Page 169 of My Only

I focused on her. “Yeah?”

“Since we’re supposed to be communicating openly or whatever...”

I smirked. “Or whatever.”

She exhaled. “I was really bummed last year when we didn’t take our annual trip. And… I’m kind of bummed that we won’t be doing anything again this year.”

I nodded slowly. “Then we gotta fix that.”

She arched a brow. “How?”

I ran my fingertip along her delicate jawline, then pinched her chin. “When I went to Bryant to tell him about Harper, he told me I could take two weeks off.”

Ayla leaned back slightly, studying me.

“I just need to give him and the office a few days’ notice.”

Her face lit up with a smile. “Okay!”

“I was thinking about it on our drive back from Dr. Aldridge’s. After hearing her talk about everything we need to focus on this week…” I smiled. “I was thinking… a road trip.”

“A road trip?!”

“Mm-hmm.” I licked my lips, sliding my hands down to pull her closer by the curve of her ass. “You, me, and nothing but the open road. In an RV.”

She scrunched up her face. “An RV?!”

“Yeah.”

“Like… camping and stuff?”

“Something like that.”

She rolled her eyes away, sighing dramatically.

“Oh, don’t do that.” I squeezed her ass, smirking. “You know I’m gonna make it dope. Come on now.”

Ayla fought back a smile. “I know.”

“You still trust me, right?”

Her eyes snapped to mine. She was nodding before I even finished my question. “I never stopped.”

“So trust this will be dope. You down?”

A road trip was something I’d been wanting to do for a while. With two weeks to ourselves, this felt like the perfect chance, not just to escape, but to reconnect. With my wife. With my friend… and to kill time while abstaining.

“Okay!” She squealed. “Let’s do it! Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

Her face lit up even more, and damn, I wanted so bad to lean in, kiss her, roll her under me and sink into her warmth. But that damn rule...

I still wasn’t sure how this “friends first” thing was supposed to fix everything. How the hell was I supposed to be just friends with my wife again?

But the way Ayla was smiling right now? That glow? I hadn’t seen that in over a year. Too long.

Maybe Dr. Aldridge did know what she was talking about. Because this? This was the most excited I’d seen Ayla in a minute… and damn, it looked so good on her.

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