Page 1 of One Night with Number Nineteen

One

Sawyer

The best orgasm of my life is still humming through my veins when reality slaps me in the face.

Of course it does.

Lainey sighs softly, her dark curls tumbling forward over her face. “Thank you,” she whispers. “You don’t know how much I needed that.”

“The pleasure was all mine, Lanes,” I murmur, stroking my hand lightly up and down her spine.

“No,” she says, her gentle laugh wrapping fingers around my heart and squeezing, “I think it was mine.”

Then again, my heart’s been involved with Lainey—and her adorable kiddo, Ollie—from the first time I met them.

Add in that pretty smile, those gorgeous curves, the curls I’ve dreamed about spilling over my pillow (but are just as beautiful spilling over her pillow), the floral scent of her shampoo…

Yeah, I’ve wanted this from the beginning. I was just waiting for her to want me too.

Of course, that’s the moment she sighs heavily and pushes up on one elbow, her gaze coming to mine, something in those deep brown eyes that has my stomach twisting. “As fun as this was,” she murmurs. “You should probably go.”

I flinch, but she’s already turning away, reaching for the shirt I peeled off her only thirty minutes before. “Right, of course. I’m sure Ollie will be home soon.”

She tugs on her blouse, turns back toward me, and sighs again. “He will be. But…”

“What, Pages?”

Her brows drag together but she doesn’t comment on the nickname. “Speaking of Ollie,” she murmurs, “this can’t happen again.”

“This being the running into each other and having drinks?” I ask as I tug up my jeans. “I promise to buy you dinner first next time.”

Her cheeks go pink and she nibbles at her bottom lip. “I’d like that. No, I mean, I like spending time with you, Sawyer. You’re fun and you make me feel good, but this can’t happen again—or the part that ends with us naked in bed can’t happen, anyway.”

I open my mouth, but she’s still talking.

“I know you’re probably not thinking about promises and…” She waves a hand at the bed. “Repeats.” She picks up her underwear, tugs them up the luscious thighs I just had the best time of my fucking life between, and says, “I know I’m not something special to you⁠—”

My stomach twists.

“—but I don’t really do this.” A breath. “No, it’s not that I don’t really do this. It’s that I never do this,” she finishes.

“Lainey—”

“I know you, um, like the ladies,” she says quickly. “I’ve heard the guys talk about it, so don’t worry about hurting my feelings. I get this was a one-time thing.”

My throat burns with bile.

Because she has absolutely no idea what my personal life is like.

No idea.

She pulls up her pants. “So yeah…I just…this can’t happen again. I have Ollie to think about and I don’t want to make things weird for us with our friends.”

Woodenly, I grab my tee and tug it over my head. “No, I get that.”

“I knew you would.” She smiles at me. “And if circumstances were different, I’d definitely be open to a repeat. I just…”

I step into my shoes, turn to her. “Like I said, Lanes. I totally get it.” My smile feels odd, stilted. Fake. But I keep it in place. “We won’t make things weird.”