Page 162 of From Nowhere

“Don’t give me that look,” I say. “She’s a pill and so are you. Both of you in your red tulip dresses arepills.”

“I didn’t do anything.” She giggles before sipping her wine. “And it’s a tulip-effect skirt inmulberryvelvet, not red.” She runs her hand over themulberrydress that has a satin ribbon around the waist.

She’s so beautiful I can barely breathe.

“You are handsome in this suit.” She straightens my tie with one hand before feathering her fingertips down the length of it.

I might drop Lola off at my mom’s later so I can have Maren inallthe ways I want her.

“Jamie is a stunning bride. And Fitz has never looked happier,” Maren says, watching her friends dance to Kacey Musgraves’s “Space Cowboy.”

I take her glass and set it on the table; then I lead her to the dance floor and pull her to me, slowly swaying in a circle. “I hadn’t noticed Jamie. I’ll take your word for it.”

Maren gazes into my eyes. “I wonder if your mom would let Lola spend the night.”

I chuckle and kiss her forehead. “Baby, I’m two steps ahead of you.”

After the song ends, I call Ruth to make sure she and my mom are okay with us bringing Lola to the house so late. Then we stay until the end, seeing the happy couple off.

“You’re going to Grandma’s for the night. Ruth’s getting you doughnuts in the morning,” I announce when we climb into my Land Rover.

“Why?” Lola asks with a yawn.

Maren shoots me a wide-eyed gaze with her lips in a tight smile.

“It’s late, so you need to sleep in tomorrow morning, but Maren and I are going to get up early to do some deep cleaning around the house.”

“Oh.” Lola yawns again. “I thought it was because you wanted to have sex without me there. Dakota’s mom sends him to his dad’s when she has a guy stay at their house.”

Fucking Dakota’s mom.

“Well, we’re just cleaning house.” I double down on my lie because I refuse to tell my eleven-year-old that I want to have kitchen sex, sofa sex, stairs sex, bathroom sex, and loud, headboard-banging bedroom sex with her new role model.

Lola mumbles an okay and falls asleep before we get to my mom’s.

And by the time we pull into Maren’s house (our house), she’s asleep too.

I carry her inside and set her on her feet at the bottom of the stairs. Dropping Lola off was all for nothing. Maren looks so groggy.

“I’m going to check Bandit’s water and shut off the lights. I’ll be up in a bit,” I say.

Maren nods and mumbles something I can’t hear. I think it’s “Okay.”

After checking Bandit’s water, I unknot my tie and start to slide my jacket off my shoulders while making my way to the stairs through the kitchen.

“Slow down,” Maren says, standing next to the fridge, wearing nothing but a strapless dark-red bra and a black lace thong. “I like watching you undress.” She scrapes her teeth along her lower lip. “Do you like watching me undress?”

I grin,slowlyunbuttoning my white dress shirt. It’s going to be a long night.

I’m an idiot.

This is stupid.

I’ve managed to trick Maren into thinking dandelions are the world’s best flower. What are the chances that she’ll find this endearing and romantic? With Lola at my mom’s and my brain fuzzy from practically no sleep, I let impulse drive my actions.

I slide the folded squares of toilet paper under the bathroom door. She’s on the toilet. I can hear her peeing.

Yeah, this is already an epic failure, but I can’t stop now.

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