“There’s that,” she muttered, nudging me with her elbow before she unlocked her door.
I followed her inside and kicked off my shoes. “What do you want to do? Talk? Watch a movie? Sit in never-ending silence and play games on our phones?”
“Are you capable of silence?” she asked, pulling two bottles of water from the fridge. “Judging by your endless texts, I’d say no.”
I took the bottle she offered me. “Hey, if I didn’t text you and check up on you, you’d complain about that.”
“I suppose that’s true,” she mused, cracking the seal on her water bottle. “I’m going to get changed into my pajamas. I won’t be wearing a bra, so don’t stare too hard when I come back.”
“Are we at that stage already? This moved fast.”
“Yeah, well, in a few months you’re gonna have a front-row seat to a human being exiting my body, so my pajamas is child’s play.” She turned and stalked off to her room, leaving me chuckling at her.
And staring at her ass in her jeans.
Jesus, it was one hell of a nice ass.
“Stop staring at my ass!”
“It’s your ass or your boobs,” I shouted after her. “You can’t expect me to ignore both!”
“Nobody can ignore my boobs!” she yelled. “They doubled in size overnight! Pornstars are jealous of me, damn it!”
“I’ll let you know in a minute!” I laughed to myself and sat down on her sofa, grabbing the remote on the way down. I loaded the Netflix app and chuckled when I saw the two profiles named Ivy and Holley.
Who was paying for Netflix here?
“I pay,” Ivy said, making me turn my attention to her.
She was wearing a tiny pair of cotton shorts with sheep on and a faded tank top that looked like it came from some raving Noughties concert.
And she was not wrong.
Her boobs looked fucking great.
“How did you know I was wondering that?”
She shrugged, grabbing a blanket from a soft ottoman and pulling it onto the sofa with her. “You laughed. I pay for Netflix, she pays for Hulu. It works.”
“Makes sense. I’d do that, but I wouldn’t put it past Anna or Liam to change my login and lock me out.”
“Liam?”
“My brother.”
“Oh, I remember. Does he live nearby?” She snuggled down onto the sofa next to me, wrapping herself up in the soft blanket that was adorned with cartoon kittens.
“He’s at NYU,” I replied, selecting her profile. “He comes back for the holidays and school breaks.”
“What’s he studying?”
“Not a damn clue. He’s changed his major three times. It’s why he’s twenty-four and still at college trying to get a degree.”
She winced. “That’s some serious debt.”
“No kidding. I think he’s only there so he doesn’t have to move back in with our parents.”
“Are your parents that bad?”
“No, they’re really great people, actually. They just believe in us facing the consequences of our actions without being mollycoddled.”
“Is that why you texted them to tell them you’re having a baby?”
“Technically, I told them you’re having a baby, but yes. It’s also why my sister is staying with me and not them.” I scrolled through Netflix. “What do you want to watch?”
“Nothing with blood,” she replied. “Why isn’t she staying with them?”
“They told her that her ex-boyfriend was a good-for-nothing asshole who was only using her for her job, but she didn’t agree.”
“Was he? Using her?”
“Oh, yeah. He got a job at the law firm she works at then screwed her secretary.”
“Do you mean his secretary?”
“Nope. Her secretary.” I hovered over a movie. “This one?”
Ivy wrinkled her face up. “That looks like a horror movie. I don’t need any help not sleeping, thanks. It’s like that pregnancy test knocked down the dam. I peed four times between midnight and six a.m.”
“Nice.” I scrolled again. “You’re going to make me watch one of those girly movies, aren’t you?”
“Ooh, How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days!” She jerked and sat upright, hugging the blanket closer to her. “I love that movie!”
Of course she did.
“What about this one? What To Expect When You’re Expecting,” I said. “It looks fun and educational.”
Slowly, she turned her head and stared a hole in the side of mine. “It’s like you want me to punch you.”
“How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days it is.” I scrolled back to the movie.
“Yeah. It’s fun and educational,” she shot back, eying me.
I peered over at her, noting how she was trying to fight a smile. “I’d hate to burst your bubble, but you’re pretty stuck with me now.”
“I know.” Sighing, she rested her head back. “But a girl can dream.”
I shook my head and started the movie, putting the remote on the coffee table before getting comfortable on the sofa with her. Her thigh was pressed up against mine, and thank fuck I was wearing jeans.
The last thing I needed right now was to feel her skin on mine.
If I did, she’d have no use for those pajamas.
I rubbed my hand down my face and tried to focus on the movie. I had no fucking idea what was going on and if I was completely honest, I really didn’t give a shit at all.
Nor did I want to know what was going on. I was pretty sure I’d watched this movie before at some point in my life but I hadn’t understood it then, either.
I glanced over at Ivy. At some point in the last twenty minutes of this mind-numbing movie, she’d leaned into me and was now almost sitting with her head on my shoulder. In fact, five more minutes and I was sure she would be.
And judging by the way she’d wrapped herself into a human burrito, she’d probably be fast asleep, too.
I was proven right in ten minutes. Ivy’s head was right on my shoulder, and she was breathing heavily. Her eyelids flickered, making her eyelashes brush against the soft skin of her cheeks, and she made a tiny noise that was somewhere between a snore and a whimper.
Did I move her to tell her to go to bed?
She looked so peaceful, so relaxed, and she’d had such a long day I didn’t know if I had the heart to wake her. It wasn’t real early either—it was already dark out.
I looked down at her.
She was so fucking beautiful.
I had no idea how I was going to make it through the next few months without falling in love with her.
It sounded crazy, but it was the truth. I already had these wild feelings for her, ones that just wouldn’t go away no matter how hard I tried.
Keeping those in check was going to be so hard. Especially if she kept doing shit like falling asleep on me.
I adjusted myself so I was almost lying on the sofa and gently raised my arm. Ivy whimpered as her head fell onto my chest, but it only took her two seconds before she wriggled and snuggled into me.
What the fuck was I doing? I needed to move away from her, not lie on her sofa and hold her against me like some lovesick fucking puppy.