“You can’t sleep on it now, Ro. You’re so close,” Lucas had insisted when I so much as suggested that I could dedicate more time to being with him.
But Lucas was right. I was so very close that I could already feel the band at the finish line breaking against my chest as I crossed it.
So even though Lucas’s time in New York, in my apartment, was coming to an end, I worked mornings and afternoons while he lounged somewhere in my apartment, reading one of the many romance books I owned, and made sure I always had snacks and stayed hydrated. We had lunch and dinner together; we walked Taco in the evenings together and snuggled on the sofa every night. And we had sex. More than just good sex. Mind-blowing sex. The best sex of my life.
The fact that he was leaving was a constant in the back of my mind, like a low buzz that I couldn’t ignore but could learn to live with. Because I couldn’t let that sour my time with him. I wouldn’t. So, for once in my life, I decided not to plan. Enjoy the moment. Enjoy him. If this was supposed to last a week, a week was all I’d take. I’d deal with the aftermath when I had to.
“Rosie?” A low voice fell close to my ear, returning me to the present.
Delicious awareness washed down over me at the realization that Lucas was right behind me.
“Yeah?” I answered, relishing in the way his scent wrapped around me.
He braced both hands on my desk, caging me in. God, I loved when he did this. “You spaced out, Ro.”
“And how can you possibly know that?”
His nose dragged along my cheek, making my skin tingle. “You were staring at the glass of water.” He let out a low laugh. “For a very long time.”
“I was thinking.”
He leaned over me a little more, resting his chin on my shoulder. “Were you thinking about me? About us?”
I blushed, my heart racing at how close to the truth he was. “Maybe.”
“Was I naked?” he asked next.
I bit my lip. “Possibly.”
“Were you naked?”
“Definitely.”
He hummed. “Ah, those are my favorite kind of thoughts.”
I turned around very quickly, placing a kiss on his lips, and returning my attention to the laptop. To my manuscript.
Lucas must have been dazzled for a moment because he didn’t say a single word. He just… seemed to need a moment to catch his breath.
I smiled to myself.
“So, Rosie,” he finally said, “when are you going to let me read it? I’ve been craving more ever since I finished book one.”
I didn’t even try to conceal how happy that made me. “It’s not ready yet.”
It took him a moment to answer. “How about just a taste? A… snippet. A teaser. It’s Tuesday, you owe it to your fans, and I’m your biggest one. Hashtag Team Rosie. Hashtag Teaser Tuesday. Hashtag Friday Kiss.”
My head swiveled very slowly. “Where did you learn that?”
His grin was big and proud, unashamedly beautiful, just like him. “I have my ways. You should know how good of a researcher I am by now.”
“You’re actually right,” I told him. Then, I turned around and smiled to myself because, whoa, had Lucas looked into the bookishphere? For me? “I’m sorry I underestimated you, Matthew McConaughey. But no teasers for you.”
No way in hell.
I was extremely proud of this first draft, but I didn’t know how I felt about Lucas reading it when there was so much… inspiration drawn from him. From us.
“Not even a peek into a spicy scene? I could help by bringing some more inspiration in there.”
Delicious warmth filled my belly, but I shook my head.
“Okay.” He sighed, but I knew it was more for the theatrics. “How many words away, then?”
My lips curled up, unstoppable. “Not many.”
His arms wrapped around my middle from behind, his face burrowing in my neck. “That’s my girl,” he said, my heart losing it just like the first time he’d ever uttered those words. “I’m so proud of you, Ro. So, so proud.” And for some reason, hearing that from him, that he was proud of me, felt like I’d accomplished something big.
Something amazing.
Something extraordinary.
That was how much he meant to me. “All thanks to you,” I breathed out, overwhelmed by my own thoughts. “To your help. Our experiment.”
“It was all you, preciosa. I didn’t write a word. You did.”
* * *
Tonight was Lucas’s last night in New York. In the States. In my apartment, my bed, my time zone. And with every passing second that pushed us closer to tomorrow morning, my mood plummeted to the ground.