The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)(28)

He sat down in the middle of the couch.

“Starving, now that you mention it. What kind of pizza?”

She sat down next to him. She hadn’t brought up the earrings yet. This seemed like a good sign.

“Pepperoni, mushroom, and roasted garlic. Is that acceptable?”

She made a face but flipped open the pizza box and picked up a slice.

“All those things but the roasted garlic is fine. That’s a little much for a pizza, don’t you think?”

He laughed.

“Everyone makes fun of me for how much I love roasted garlic on pizza. Sorry about that.”

He picked up his slice, and she looked down at his plate, then back up at him. “Oh, aren’t we fancy, eating pizza on a plate.”

He handed her a napkin.

“Some of us are civilized, Maddie. Stick around. Maybe you’ll learn a little something.”

She waved the pizza slice at him.

“Speaking of being civilized, what were you thinking sending me those texts when you knew Alexa was right there?”

He had to grin.

“I couldn’t resist. It was funny, you have to admit.”

Was she trying to hold back a grin? He couldn’t tell, but he thought so.

“It was not funny! Alexa and I were talking about work and wedding stuff, and I kept getting distracted by you.”

Hmm, that was a very good sign.

“What distracted you the most?” he asked, as he brushed her hair back from her face. “Was it just my texts? Was it remembering what we did last weekend?” He put his hand on her knee. “Or was it thinking about what we could do later on tonight?”

He kissed her earlobe, then trailed kisses down her neck as he pushed her back onto the couch. She dropped her slice of pizza back into the box.

“No option for all the above?” she asked him, and pulled him down against her.

Their kiss was hot and fast and needy. Was it obvious that he’d been thinking about her all week? Right now he didn’t care.

He pushed up her shirt and rolled her nipples between his fingers, the way he knew she liked it. She moaned and tossed her head back against his couch cushions. That sound sparked something in him. He wanted to hear it more. Longer. Louder. He slipped his hand under her skirt. She opened her knees for him and he leaned over to kiss her lips.

“You were so ready for me, weren’t you?” he said against her mouth. She nodded and opened wider. He slid one finger inside, and then two. “Were you ready like this, when you were sitting there at the bar, getting my texts? Tell me the truth.”

She opened her eyes and smiled at him.

“Why do you think I got here so fast?”

He pulled her panties off and pushed up her skirt.

“Let’s see if we can get you somewhere else fast, too.”

He ducked his head under her skirt, and from her cries and moans a few moments later, he determined that he’d accomplished his goal.

He stood up, pulled a condom out of his pocket, and let his sweatpants drop to the floor.

“Do you normally carry condoms around in your pockets while you’re alone in your house?” she asked him, with a very contented smile on her face.

He looked at the condom in his hand with pretend shock on his face.

“Well, I never! How did this get in my pocket? It must have been the condom fairy.”

She rolled her eyes and shimmied her skirt off.

“The condom fairy? Is that like the tooth fairy, but for condoms?”

He nodded.

“Exactly! I’ve heard people talk about the condom fairy, but I always thought she was a myth. I guess everyone was right when they said that if I just needed a condom enough, she would come to me.” He ripped open the wrapper. “Since she blessed us with her presence today, it would be an insult to not make use of her gift, don’t you think?”

He watched her watch him roll the condom on. He liked it when she stared at him like that.

“I, for one, could never spit in the face of the condom fairy like that,” she said, as he knelt above her on the couch.

“Mmm, me neither,” he said.

They didn’t talk for a while after that.

Finally, Maddie sat up and reached for her half-eaten piece of pizza.

“Well. I didn’t expect my Thursday to end like that, but I can’t pretend I’m not glad it did.”

She definitely couldn’t pretend she didn’t know what was going to happen as soon as she walked into his apartment. If she was being honest with herself, she knew what was going to happen as soon as she saw his first text.

She didn’t have to tell him that, though.

Theo rolled off the couch and stood up.

“Save me some pizza, rule breaker.”

He walked down the hallway to the bathroom. Maddie sat up straight as she finished the slice.

Fuck. He was right. She was the one who had listed their rules in the first place, and not a week into this agreement, here she was at his place on a Thursday night, a night when the two of them had very much not just been with Alexa.

Technically, they’d both broken the rule, but a) she’d been the one to make the damn rule in the first place, and b) she’d also been the one to come over on a very thin excuse.

Just as he walked back into the room with a glass of water in each hand, she had a brain wave.