She snorted. “So you’ll go with him. It’s not like you can’t design from anywhere.”
Movement out of the corner of my eye drew my attention toward the kitchen. Jake stood against the doorframe staring at me with a guarded expression on his face. I wanted to scream and cry at him that it wasn’t fucking fair–that I wanted the long haul, hell, I deserved the long haul with him. But I knew it was no use. As sweet as he’d turned out to be when it came to me, the one issue he absolutely would not budge on was the finite term of this whatever-it-was between us.
I swallowed the huge lump in my throat and tried my best to push those feelings away for the millionth time since he and I had gotten together.
“Have I told you yet about this Winter Carnival I’ve been working on and the pageant costumes I’ve helped make?”
Zoey let me change the subject while she leaned her head against my shoulder and listened to me pontificate on all the pretty things I’d helped design for the carnival the following day. I was halfway through my descriptions when I came to a screeching halt.
“Shit. You can’t come.”
She didn’t lift her head up to ask me what I was talking about, and I realized she’d fallen asleep against my shoulder. When Jake rounded the corner to bring us some drinks, he saw me look up at him with wide eyes.
“The carnival is tomorrow,” I said. “She can’t come.”
He set the bottles of water down on the table and helped me lay her down on the sofa and pull a blanket over her before reaching out to pull me into a hug.
“Then we’ll take a million pictures and give her a slideshow on the laptop when we get home,” he said quietly in my ear. “Don’t even say what I know you’re thinking.”
“I can’t go. I’m not going to leave her alone.”
He pulled back and cupped my jaw before kissing my cheek. “Wade must have figured it out before you did, because as soon as he got home, he texted me to ask if he could come by and keep an eye on her tomorrow.”
“He what?” a groggy voice croaked from under the pile of blankets on the sofa. “Did you say Wade’s coming over? What did you say? Did you tell him yes?”
She had a sweet smile on her face and I realized that if nothing else, I could love Wade McCreary for making my best friend feel like a million fucking bucks.
The following morning, I was dead asleep being spooned by my favorite doctor when he slowly began kissing the back of my neck and running his hands up and down my skin. Without a single word, he rolled me onto my stomach, donned a condom, and slid inside my body, moving his hips in slow, firm strokes–in and out until I was awake and breathless.
“Yes,” I gasped into the pillow, coming awake to the delicious feel of hard, slick cock; strong, grasping hands; and a hot, wet mouth across my shoulders. My orgasm had started building well before I was fully conscious and by the time I knew what was happening, I was shooting my release between my stomach and the sheet while Jake growled his own climax against the back of my neck.
“Oh god,” I panted, still feeling my body’s intermittent squeezes of his cock inside my channel. “Fuck, Jake. God.”
“Mm-hm.”
“Oh my god.” I could barely catch my breath, and I already wanted him again. “Please, please wake me up like that again sometime soon.”
“Mm.”
I turned my head and saw his hair sticking out everywhere and his eyes still half-closed. A deep pillow crease cut across one cheek and his lips were puffy and red. I let out a laugh.
“You awake or were you just sleep-sexing?”
“Mmpfh.” He lay back down along my back and buried his face in my shoulder.
I wiggled my ass to get him off me so I could rescue myself from the wet spot and shuck off the sheets. He rolled to one side and peeked up at me. “Shower and back to bed?”
After crawling over to kiss his face, I grinned down at him. “Shower and Winter Carnival. Today’s the day. We’re going to make breakfast for preggo over there first and then we need to bundle up.”
I jumped up and made my way to the bathroom, deliberately ignoring his grumbles about perky morning people.
When he finally came and joined me in the shower, I reminded him that I wouldn’t even be awake right now if it hadn’t been for his own morning eagerness.
“Wood,” he mumbled into my chest. “It was morning wood, not eagerness.”
“Just so we’re clear,” I said into his dripping hair. “I wasn’t complaining.”
When we were finally clean, fed, and ready to go, Wade showed up to Zoey-sit my best friend and the Judas dog who’d apparently decided to adopt Zoey the minute she’d arrived in town. I was secretly glad Zoey had Boo’s love and snuggles, though, even if I did miss the little ball of half-fur between Jake and me while we slept.