“Brilliant,” he breathed, kissing my shoulder. “It’s been a while.”
“Huh? What about Avery?” She was the last person I wanted to talk about while we were both naked, but the question was already out.
Dammit.
“We never got that far.”
“But...you guys dated for, like, six months,” I protested. It was beyond me how any woman could date Rob for that long and not demand to see him naked. But secret relief crashed through me, even stronger than the disbelief. I loved that she never got him this way.
“She wasn’t into it. Anytime I hinted it might be time for us to move past kissing, she shut me down. Never told me why, though. Maybe she’s religious, promise ring from Dad, saving herself for marriage?”
The idea of my father taking an interest in my sex life freaked me out. “Creepy. And I have no idea. Her family has money...otherwise, I don’t know much about them.”
“They’re...formal. I met them twice in total. Her uncle hated me.”
I kissed him. “Well, you don’t have to worry about them anymore. On my side, there’s basically just my mom and...maybe Stuart. But I’m pretty sure you can take him.”
“Probably.”
“You know, that’s probably why Avery thought the worst of you so quick, though.”
“Hmm?” He sounded so relaxed, it was adorable.
“The not-very-flattering consensus among women is—if he’s not getting it from you, he must be getting some elsewhere. Which doesn’t take into account guys like you.”
“That’s so offensive,” Rob said. “Women really believe that?”
“Some of them do.”
“You’re not one of them?”
“Depends on the guy. You? No way.”
“I’ll take it.”
“Be back in a minute.”
After kissing him, I crawled out of bed and went to the bathroom with my bag. Then I cleaned up the sex mess. For a few seconds, I stared in the mirror, trying to decide if I should wash off my makeup. It was better for my skin, but that meant he’d see me in my unpainted glory in the morning, along with bad breath, gunk in my eyes and crazy hair. I’d never slept over after sex before, so I had no protocol in place. Turning the bottle of skin cleanser over in my hands, I recognized the budding flutters of a panic attack. God, what a stupid thing to freak out over. Apparently I took so long that Rob came looking for me.
A tap sounded on the bathroom door. “Everything all right?”
“No, you ruptured me with your monstrous penis.”
“Lauren, that is not funny.”
I exhaled. “Two minutes, I swear. My vagina is fine.”
This is Rob. None of that matters.
Mustering my courage, I took my makeup off and returned to bed. He was still awake, propped up on the pillows, looking both concerned and delicious. You’d think I would panic more about trotting around naked, but my head was a messed-up place, and apparently lack of makeup was more terrifying. Rob pulled me into his arms.
“Talk to me.”
Feeling like a dipshit, I mumbled my concerns, light years more than I’d ever achieved with anyone else. In the intimacy games, Rob and I were well into first place. He stroked my hair with gentle hands, listening to all my crazy with a miraculous sort of infinite patience.
“This isn’t the kind of shit I worry about,” he admitted. “But I promise I’ll think you’re beautiful—with or without makeup, first thing in the morning, whenever. Part of that’s how you look, but the rest comes from how I feel when I’m with you. Lauren, you’re the only person in the world who doesn’t make me feel like half a ham sandwich.”
Since he was being so sincere, I shouldn’t have laughed. “What?”
He stirred against me, self-conscious. “You know. Like there should be more. That what’s here isn’t enough.”
Oh. “Robert Clayton Conrad, you are absolutely the whole sandwich. In fact, you’re one of those party subs that I shouldn’t eat by myself, but I’m sure going to try. Because I’m just that greedy about you.”
He tapped my nose in a stern mock-warning. “If you keep being this sweet to me, things could happen.”
“Sex things?”
I walked a hand down his chest. He captured it and brought it to his lips with a tenderness that did a number on my heart. If I let myself, I could panic over this. Over Rob. There were no walls between us, none of my usual bullshit.
“Stop trying to seduce me, woman. You have to be up in six hours.”
“Sleep is overrated,” I tried.
“There’s no need to cram everything into one night,” Rob whispered into my hair. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Need is one verb. Want is a better one.” I brought his fingers to my mouth in turn and nibbled one, then licked another. Mostly I was playing, but I wouldn’t say no to round two if he couldn’t resist the urge.
“Are you trying to turn me on so much that I can’t sleep?” he asked, kissing the corner of my mouth.
“Maybe.”
In answer, he put my palm over the hard line of his cock, obvious even through the softness of the comforter. “You don’t even have to touch me, baby. Before I broke up with Avery, you had me ready pretty much every single day.”
“Wow. Really? How?”
“It’s the things you say.”
“Like...?”
“You want examples, so you can drive me even crazier?”
I grinned and kissed his chest. “If possible.”
“The first time it happened, we were in Safeway.”
“Seriously?” I thought back and couldn’t imagine what I might’ve said that would turn him on.
“I was looking at cologne...at Avery’s request. You told me, ‘Don’t change for her, okay? You’re great the way you are.’ It was so good to hear that I—”
“Reacted.”
“Yeah. Told myself it was just because things were a little slow in that department, but the more time we spent together, the harder it got.”
“Pun intended?”
He smacked me gently on the ass. “No. Eventually, it got so I thought about you constantly, but I didn’t know what to do about Avery, because it wasn’t her fault things weren’t working out. I didn’t want to hurt her, and it seemed shitty to break up over the phone.”