Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Hayes
Fear wasn’t the emotion I thought I’d see from Leighton after we had sex for the first time, but that’s what’s staring at me.
“I’m gonna be honest right now, Leighton, if you tell me you regret what we did, I’m going to walk out of here, and you’ll never see me again.” The words fly off my tongue even if I know they’re a lie. More than likely I’d get down on my knees and beg for her to give us a chance.
She giggles.
I frown, not understanding.
She stops herself, although she’s still smiling. “No. I just…” She looks down between us, where my dick is slowly softening inside her. “We didn’t use anything.”
Now there’s fear in my eyes. “Fuck. I’m sorry.” I slide out of her as if that changes the fact that my seed is running down the insides of her thighs. “Fuck. That’s on me. I should have…”
She laughs again and opens a package of paper towels sitting on the shelf. She’s so calm. How can she be so unaffected by this?
“I’m on the pill, so no worries about pregnancy.” She twirls her finger. “Turn around though.”
She hands me a stack of paper towels, and I circle around, facing the wall as I clean myself.
I push a hand through my hair. “Still, it was careless of me, but I was just so…”
“Lost in the moment? Me too. It’s okay, but Hayes?”
I circle back around, and she’s pulling up her pants.
Janitor closet sex is hot until you have to figure out how to clean up after. She gets a trash bag and holds it out for my paper towels.
“This seems so weird,” I say, and she laughs.
“This is sex without a condom. But, Hayes, I hate to ask, but—” Her eyes soften.
I pull up and fasten my jeans. “What?”
She hesitates. “Have you been tested recently?”
“Oh fuck, yeah, of course.” I take the trash bag and place it on a shelf before taking her into my arms. “Yes, I was tested, and I’m good. No worries on that front.”
“No worries on my end either.”
I tug her closer, and her smile grows. “I am sorry though.”
She rests her forehead on my shoulder. “I like that we were so in the moment, we didn’t stop to think about it.”
“Then why aren’t you looking at me when you say that?”
She shrugs. “It’s embarrassing. I’ve never had sex like… I mean, I’ve never…”
I stiffen. “You’re a virgin? Fuck.” I release her and run my hands through my hair. “Callie’s going to kill me. I took your virginity in a janitor’s closet?”
She laughs and wraps her arms around my back, running her palms up my chest from behind. “I wasn’t a virgin. I just meant…”
I circle around in her arms.
“I can get in my head a lot during sex so…” She shrugs, and that pink tinge on her cheeks says she really doesn’t want to talk about this. “I think this is a conversation best for when your parents aren’t in the cafeteria, wondering where we went. And poor Elias.”
I bend down and kiss her lips. “My parents are fine. And maybe I should feel bad for Elias, but I don’t.”
She tips her head back, eyes serious now. “He’s just a colleague.”
I blow out a breath. “I was really fucking jealous.”
She laughs. “I know. You don’t hide your emotions very well.”
“But we’re over the whole ‘I don’t want you’ thing, right? Like this…” I nod between us because I don’t want to take my hands off her. “We’re a thing.”
“Yes.” She lifts onto her tiptoes and kisses me. “We are definitely a thing. But can we wait to go public officially to all our friends until I can tell Callie?”
“I’ll pull my phone out right now.” I shift, but she tightens her hands on my shirt.
“In person.”
My shoulders deflate.
“Hey, no, it’s not some attempt to push this off. We’re together. Everyone already thinks we are, but maybe only we know it’s real until she gets back. I just want to assure her that nothing will change with her and me. The thought of doing it while she’s away—I don’t want to do it that way.”
I can’t say I blame her. Callie keeps telling me to stay away, and I do worry she’ll be mad. If so, if she can see us together, we’ll be more likely to convince her this is a good thing.
I kiss her again. “Okay. But you’re good with this? Us as a couple and everything it entails?”
Her forehead crinkles, and it’s so damn cute. “Yes. Now, we can revisit this tonight, but we need to get back to the cafeteria, and I need to get back to work.”
I bring my lips down to where her neck meets her shoulder. “Call in sick and spend the day in bed with me.”
A shiver racks through her body. “I wish, but I have to be a responsible parental figure now.”
“Fine, use me for my body.” I take her hand and open the door, slowly stepping out and bringing her with me.
“You can’t really blame me. I mean, it’s a great body.”
“Just great?” I joke as we walk down the hallway toward the cafeteria.
“I haven’t seen enough of it yet.”
“Tell me about it. I still haven’t seen your tits. Do you know how crushing that is?”
She laughs, and a few people look at us, but I don’t care. Having her hand in mine and knowing it’s because she wants it there makes me feel as though I just won MVP after the World Series.
We get to the cafeteria and find my parents still talking to Elias. I assumed he’d be bored out of his mind, but it looks as though he’s actually enjoying the conversation, and my parents are just as enthralled.
“Oh, I ate your cookie,” my mom says when we approach the table.
Elias checks his watch. “Where have you guys been? I need to get back to work.” He stands and holds his hand out to my dad. “Nice talking to you both, and congratulations, Jennifer.” He nods at me but doesn’t say anything. “I’ll see you up there, Leighton.”
“Yeah, I’m right behind you.” She grabs her bag of chips and her drink off the table before hugging my mom from behind. “Congrats, Mrs. Carlisle. Hayes can make a reservation at a fancy restaurant, and we’ll all celebrate.”
My mom turns her head and kisses her cheek. “I want to meet the kids too.”
“Definitely, we’ll plan something.” She moves to my dad too and hugs him from behind. “Bye, Mr. Carlisle.”
Then she comes over to me and winds her arms around my neck, rises on her tiptoes, and kisses me as if she’s been doing it for years. “I’ll see you tonight?” she says in a soft voice.
My hands slide down so they’re half covering her ass. “Text me when you’re off shift.”
We kiss, and I want to deepen it, but that would be highly unprofessional in the middle of the cafeteria. She says one more goodbye, then I watch her walk away until she’s out of view.
“So, sex is included in fake relationships these days?” My mom bites into a chocolate chip cookie.
I’m not sure why we thought we were fooling them.
I start walking back toward the counter. “Want another cookie?”
My gaze strays one more time toward the hallway, hoping for another glimpse of Leighton. Damn, it’s been a long time since I’ve been this happy.