallowed a couple of pills and drank down half the bottle of water before he relaxed against the sofa cushions with a sigh. She was right there beside him, and just having her close helped him relax.

“How about this,” she began quietly. “We just sit and maybe watch a movie or something with the sound on low.”

“That sounds good.”

There was no discussion about what to watch. Ivy simply put something on for background noise. As much as it pained him, Connor felt his eyes getting heavy and knew he would fall asleep.

And he did.

The next time he opened his eyes, the apartment was a little darker and he knew several hours must have passed. They were both more reclined on the couch and Ivy was curled up against him, snoring softly.

It was the most content he’d been in years.

Seven, to be exact.

There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that this was what he wanted. Ivy. The future they should have started years ago. And while he realized it wasn’t going to be as easy as simply saying he wanted a second chance, Connor knew he’d do whatever it took to prove to her he was in this for the long haul.

Shifting slightly, he aligned their bodies and softly kissed her lips in an attempt to wake her up. She instantly responded, and before he knew it, they were a tangle of arms and legs and Ivy was beneath him. His body was screaming for release—to strip them both bare and claim her again and again and again.

Unfortunately, the ibuprofen had worn off and his head was back to pounding. He mentally cursed as he slowly broke the kiss.

“You are beyond tempting,” he said, placing one last kiss on her lips. “But…” Rolling off of her, Connor sat up and carefully raked a hand through his hair.

Without a word, Ivy handed him the pain relievers and the water. “I can’t believe we fell asleep.” She stood and stretched. “I feel like all we’ve done is sleep, wake up, eat, go back to sleep, and now…” Glancing over at him, she laughed softly. “It’s almost dinnertime.”

Yeah, only sleeping and eating probably isn’t the best way to work through our past…

Ivy walked to the kitchen and he heard her sigh loudly. He slowly got to his feet and followed. “What’s up?”

“Still didn’t buy groceries.”

Connor rested his hands on her shoulders. “Tell you what, let’s get some Chinese food and then we can really sit and talk about…well…everything. Then tomorrow we’ll go shopping together.”

“That works.”

After that, they settled into their own little world of domestic bliss. There was no other way for him to describe it. Dinner arrived and they sat and talked for hours about everything that happened after he left. Ivy cried, and Connor held her and cried with her. There wasn’t anything he could do to change the past, but he was damn sure going to do everything he could to make their future everything they had once dreamed it would be.

Hell, he’d make it better.

When they went to bed that night, Ivy kept up the routine of waking him up every couple of hours, but he was beginning to suspect she was enjoying their reward system of kissing each other senseless.

And so was he.

The following day they went out and grocery shopped, and he learned that Ivy loved to cook, still had a serious sweet tooth, and was a bit obsessive about the quality of her produce. They ran into mutual friends and spent so much time talking with people that it took almost three hours to get back home.

Home.

Connor really liked the sound of that.

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