One Night Stand

by Brooks, Sarah J.

  I came inside her again, and I felt her reach her own shuddering climax moments later. Her legs were still hooked around me, and her arms were still pinned above her, and she seemed to move towards me, as though she wanted to melt her body into mine at that moment—I knew how she felt. For a second there, as we both came, it seemed like we could have just melded into one being, one person, and I would have been all too happy to give myself over to that impulse.

  “Mmm …” She sighed after I’d disposed of the condom and come back to bed. Her eyes were already closed, and she was curled up on the covers, a smile on her face. “That was so good.”

  “It really was,” I agreed, and I lay there next to her and wrapped my arms around her from behind. I knew I should have kicked her out, but since she was all too happy to make her own way out of my apartment last time, why ruin a sweet moment by kicking her to the curb already?

  She snuggled back into me, and just like that, the exhaustion of the day thus far caught up on me, and I let out a huge yawn and found myself dozing off. I knew I should have told her to get out before the morning, that she couldn’t be here when my daughter woke up, but I just didn’t have it in me at that moment. For a minute, I just wanted to pretend that things were normal, that I didn’t have a child in the next room, and that we were just a couple of young things hooking up and—

  And what? My brain stopped dead before I could finish that sentence, as though acting in self-defense. Where did the end of that sentence go? We had just hooked up a few times, that was all. No matter if the chemistry between us was off the charts—it didn’t matter; she was just my downstairs neighbor, someone who had done me a few favors and helped out when I needed her. I wasn’t going to read anything into that because there was nothing to read into it.

  And yet, as I lay there with her in my arms, her breath smoothing out and deepening as she fell asleep, I found myself feeling something more for her. What, I didn’t know, but something more. Maybe it was just because I hadn’t been with anyone for so long, I was letting myself get all caught up in believing that there was something here. Or maybe, just maybe, there actually was.

  I lay there for a long time, unable to fall asleep, and listened to the sound of her breath as she fell deeper into sleep. I should have asked her to leave, but for now, I just wanted to pretend that things were okay, that things were real. I closed my eyes and let sleep take me at last and tried not to overthink the woman sleeping in my arms.

  Chapter 9

  Nina

  I woke up early and turned to look at the clock, and as soon as I saw what time it was, my heart nearly stopped in my chest.

  Logan was still wrapped around me, as though he never wanted to let me go. And if it hadn’t been for the obvious issue, I would have been happy to lay there for the rest of the day, to wake him up and enjoy a few more hours in bed together before he had to go to work. But as it was, there was a girl next door who I didn’t want to know that I had slept over, and that meant I had to get out of there.

  I got out of bed, gathered my clothes quickly and wondered how in the hell this had happened. The last time, I had woken up so early in the morning I had been able to sneak out without anyone catching me. But this time …

  Maybe he had just worn me out the night before—even though I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as I ran through what happened, I knew that it had taken it out of me. But it was more than that, the reason that I’d overslept so long that morning. It was because I felt safe in his arms, safer than I cared to admit. It was just so—it was so easy for me to lose myself to him, to know how good he felt, and how comfortable and natural it felt to be close to him. I could have laid there all day and known that he would protect me. I couldn’t remember the last time I slept that deeply next to someone else, knowing that nothing bad was going to happen to me while I was in their arms.

  I dressed as fast as I could and checked for my keys in my pocket—shit, I had taken them out and dumped them on the counter the day before. I would have to go out there and collect them. I glanced back at Logan in bed, sleeping softly—he looked so much younger when he was asleep, all the tension that usually clung in his face drifting away in the night. Before I could stop myself, I leaned down to plant a kiss on his cheek, and he shuffled slightly and turned over. I grinned. Something about seeing him like that, the intimacy of it, made me happier than I cared to admit.

  I left the bedroom and headed through to the kitchen where I last remembered putting my keys down. I tiptoed around, searching for them as I pulled on my shoes, and I spotted the glint of my keys on the counter when I heard a voice come from behind me.

  “Nina?”

  I turned, and my stomach dropped when I saw Erin standing in the doorway, rubbing her eyes, and watching me as I snuck through her apartment like the bogeyman. I managed to plaster a smile on my face and wracked my brain for an explanation for what I was doing here first thing in the morning.

  “Oh, hello!” I greeted her as perkily as I could. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I just forgot my keys here last night, so I needed to come and get them!”

  I held up the keys in my hands and hoped to all things good and pure that it would be enough to convince her that my story was true. She frowned at me for a moment, but then she shrugged and took a seat on the couch.

  “Okay,” she replied, and I stood there awkwardly, not sure if I should make a bolt for the door or wait for Logan now that Erin had caught me in the act. But a second later, the decision was made for me as Logan emerged from the bedroom, rubbing the heel of his hand over his face. He stopped dead when he saw me in the kitchen, and he looked over at Erin, who beamed at him.

  “Nina left her keys last night,” she told her father, and Logan nodded slowly.

  “Yeah, that’s right, you did.” He turned back to me.

  “I was just going to go,” I assured him swiftly. “I don’t want to—”

  “Can’t you stay for breakfast?” Erin asked enthusiastically, suddenly jumping to her feet and clapping her hands together. “You could make her your pancakes, Daddy.”

  “Pancakes?” My ears pricked up. Even though I knew I should have been out of there already, my stomach was growling, and if Erin already knew I was there, I didn’t see why I shouldn’t take advantage of what was on offer.

  Logan planted his hands on his hips, and I could see the same thing was running through his head—why would he kick me out now since the only good reason to have me out on my ass was already looking straight at me with a big smile on her face?

  “I guess you could stay.” He turned his attention to me. “Do you think you could help Erin get ready for school?”

  “Uh, what would I need for that?” I furrowed my brow.

  “There’s a list next to her bed of everything she needs by day.” He waved his hand. “If you just go through it with her, she’ll be able to find everything.”

  “As long as there are pancakes at the end of it, I guess you could convince me.” I grinned at him, and he cocked an eyebrow.

  “And mine are the best,” he assured me. “Isn’t that right, Erin?”

  “The very best,” she agreed, and she made her way through to the bedroom. I followed her and tried not to think about how fucking surreal this was.

  I went through everything that Erin was going to need for her day at school—there was so much it didn’t surprise me that Logan needed a list to keep a handle on all of it. But she bounced around happily, grabbing everything she needed as she went.

  “Daddy never has other people over for breakfast,” she told me happily as she packed. “He makes the best breakfasts. You’ll see.”

  “I’ll bet he does,” I agreed. I could already smell the scent of the pancakes wafting through from the kitchen, and what Erin had just said to me really began to sink in. He had never had anyone stay the night like this before. Or at least, he had been quick to clear them out before his daughter woke up. Not that I blamed him—it was a lot to
take in for a girl her age, even if she had no idea that I had stayed the night in her father’s bed. But he had allowed me to stick around for breakfast. Hell, he had let me stay the night. He could have cleared me out right after we hooked up, and I would have understood his reasoning, but he seemed happy to let me stay, to fall asleep spooning me. What was that about?

  Erin got ready in a rush, chatting to me the whole time about exactly what she would be using everything for at school. Normally, I would have found that kind of chatter nothing but annoying, but I had to admit Erin was seriously endearing. I could see why Ant doted on her so much, why she was always telling me about her. She was sweet and full of energy, and there was a sincerity to her that you couldn’t help but find charming.

  We headed back through to the living room just as Logan was putting breakfast on the table; Erin tucked her hand into mine to lead me the rest of the way, and I felt a little jolt in my chest when I realized what she was doing, and another when it clicked just how natural it felt for her to do it.

  “You girls all ready?” Logan asked with a smile, and I practically swooned when I laid eyes on him again; he was wearing a shirt with his sleeves rolled up, showing off his strong forearms, and his hair was a little crumpled from sleep but somehow all the sexier for it. And even better, on the table before us, there was a big stack of fluffy pancakes, along with some syrup. My stomach growled happily as I took my seat, and Erin bounced up into hers and started to tuck in at once.

  “Hey, hey, slow down there,” Logan chuckled, tapping his daughter on the chin. “There’s going to be plenty for all of us, alright?”

  “But you always eat them so quickly,” she protested, and I burst out laughing and raised my eyebrows at him.

  “Is that so?” I teased, and he rolled his eyes and started serving a couple up for me.

  “I guess she’s not wrong,” he admitted, and I added some syrup to my plate and then took a bite. I could feel him watching me, even if he was pretending that he wasn’t, waiting for my reaction. As soon as the first bite hit my tongue, I practically rolled my eyes to the back of my head and let out a groan of delight.

  “Oh, my God, these are so good,” I murmured, and I started totally stuffing my face with them. “I can’t remember the last time someone cooked me pancakes.”

  “Well, don’t get used to it,” he teased. “This is meant to be a treat, right, Erin?”

  “Right,” Erin agreed as she chowed down on her food. And I did the same; I tried to remember the last time my ex had bothered to put together a meal for me, even cereal and toast, and I came up blank. So that was another thing Logan had going for him over my ex. Not that I was comparing the two because that would have implied that I was thinking about dating Logan, and there was no way in hell that was actually going to happen.

  But the pancakes were good, and I was hungry, so I ate like my life depended on it, enjoying every mouthful and happy to listen to Erin as Logan asked her what she was going to be doing at school that day. There was something pleasantly domestic about the morning, even though that was never something that had appealed to me before. I mean, it was fun to play pretend, but I knew I could never have made something like this stick.

  Erin finished up her food, and she bounded through to the bathroom to finish getting ready for school; Logan looked after her and shook his head.

  “You know, I think this is the most energy I’ve seen her with in the morning ever,” he remarked. “I think she likes having someone else around to perform for.”

  “Don’t all kids?” I offered in response, even though I had literally no clue if anything Erin was doing was normal or typical.

  He grinned at me, seeing straight through me. “You’ve never really been around kids before, huh?” he remarked, and I raised my eyebrows.

  “Is it that obvious?” I shot back, and he shrugged.

  “Ant mentioned that you hadn’t really had any kids in your life before, that’s all,” he replied. “You did really well with her last night and this morning.”

  “I’m sorry that she caught me,” I blurted out. “I honestly didn’t intend it to work out that way. I was just going for my keys, and she caught me just as I was about to head out the door, so I had to come up with something, so she wouldn’t catch on.”

  “No, I get it.” He shook his head. “We shouldn’t have … I shouldn’t have let you sleep over if I didn’t want that to happen.”

  I paused for a moment, looking at him, and trying to figure out if he had just admitted to me that there was some part of him that had wanted this to happen. It wouldn’t have surprised me because I was having to work double-time to convince myself that I had wanted this too on some level. I didn’t know why, but part of me craved this. Not just the sex, though that had been amazing. But the stability, the sureness of what came afterward. I barely knew this guy, and yet when I was around him, I felt safe and calm, as though this was the way things were meant to be. That was the father in him, I supposed, but it was nice after what a clusterfuck my life had been in recent memory.

  “If you ever need me to look after her again,” I replied before I could stop myself. I didn’t know what I was doing; I had already inserted myself into this man’s life far enough, and now I was encouraging him to involve me even more?

  But he nodded and smiled. “You know what, I might just take you up on that,” he remarked, and then that filthy smile that I recognized so well even now spread across his face. “If only for that welcome back from work. That was really something.”

  I felt a twinge between my legs and chewed my lip. It was hard to restrain myself, even knowing his daughter was in the next room when he was looking at me like that. His eyes traced up and down my body, and I shifted on the spot.

  “Yeah, that was something,” I managed at last, dragging my gaze away from his. And just then, Erin came back in with her cute little backpack on her shoulders and a big smile on her face.

  “I’m ready to go,” she told us. “Nina, are you coming to school with me?”

  Logan looked at me, eyebrows raised, but I figured I had probably already gone far enough this morning. Spending the night and having breakfast had already pushed my luck far enough, and I didn’t want to test it any further.

  “No, I should get back to mine.” I smiled at her.

  “But I’ll see you again soon, right?” she asked, eyes wide. I glanced at Logan, who shrugged, leaving it up to me.

  “Sure you will,” I promised her. I couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of my mouth. Only twenty-four hours ago, I would have said anything to do with kids was a hard no-go, and yet here I was, promising this little girl that I was going to see her again. And I couldn’t let her down now that I’d offered.

  “Awesome,” she said beaming, and she took Logan’s hand and they headed for the door. Logan opened it and crouched down to Erin’s level.

  “Hey, you go ahead of me, right?” he suggested. “I’ll race you to the bottom. Meet you there?”

  “I’m going to win,” she warned him, and with that, she took off.

  Logan stood back up and turned to me, and I felt desire pulse through me once more. He pushed me back up against the door and kissed me. It was the kind of kiss that made you feel as though your feet had lifted off the ground a little, the kind that forced you to catch your breath and think twice; his hands were gripping my hips, drawing me against him, and his tongue was deep in my mouth. It happened so fast I hardly had time to process it, but when he pulled back, I was panting slightly.

  “And what about me?” he asked, brushing his nose against mine. “Do I get to see you again?”

  “As long as you kiss me like that,” I blurted out, and he grinned and planted one more on my cheek.

  “Then it’s a date,” he replied, and he followed his daughter down the stairs. I watched him go and then closed the door behind him, leaning back against the wood and touching my fingers to my lips for a moment as though I was trying to recreate
the feel of his lips on mine. And then I realized that I was smiling. Beaming. I had a grin on my face half a mile wide, and it couldn’t have felt better. I had no idea what the fuck was going on between us, but that kiss had left my head and my body fizzing, and I was having trouble telling myself that this was only meant to be a little fun.

  Chapter 10

  Logan

  After I dropped Erin off at school and headed down for work, I found myself whistling. Actually whistling. Like something had put a pep in my step, a spring in my stride.

  “You’re in a good mood today.” Elijah cocked his eyebrow at me as he saw me getting ready. “Something I should know?”

  “Nope, nothing.” I shook my head. “Just had a good night, that’s all.”

  “How’s that little girl of yours doing?” he asked conversationally. “She must be getting big now, huh?”

  “Like you wouldn’t believe,” I said with a grin. “And yeah, she’s doing great. She’s a great little girl.”

  “Well, if she’s putting a smile on your face, I’ll take it.” He shrugged and let me get to my prep for the day. I checked the menus and started on work, and as I leaned into the mindless job, I found my head swimming back to Nina and me the night before.

  But it wasn’t just what had happened the night before. If it had just been sex, I could have put it down to me just enjoying actually getting laid again, after what felt like a lifetime away from the scene. But this morning had been something seriously special too, and I couldn’t shake the memory of it from my head.