Page 76 of The Plus One
She felt his smile stretch under her hand, the heat of his lips warming her palm, filling her with an effervescent fizz of joy.
“Let’s go,” she said at last, releasing his mouth and grabbing his hand, dragging him out to the fresh air and sunshine. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can, uh…”
“Go mattress spelunking?”
Indira punched him on the shoulder.
The afternoon was spent with the two collecting reams of toilet paper from trees and bushes, finding countless reasons to laugh until they wheezed as they picked up forks from the lawn and did a half-assed job scraping egg bits off the bricks.
And kisses. They found every possible reason to kiss. Behindbushes. Pressed against the side of the house. In the garage, against her car.
And that night, they followed each other up the stairs, Jude only risking a tender squeeze to Indira’s hand before leaving her outside her door. She went into her room, resting her back against the wall they shared, biting her lip to hold back a squeal and smiling up at the ceiling until her cheeks ached.
The softest tap at her door pulled her away.
She tiptoed across the room, then opened it slowly.
And Jude was there, eyes hungry, lips parted. He slipped inside, and Indira closed the door as quietly as possible, preserving the silence that let this moment be just theirs. Then Jude pushed her against it, claiming her as his regardless of any noise.
They were a blur of stripped clothes and whispered promises of leaving before the morning. Cries and groans held back with bitten tongues.
They held each other after. In those moments, it wasn’t hard to be quiet.
They seemed to agree that some conversations could be left for another day.
CHAPTER 26
Indira
T-MINUS TEN DAYS UNTIL THE WEDDING
Finally—finally—Indira found a decent apartment with rent that still made her sick to her stomach but at least wouldn’t require her to sell a kidney, and she spent her birthday moving in.
Well, Jude was moving her in. Indira was spending most of her time facedown on the ground, trying to cajole a disgruntled Grammy out from her hiding spot under the bed. But what was the point of having a boyfriend if not for manual labor?
“I love it,” Indira said, spreading her arms wide and spinning in her living room as the last box was brought up. “Happy birthday to me,” she crooned, crossing the room and grabbing the front of Jude’s T-shirt, giving him a deep kiss.
“Happy birthday,” Jude said, rubbing the tip of his nose against hers. “I’m so glad you found a place you love.”
“Only took me a lifetime,” Indira said, plopping down on some plump cushions that were serving as a makeshift couch until she could buy a new one. Indira had sold most of her stuff when she’d moved in with Chris, so she had a lot of rebuilding to do, but it felt so unbelievably fucking delicious to have a place all her own once again, she couldn’t be bothered to worry.
“You’re lucky that mattress fit through the door,” Jude said, glancing toward the long, narrow hallway that led to her bedroom, where a giant king-sized bed lay on the floor, her most recent, and rather extravagant, splurge item.
“I can always make things fit,” Indira said with a dirty wink.
Jude cringed. “Nice one,” he deadpanned, making her giggle.
She was about to ask him to grab her some water, when her intercom buzzed. Jude walked over and pressed the button.
“Grubhub,” a voice crackled through.
“Be right down,” Jude said back.
Indira raised her eyebrows in question.
“It’s not a birthday without a delicious dinner, is it?” He shot her a wink, then slipped out the door.
Indira, mature, calm woman that she was, threw her head back and started squealing at the top of her lungs as she kicked her hands and feet. Holyfuckwas she gone for this guy.
