Page 92 of The Lessons

She squinted at me as she coughed before taking another sip of water. “Are you serious?”

I put one hand on my heart and held the other up like I was pledging alliance. “Honest to God. Ask Ainsley; she loves it, too. It’s an Andrews family tradition.”

She leaned back against the headboard and took another swig of her water. “Better order two, then. I’m famished.”

After the pizza came, we ate like we hadn’t seen food in three days. We made a considerable dent in the pizza before falling back into bed, ready to slip into a carbohydrate coma.

“Valiant effort, Reese, but it seems you’re all talk when it comes to your appetite.”

“Hey, I had, like, four slices. You didn’t tell me you’d ordered an extra-large. I feel like I represented pretty well.”

My cell phone started buzzing.

Natalie

“Can you hang on one moment? I have to take this.” Ryan excused himself and went into the other room, closing the door behind him.

Naturally, I sprang up from the bed and galloped silently to the door, pressing my ear against it.

He was speaking low, really low, and I could barely make out anything he was saying. I peered through the crack between the two doors, catching a glimpse of him passing back and forth, pacing. Then I heard, very distinctly, the word “tomorrow,” and the sound of his hands on the door handles.

I immediately flew into the only position I could.

The doors opened.

“Oh, hello.” Ryan smiled, taking in the view.

“Oh, hey,” I said, bringing my head up and pulling my legs back together. “Sorry, just stretching. Didn’t want to be sore tomorrow.”Right, Reese, pretend that naked stretching is the most normal thing in the world.

Ryan seemed amused. “I see. Good idea. We did get a good workout.” He sat back on the bed and watched me as I climbed up and under the sheets.

His face looked a little less carefree than it had a few minutes ago.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“What? Yeah, fine.” He scooted over and stretched his arm out behind me so that I was, effectively, in his nook.

Oh, hell, why not? I thought to myself and leaned over, nuzzling in the space, going full nook.

He didn’t pull back. “So, do you date much?” Ryan asked.

Cue the slow-motion camera.Do I date much?!My heart flew at the question while my mind tried to decode the inflection in his tone. Was he asking because he was interested? No, of course not. So whywashe asking? My mind flashed back to our conversation before pizza. Was it because I’d asked him the same thing?

“Uh, no. Almost never. I mean, that’s why I’m here, right? Why?”

“People can date and not have sex, Natalie.”

“Oh, thanks, doc, didn’t realize.”

“Not a doctor,” he retorted before continuing. “So, it’s not that you object to dating.”

“Me? No. I mean, I want to date. I need to date.”

That made him chuckle. “What do you mean, you need to date?”

I was feeling so close with him at that moment that I briefly considered telling him my plan before realizing almost immediately that it might raise red flags around our work together. So I went with a modified version.

“You generally have to date before you get married,” I continued. “I mean, in America.”

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