Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
I handed the phone back to him. “You gotta open it first.” Biting my bottom lip to stifle a laugh, I watched as he moved his head from side to side, trying to get the facial recognition to read the different angles of his face.
“Dammit,” he muttered, starting the process over.
“Oh my God. You and this phone.” I laughed, taking it again. “Sit still. You don’t have to move it around. Just look at it and it will open.” I held it up in front of his face, and not a second later, the sounds of a woman moaning and skin slapping filled the room.
Ramsey’s face contorted with horror and he jumped off the stool, yelling, “Siri off! Siri off!” He plucked it from my hands and frantically pressed the buttons on the side, cussing when the moans grew louder. “Goddamn it, Siri. Turn it off!”
The room suddenly fell silent, followed by, “I’m sorry, Ram-zay. I didn’t catch that.”
We stood there staring at each other, my surprise meeting his mortification.
And then it happened. Twelve years, nine months, five days, nineteen hours, and four minutes after I’d lost him, Ramsey came home. A full-blown Ramsey Stewart special split his face.
“Well, that wasn’t awkward at all.”
A loud laugh bubbled from my throat and I leaned against the bar to keep from falling over. “So let me get this straight. You can’t work Siri and you’re using a phone book to look up a number, but you were able to find porn?”
“Shut up.” He laughed, deep and throaty. It was the Ramsey Stewart masterpiece to match the Ramsey Stewart special and it made my knees weak.
“That does explain all the showers.”
“Sweet Jesus, we’re really going to talk about this, aren’t we?”
“I’m just happy Nora got you the waterproof model.”
His laughter abruptly stopped. “Wait, it’s waterproof?”
That was when I lost it. I collapsed onto the floor, holding my stomach, and laughing my ass off.
Ramsey was right behind me, groaning, “Shoot me!”
We laughed. And we laughed. God, did we laugh.
I started crying at one point.
Ramsey laughed harder.
He hit his leg on the barstool as he rolled over.
I laughed even harder.
“Siri off!” I mocked.
He was laughing so hard that he started coughing.
When he crawled over to me on his elbows and covered my mouth with his hand to make me stop talking, I continued to shout around his fingers.
It was stupid, but it felt like some of the pieces of me I’d lost over the years were finally clicking back into place. I had no idea how long it was in actual minutes, but it felt like twelve years’ worth of humor was trying to escape. By the time we sobered, we were both flat on our backs, not touching, but close enough that we could have.
I’d have given anything to inch over, rest my head on his shoulder, and curl into his side. He would have kissed me on the top of my head, and I would have tilted my head back and smiled up at him. He would have dipped low, telling me I was crazy before planting a toe-curling kiss on my lips. We’d have made out like we were high schoolers again, and then he would have picked me up and carried me to bed, where he’d have made love to me hard and fast like the adults we’d become.
But that wasn’t this version of Thea and Ramsey. They were just friends.
It would however be Ramsey and someone else one day.
As I lay there, staring at the side of his smiling face, love warmed my chest. I’d missed him so damn much. I didn’t need it to be physical with us. If keeping him as a part of my life meant not being the center of his, I could do that. Having him back was enough.
He’d been home just over a week, and as crazy as it was, I’d never thought about Ramsey watching porn or getting himself off. But now, it seemed so obvious. After all, I’d gone through my fair share of batteries over the years. He was a gorgeous twenty-nine-year-old man who had been arrested the same night he’d lost his virginity. Even if he was content with being alone for the time being, he wouldn’t be forever. A time would come when he would want to find a woman, if not for a long-term relationship then at least for a few hot and heavy nights.
He’d made it clear that woman wasn’t going to be me. I’d even come to terms with it—kind of. Deep down, I hoped that, when that day came, he didn’t feel like he had to lie to me about it or sneak around behind my back. It would break me to know he was out with another woman, but I’d already put myself back together once. I could do it again.