Chapter 18
My stomach grumbled, waking me up from the comfiest nap I’d ever had.
Easton’s chest rumbled at the sound. “Hungry?”
“Yes, you should feed your rebound, it’s one of the most important rules. Or at least it’s a rule I’ve just implemented.”
“I accept this rule. What do you want?”
“Chinese?”
Without answering, Easton reached over and grabbed his phone out of his sexy sweatpants.
“Diabolical, by the way, wearing grey sweatpants.”
Easton kissed the top of my head while he ordered our food. I climbed up, embarrassed by my nakedness all of a sudden but needing to use the bathroom more than my awkwardness.
“Hmmm?” Easton asked, still on the phone, and when I looked back his eyes were glued firmly to my ass.
Embarrassment fixed.
After using the bathroom, I wrapped myself in my robe, walking out with a sway to my hips. Easton was sprawled out on my bed, with his phone in hand, a furious frown slashed over his beautiful lips.
“I’d hate to be the person that caused that look on your face.” I leaned against the door jamb, watching him work.
“You would never be as incompetent as the person that caused this face.”
“Trouble at work, darling?” I sauntered over, climbing in bed and grabbing my own phone to check my emails.
“Yes, sweetie pie. People seem to not be capable of following simple orders.”
“Tell me about it,” I answered, reading an email from one of our accounts that refused to listen to our advice even though she was paying us for said advice.
Easton and I worked while we waited for the food. The silence was comfortable, both of us tapping away on our phones. When the doorbell rang, I had gotten more done than I’d expected.
Bradford would get annoyed if I worked too much around him.
Even though I explained that if he let me work uninterrupted, I’d get what I needed done faster, giving me more time to be with him.
He’d never understood that. Easton, on the other hand, seemed to understand without having to explain it to him.
We ate Chinese food on my couch as we talked about work and the pet peeves of our current clients.
I dropped a noodle on my chest. Easton stopped me from picking it up and popping it into my mouth; instead, he slurped it into his.
His tongue licked where the noodle had landed, ensuring all the sauce was cleaned off from my now blushing skin.
The food was forgotten as we made out on the couch before going for round two, and then round three in the kitchen, with round four and five being in the shower and back in my bed.
The full circle of sex.
“Do you need anything before I leave?” Easton asked, bending over to put on his slutty sweatpants.
I bit my bottom lip instead of leaning over and taking a bite out of his delectable ass.
“Feeling back in my legs,” I joked again.
Was it really only this morning that I’d made that joke?
He leaned over, kissed the tip of my nose, and froze when he pulled back. He cleared his throat like he was uncomfortable with his action.
“I have meetings all day tomorrow.”
“Easton, it’s fine. I understand we won’t be seeing each other every day. I’m a big girl with her own thriving company. I’ll text you, or you’ll text me when we’re ready to go for the next round.”
Easton watched me carefully, making sure my words were exactly what they seemed to be and not some declaration of love.
“All right, I’ll talk to you later,” he answered hesitantly.
I didn’t walk him to the door. He knew where it was, being that he had me plastered against it, devouring my mouth at some point that day. My body was fully satisfied, and honestly, I didn’t trust my limbs to keep me upright.
My door opened and I smiled.
“Couldn’t stay away, could you? I don’t know if I have the strength to go again, and I’m pretty sure you should be severely dehydrated, but I’m willing to try if you are.”
Jules walked into my room with an eyebrow quirked, surveying my sprawled-out body. Luckly, I was snuggled under the comforter Easton had tucked me into before he left.
“You have some explaining to do, young lady.” Jules walked into my bathroom, coming out and throwing my PJs at me. “Get dressed, hussy. I want all the details.”
Shit, Easton and I didn’t talk about telling people about our arrangement.
Jules left me to get dressed, and I grabbed my phone, texting Easton.
I smiled as I pulled my PJs on, feeling settled now that Easton knew that Jules knew. My phone buzzed with another text from Easton.
“Stop sexting and get your ass out here!” Jules yelled from the living room.
I shot Easton a winky face emoji before going to face my best friend.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t slutty mcslutty pants,” Jules said, handing me a bottle of water when I finally made my way into the living room. She pretended to wipe a tear from her eye. “They grow up so fast.”
I kicked her before collapsing on the couch next to her. Having an all-day sex-a-thon was hard work.
“So,” I started. “Easton and I have come up with a rebound arrangement. No feelings, just sex,” I told her after downing half my water.
“Are you okay with this arrangement?” Jules asked with all sincerity.
“Do you think I’m a horrible person for jumping into bed with Easton right after Bradford?”
Jules threw back her head and laughed before sobering and hugging me tightly. “First off, you are my fucking soulmate, you can never do anything that will make me think you’re a bad person. Second, I’m the last person on earth to judge anyone for what they do after a breakup.”
“Jules,” I scolded, not wanting her to talk about herself that way.
“I’m just stating facts. And third, no, you can do whatever you want. This is the only life you’ll get to be Rachel, so you might as well live the best Rachel life you can. I just don’t want you to feel like this is something you need to do. I only want you to be happy.”
I hugged her back, talking into her shoulder. “I feel like I should feel bad for moving on so fast, but I don’t.”
“Good, don’t then.”
“Easton and I agreed this would just be a rebound thing and when either of us decide to move on, there will be no hard feelings, and no dramatics. We are kinda exclusive until one of us meets someone we would like to pursue.”
“Fuck, you’re so lucky. Cole wants the whole fucking relationship thing. I told him no, but the fucker is persistent and he has a huge dick.”
“It must be something in the water because holy shit, I thought Easton was going to rip me in two.”
We pulled back, staring at each other, and burst into laughter until tears tracked down our faces.
“So, please, do tell how this started.” Jules grabbed the ice cream from the freezer and two spoons.
I told her about the night before when he was supposed to be babysitting me, and what happened today.
Jules told me more about Cole’s persistence that they get into a relationship.
“The weird thing is I haven’t had sex with anyone else since Cole, and I’m too tired to look for someone else. So, I’ll just ride him out, pun intended, until I want to look elsewhere.”
I noticed the unease and fear in Jules’ eyes. She liked Cole, but she didn’t want to admit it, and I wasn’t going to point it out, afraid she’d self-sabotage.
“Sounds perfect. Ride Cole for a while. If it’s good, why not keep him longer than normal? It’s not like you two are getting married.”
Jules laughed before shoving a large bite of ice cream in her mouth, making it impossible for her to answer. Wanting to give her a break, I turned on the TV, and we watched trashy shows until Jules stumbled back to her house to sleep.
“See you in the morning. And remember, you are buying the energy drinks for the rest of the year!” I yelled at her before she was all the way across the street.
“I remember. Night, love you.”
“Love you more.”
I crawled into bed, smelling Easton’s cologne on my sheets. Snuggling in, I texted him.