After turning on the coffee machine so it could heat up, he put the coffee in it and stuck a cup under the spout. Sure enough, just as he was stirring the milk and sugar into the first mug, he heard the beep beep of his alarm, followed a few minutes later by Lauren’s bare feet slapping on the polished kitchen floor.
She’d thrown on one of his older T-shirts and brushed her hair into a messy ponytail, but she looked cute as hell anyway, all sleepy-eyed and utterly kissable.
“Coffee.”
He set the cup on the marble countertop of the bar and gestured for her to pull up a stool before turning back to the machine to make a cup for himself. About halfway through her cup, Lauren started waking up and even smiled at him.
“How’d you sleep?” he asked, leaning on the opposite side of the bar to drink his coffee. He couldn’t look at her face if he sat next to her.
“Good. Your bed’s amazing. How about you?”
“Once I got to go to sleep, I crashed. And you call me insatiable.”
Her cheeks got a little pink. “Complaining?”
“Hell, no. As a matter of fact—”
“No.”
Damn. “I meant after you finish your coffee, of course.”
“After I finish this cup of coffee, I’m going to have another cup of coffee.” She pointed her finger at him. “And you should have shaved a little better. I have stubble burn on my thighs and I have to sit on the back of that bike for hours.”
“Could put a little cream on it.” She arched an eyebrow at him and he laughed, holding up his hand. “I mean the real stuff, honest. Moisturizing crap.”
“I’ll definitely put some moisturizing crap on it, thank you.”
“You’re a little cranky in the morning.”
“You should see me on Mondays.”
He laughed and got the machine ready to brew her a second cup, but he didn’t feel all that amused. It would probably be a long time before he got to wake up next to Lauren on a Monday morning. His brain tried to tack an if ever on the end of that thought, but he resisted. He would. It would just take a while to sort out.
It took another hour to get her out the door so they could grab some breakfast. All he had was a package of English muffins and they were in the freezer, so she hadn’t been too enthusiastic about those. It was colder than he’d anticipated, so he made her put on Josh’s leather coat and the gloves before they hit the highway.
He kept his speed a little lower than he usually would, because of the cold, so Nick was already home when they get there. He waved at them through the window while Ryan rolled the bike to a stop next to Lauren’s car.
“I’ll just go,” he told her once he’d gotten her purse and tote out of the side bag.
“No, come in for a bit. I know you must have to pee as badly as I do, and you can visit with Nick for a few minutes, at least.”
He’d planned to pull over and take a leak on the side of the road as soon as he was out of sight of her house, but her plan was probably better. Officer Bob Durgin, the old bastard, hated the Kowalskis and would love to happen by and slap him with an indecent exposure ticket. Come to think of it, Drew Miller would probably get a kick out of it, too.
“Sure, thanks.” He carried her bags in and said hi to Nick, who’d sprawled on the couch, while Lauren sprinted for the bathroom.
“Heard you’re kicking butt at school lately,” he said.
Nick nodded and Ryan could see the pride on his face. “It’s actually not that hard if you pay attention and do the homework.”
“Keep it up.”
“I will. Mom’s going to see when the next driver’s ed class starts.”
“Cool.” He almost offered to take him out for practice hours when the time came, but in the nick of time he remembered he wouldn’t be around. He’d be in Brookline on the weekdays and Nick would be with Dean on the weekends.
One of those question marks Lauren talked about. A pretty shitty one, too. Not only did he need to build a relationship with her son if the one with Lauren was going to work, but he liked Nick.
Once Lauren was done in the bathroom, Ryan took his turn and returned to the living room to find them in midconversation.
“The movie was kind of dumb because Alex and Adrienne are little,” Nick was saying, “but Jody made popcorn and Dad turned off all the lights and it was kinda cool.”
“I told you they wouldn’t be upset.”
Nick shrugged. “Jody asked if I’d watch the kids one night a month and I said sure. I don’t mind doing it. Just not every weekend.”
“I’m glad you talked to them.”
Ryan felt like a third wheel, standing there watching them talk. It wasn’t difficult to figure out what they were talking about, but there was no place in the conversation for him. Especially since it concerned Dean.
When Lauren saw him standing in the junction of the hallway and living room, she smiled. “I was thinking about making some hot chocolate to warm me up. You want some?”
“Hey, the game starts in like ten minutes,” Nick said. “You should stay and watch it with us.”