“Yeah?” I breathe, as my cheeks heat.
“The sound of your voice. I could get off on that voice alone. I have.”
Oh, Jesus.
I slam my eyes shut, and it’s over embarrassingly quick. I shoot all over stomach and when I peel my eyelids open, Sem’s barely breathing, his gaze boring into me.
“Come over,” he pants. “I won’t fuck you. I can keep my hands to myself. I think.”
“And that’s an incentive? How about you come here. I’m too tired, and my entire body hurts. Today, the kids were wild. Please don't ask me to move from my bed, especially afterthat.”
Sem’s eyebrows lower in concern. “What happened at work?”
“Oh god,” I groan, reaching over and wiping myself clean with a tissue. “We went to Adventure City today, and I swear, keeping five and six-year-olds from dying is like a full-time job. One literally ran into the street when I looked away for one second. Another ate dirt.”
Sem smiles a little at that. “And you want how many kids?”
I sigh and throw an arm over my face and sigh. “I’d settle for six. You want any?”
Sem shifts on his bed, turning onto his side. “Never really thought about it.”
“You’re really good with them, Sem. I saw you at the park. You’d make a great dad one day.”
Sem pulls his bottom lip into his mouth but doesn’t say anything.
“Think Caleb and Whit will ever have kids?” I ask.
“Nah. I dunno. Maybe. Ma wants grandkids. But Liam and Anne aren’t trying, and Luke…well, he could have kids somewhere he doesn’t even know about.”
I imagine miniature Sems running around, and I feel my stomach clench in longing.
Do not even go there.
“My parents have mentioned grandkids a few times, but God, I don’t know if I want my kids around them. They’re so closed-minded. I wouldn’t want them making comments, and then my kids ending up confused or feeling judged.”
Sem brings the phone closer to his face, his eyes narrowed. “If we had kids, they wouldn’t set foot in your parents’ house. And if they did want to see them, we’d monitor every visit.”
My heart flutters at his use ofwe, but I don’t mention it. I just tuck that memory away for later consumption and over-analyzation.
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” I sigh and then say, “Hey, enough about that. Now that you’re less horny and can actually focus on what I’m saying, want me to keep reading? We’re literally at a turning point in the book. I think they’re going to finally have sex.”
“Sure,” he says, and I turn my camera off and pull up the book on my phone. And then I start reading. Pretty soon, my voice is trailing off, and my eyelids close. Darkness consumes me, and minutes later, I’m dead to the world.
Sometime later, I’m awoken by the bed dipping behind me. A large hand slips across my stomach, pulling me flush against a familiar body.
“Sem,” I whisper and then snuggle into him. “Finally.”
“Tried. I couldn’t stay away,” he mutters.
“Good.”
Then I let myself dream.
* * *
“What are you going to do?” August asks the next day at lunch when I stare despondently at Colin’s text. As nice as he is and as much as I pined after him for months, I don’t really want to go on that date with him anymore. I cannot believe how much my tastes have changed in the past few weeks. Colin went from being my ideal dream guy to someone I would maybe want to call a friend.
Sem has managed to reverse my idea of a dream guy in a matter of weeks. He’s a sneaky bastard. I should have known this would happen with the way he slips around spaces, lurking and snooping. He managed to wheedle his way into my heart and now I’m envisioning all sorts of things.