Chuckling, he lowered her to her feet, walked off to the bathroom, and washed up.
Drunk on sex, she walked to the bedroom, drew down the covers, and fell across on the sheets. He found her there, undressed, then crawled into bed and took her into his arms, his warmth enfolding her.
“I wish I could fall asleep inside you.”
“I wish that, too.”
* * *
It wasafter midnight when they got out of bed, threw on clothes, and raided the guest kitchen downstairs. Victoria, who knew the inn now better than Eric did, led the operation. They found leftover fruit from breakfast in the refrigerator, along with a few leftover croissants, which they warmed in the microwave. Grabbing a jar of Nutella and a butter knife, they crept up the stairs, Victoria fighting giggles.
Then they got naked again, crawled back into bed, and began to feast.
“Did Austin get his vows memorized?” Victoria popped a grape into her mouth.
Eric nodded, his mouth full of pineapple.
“Is it strange that this person you’ve known your entire life is getting married?”
Eric swallowed. “Nah, he’s always done everything first. First to hit his growth spurt. First to have his voice change. First to hit puberty. He was working on biceps when I was still singing soprano.”
She laughed, scooped Nutella onto a spoon and ate it. “Were you jealous?”
“Yeah, I think I was. My mom told me the sperm donor had been tall, so I’d catch up to Austin one day. But it seemed to take a long damned time.”
“Everything feels like forever when you’re a teenager.”
That was a fact. “He was the first to get laid, too. He hooked up with the girl the rest of us wanted, the girl we all talked about at lunch and after school.”
“Sexy Lexi. I know that’s the nicknameyougave her.”
There was no denying it, so he didn’t try. “Guilty as charged.”
“I bet thatreallymade you jealous.”
“I felt pretty inferior. Here he was having actual sex with a real, live girl, and I was stuck fucking my fist. But I was happy for him. It was hard not to be happy for them—the It Couple—until it all went sideways.”
She nodded. “I know all about that. It was hard for me to like Austin at first because all I’d ever heard about him was what a jerk he was.”
“I bet.” He’d gotten the same thing, only in reverse.
Victoria looked up at him from beneath her lashes. “When she came back, you hit on her. I know you did. She told me.”
“I don’t know if I’d go that far. I asked her out once.” He grinned. “I guess I thought I had a shot at her with Taylor out of the way. I figured she and I would hook up and then she’d go back to Chicago.”
He realized the moment the words were out that he’d said the wrong thing.
Victoria looked up at him, another spoonful of Nutella hanging in midair. “Is that what we’re doing—hooking up until I go back to Chicago?”
He felt ambushed by her question, and so he said the first regrettable, stupid thing that popped into his head. “We both knew you were only going to be here for a week. We’ve done our best to make the most of that.”
She stiffened, the softness disappearing from her face. “Right. So Iamjust a hookup—like all the others.”
“You really want to have this conversation now—at one in the morning?”
She dropped the spoon into the jar. “It’s late. You should probably go.”
Wait. She was kicking him out?