Back to You

Lauren shifted again, trying to get closer, and when the console prevented her, she came up onto her knees and tried to maneuver around the stick shift. Adam immediately sat back against his seat, gripping her hips and helping her over the console and onto his lap.

He slid his hands into her hair, gazing up at her, and as she leaned down to kiss him again, she felt his hands slide down the sides of her neck and over her shoulders.

She shivered, and Adam pulled back slightly, their lips barely touching and their breath mingling together. He ghosted his hands over her ribs, his thumbs grazing the sides of her breasts, and Lauren gasped softly against his mouth before closing the tiny distance, kissing him more earnestly.

He had been so patient with her, always so patient. But she was pushing the boundary right now, and she knew it.

They had only been on three dates before this, so it wasn’t as though it was completely unreasonable that she hadn’t been intimate with him yet. And every time they’d gone out, he’d always been a perfect gentleman, never pushing, never taking it to a new level without her permission.

But she knew he was ready for more. Hell, even she was ready for@ucleasi more. At least, her body was.

But she just couldn’t bring herself to sleep with him yet.

She told herself it was because she wanted to make sure this was something real, something meaningful, before she gave herself over to him.

But she knew what the real reason was.

She knew what always happened whenever she slept with someone. She knew what she would end up doing. And she wasn’t ready for that to happen yet. She liked him too much.

Adam hummed in contentment against her mouth before pulling back slightly and brushing the hair out of her face. “So,” he said breathlessly, “where does the character go from here?”

Lauren dropped her eyes, taking a small breath before she bit her lower lip.

“Hey,” she heard him whisper, and she tentatively lifted her gaze to his. “It’s okay,” he said softly.

“I’m so sorry,” Lauren said, moving to get off of him. “I shouldn’t have—”

His hands immediately came to her hips, stilling her. “Don’t be sorry. We both agreed to take it slow. That’s what we’re doing.”

Lauren looked at him expecting to see the frustration behind his kind words, but all she saw in his eyes was complete sincerity.

She hated herself in that moment. Why couldn’t she just give him what he wanted? What she wanted?

“I do want you, Adam,” she whispered.

He smiled a slow smile before he trailed the backs of his knuckles up the side of her body, and Lauren’s eyes fluttered closed as she instinctively arched toward him.

She quickly regained her composure before opening her eyes and looking down at him.

“I know you do,” he said.

Lauren closed her eyes again, nodding softly as she took a deep breath.

“Do you want to know why my last relationship ended?” Adam asked, shifting her so she was sitting on his lap rather than straddling it.

“Why?” Lauren asked, resting her head against his shoulder as he trailed his fingertips over the skin at her wrist.

“Because she tried to fast-forward everything. She was always on to the next step, the next phase. She treated our relationship like it was a race to the finish line.” He reached up and took a strand of Lauren’s hair, tucking it behind her ear. “And it’s not that I don’t want what’s at the finish line. Living together. Marriage. Babies. I see myself with all of that one day. But this,” he said, gesturing between them. “This part—the begi

Lauren closed her eyes and smiled. “So what you’re saying is, you don’t mind savoring things?”

“I don’t mind savoring you.”

She lifted her head off his shoulder and looked up at him and he smiled. “You ready to go home?”

Lauren nodded gently, too overcome to speak.

They drove home in comfortable silence—the radio humming softly between them as he gently played with her fingers, releasing her hand only to shift gears.

And when he walked her to her door, he thanked her for spending New Ye@ this leasiar’s with him and kissed her in a way that made her question her sanity for not dragging him upstairs and having her way with him.

She watched his car pull away before she turned to unlock her door, and just as she turned the key, she heard her cell phone ringing. Lauren dug through her purse as she stepped into her apartment, flipping the light on as she pulled her phone out and looked at the screen.

Instantly, butterflies flooded her stomach.

Incoming Call from Michael.

Ever since that night a few weeks ago when Lauren had taken care of Erin for him, things had changed between them. They were quickly becoming friends again, and the ease with which it was happening made Lauren realize what a fool she’d been for thinking it could have been avoided. So it wasn’t unusual for her to see his number now.

But every time she did, she’d react the same way, and she hated it. And tonight, on the tail end of her evening with Adam, those butterflies felt even more traitorous.

She hit the button to take the call as she removed her coat.

“Hey.”

“Miss Lauren!”

The tiny bell-like voice was not the one she expected, but she gri

“Hi, sweetheart! What are you doing awake? It’s way past your bedtime!”

“Daddy let me stay up to see the ball!”

“He did? Wow!” Lauren said with the enthusiasm she knew Erin was expecting.

“Yep! And he let me have a whole ice-cream sundae. And you know what else?”

“What else?” Lauren said, smiling to herself as she stepped out of her heels and walked back to her bedroom.

“We took out all the pans and hit them with spoons when the ball came down. We were loud!” Erin shouted before she squealed with laughter.

“My goodness!” Lauren laughed. “Well, it sounds like you had a lot of fun.”

“We did,” she said. “Oh, and I almost forgot, Happy New Year!”

“Happy New Year, sweetheart,” Lauren said, unzipping her dress and letting it pool at her feet.

“Gotta go! Here’s Daddy!” she said, and then Lauren heard the sounds of the phone changing hands.

“Okay, but we have to start being quiet now, honey. It’s late and people are trying to go to sleep,” she heard Michael say before he took the phone. “Hey,” he finally said. “Sorry about that. I figured you’d be up, and she was insistent that we call.”

Lauren smiled as she quickly pulled an oversized T-shirt over her head. “How is she not passed out yet?”

Michael sighed. “I screwed myself during the celebration process. She’s riding a hardcore sugar high. I might not get to sleep until next weekend.”

“Come on. This isn’t your first time partying with a three-year-old. You should have matched her sugar intake with your own coffee intake. That’s just a rookie mistake.”

Michael laughed. “That’s brilliant,” he said through a yawn. “Where were you when I needed that idea two hours ago?”

She smiled as she crawled into her bed. “I can’t imagine she can go for much longer. She’ll crash soon. And from the sound of it, she won’t be the only one.”

“Pathetic, right? I was nodding before the ball dropped.”

“Pathetic indeed. This from the guy who showed up completely tanked in my driveway at five in the morning one New Year’s, still raring to go.”

“Ah, that’s right,” Michael said slowly. “I believe I puked in your neighbor’s rosebush that night.”

“Hmm, nothing says nostalgia like vomit,” Lauren sighed as she pulled the comforter up over her legs, and Michael laughed.

It was moments like this that Lauren couldn’t comprehend how she had ever lived without his friendship. Je