Epilogue Vaughn #2
“My turn.” She grabs the hem of my shirt and tugs.
I wrap my arms around her, crushing her to me. We’ve gotten this far before, but something about knowing we intend to have sex this time has every moment of this feeling important.
“One second.” I get up and find the candles I bought for tonight.
Lacey grins as I set them on the floor beside the bed and light them.
I climb back into bed, and we get under the covers. We kiss while we let our hands roam and press into each other. She has one leg thrown over my hip and I pull her against me until we’re both panting.
My fingers work to undo her shorts, and she slides a hand under the band of mine. She’s squeezing me tight, slowly sliding her palm up and down, when a knock comes at the door.
Lacey and I both freeze.
“Ignore it,” I say and place a kiss on her lips.
“Collins!” Rex yells followed by three more knocks.
“What?” I shout back.
“Is something burning in there?”
I start to tell him no, but when I glance to the floor, one of the candles has tipped over. The carpet is singed but, thankfully, not burning.
“Oh my god,” Lacey hisses as she sees the damage. Her eyes are wide as she blows out the others.
“Probably something burning outside,” I say to Rex.
He must believe me because he goes away.
“I’m so sorry,” I say to Lacey as I stare at the unlit candles.
“It’s fine. I don’t need candles.”
I nod but don’t feel great about how this is going. I wanted it to be perfect.
Lacey climbs on top of me though, and I forget all about the candles. I’m trying to go slow, but I’m so ready that it isn’t long before I’m peeling her out of her shorts and shucking off mine.
My condoms are in the bedside table. I reach over and pull out two. “Scented or light-up?”
She hesitates, staring at the objects in my hand and biting her lip. “You got light-up condoms?”
“Yeah. There’s even blue. Go team go.” I wave the tiny packet around like a pom-pom.
When she says nothing, I second-guess this decision.
“No?” I thought it was fun, but now I’m thinking her love of school spirit does not include this.
She bursts out laughing. “I’m so sorry. It’s not funny.”
She keeps laughing though. Even as she tries to kiss me, she keeps smiling against my mouth.
Another knock comes at the door.
“Go away.” I don’t need him to help me screw this up any more than I’m doing myself.
“Dude. I need you.” Rex’s voice sounds insistent.
I let out a heavy sigh.
“One sec,” I tell Lacey. I pull on my shorts and cross the room to open the door, using it to shield the lower half of my body. Rex stands on the other side. “Food’s here.”
“We don’t care.”
“Tell Lacey she can’t nap now. The best way to beat jet lag is to power through. And that new Tom Hardy movie came out, so we’ll watch that and then you guys can crash.”
“No.” I shake my head.
He makes a sound between a scoff and a laugh. “Why not?”
I blow out an exasperated breath. “Dude, we are trying to have sex.”
“Oh.” His face falls, and then like he’s just now understanding, he says it again more exaggerated, “Ooooh. Fuck. My bad. Pretend I’m not here.”
He waves his hands in front of his face and backs away from the door.
“Oh my god.” Lacey has the blanket up over her face when I turn around.
I get back in bed and pull it down so I can see her. Her cheeks are pink, and her eyes are squeezed shut.
Music starts playing from somewhere in the apartment. Some slow sensual song that has me fighting a laugh and Lacey falling back onto the mattress.
“At least now he won’t bother us,” I say.
She finally opens her eyes. Embarrassment is still splashed over her features.
“I’m sorry. We don’t have to do this now. We can go eat dinner and watch a movie.”
“I’m not going out there now. Are you serious?” A small laugh finally slips from her mouth.
“Fine. We can watch a movie in here. I’ll go get the food.” I start to get up, but she grabs a hold of my arm.
“Wait. I still want to do this.”
“Are you sure?” It’s not the special night of romance she had planned, I’m sure.
“Yes.” She nods definitively. “But maybe he could change the song?”
I hesitate a beat to make sure she’s serious.
“On it.” I swipe a kiss on her lips and grab my phone. With one quick text, the music changes.
Lacey pulls me down on top of her. “I love you. Thank you for trying to make tonight perfect for me.”
“So much for my planning skills.”
“Perfection is overrated. Besides, we’re going to have a lot of opportunities to do this a bunch of different ways. This is just the first time.”
She’s right. Hopefully a lifetime of many more moments just like this.
She grabs the condoms and holds them up to me. “Scented or blue?”