Page 88 of The Lessons

I turned.

“Sweet dreams.” Then he put on his helmet, kicked on his bike, and rode away.

Chapter Twenty-six

Ryan

It’d been five days since she’d come to my soccer game. I still couldn’t believe I’d invited her to my fucking soccer game. What the hell had I been I thinking?You’re new in town; come meet my friends.Lies, all of it lies. I had absolutely no intention of setting her up with any of my friends or of introducing her to any of their partners. Hell, only one of them was even married. The rest of them, well, they weren’t total douchebags, but they werenotgood enough for Natalie. No fucking way.

As I counted the minutes until our appointment, I tried to distract myself by cleaning the office. No luck; it wasn’t working, and I was getting antsy just thinking about her. When I was adjusting the pillows for the third time, the doorbell finally rang.Thank God.

I opened the door to find Natalie standing there in a short white sundress.

A short fucking sundress.

I started to wonder if she was doing this to me on purpose.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Hey, so…are you going to invite me in?” she joked, smiling sweetly up at me as she eyed the inside of my office.

I shook myself and opened the door wider, ushering her in.

“So that—”

“Thanks for—”

We both started at the same time.

“Sorry, go ahead,” I urged.

She swallowed. “I was just gonna say that it was fun, the other night at the bar.”

I felt a rush of electricity pulse through me and started to grin like a goofball. “Yeah, it was. Thanks again for coming out. Sorry Lam was such a tool.”

“Eh, he wasn’t that bad. I can handle him.”

I stuffed my hands in my front pockets. “Well,” I said gently. “Shall we?”

Natalie

He indicated the back room with his head.

I nodded, thankful I wasn’t yet blushing. I followed him in silence as we made our way to the back. I studied his mom’s painting again as he shut the doors behind us and flicked on one of the small lamps. I expected him to leave for the bathroom so I could undress, but instead I felt his body suddenly press up against my back.

My breath caught. I’d been dreaming of this moment since he’d dropped me off five days ago.

“Hey,” he murmured as he ran his hands over my hips.

“Hey, I managed to whisper back.

He leaned into my neck and inhaled deeply. “You smell good. What is it?”

I smiled. “Dove Body Wash?”

“Mm, it’s nice.” He gently teased my neck with his lips. His hands skimmed my dress, floating up toward my chest where he gave each of my tits a gentle caress and then a stronger squeeze. “I like this dress, Natalie.”

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