Chapter 192: Sex

A few minutes later, Lauren lifted her head from Luke’s chest and reached for the water beside the bed. The glass was empty. She turned it once in her hand, then set it down and pushed herself upright.

"I need a drink. And some air."

Luke let his arm fall away from her waist. The bedroom had grown warm despite the late hour, and when she stood, he realized he could use both himself. He found his loose pants at the foot of the bed while Lauren took a robe from the wardrobe.

She slipped it on and tied the belt without hurrying. Luke sat to pull on his pants, keeping his right hand out of the work, then followed her into the hallway. She glanced back when his footsteps reached her.

"Water’s in the kitchen."

"I’m coming with you."

Lauren waited while he caught up. She hooked her arm through his left one, and they walked past his bedroom together. Luke had no reason to stop there tonight, so he left the door as it was.

He filled two glasses while she opened the living room window a few inches. Cooler air stirred the curtain and carried in the noise of a car passing below. Lauren stood beside the sill, gathering her hair away from the back of her neck.

Luke handed her a glass and drank half of his own before setting it on a coaster. From the window, he could see the last lights in the shop opposite. Someone was lowering its shutter, stopping twice to argue with another person still inside.

"They’re taking their time," he said.

Lauren followed his gaze. "They always do. The taller one’s usually forgotten something."

The shutter rose again. Both of them watched the man duck underneath it and disappear into the shop.

"Do you know them?"

"Only from watching this happen when I’m closing."

Luke laughed and stepped away from the window. Lauren finished her water, then put the glass beside his and picked up her phone from the side table. He expected her to check a message, but a low burst of music came from the speaker instead.

She lowered the volume before the first line began. A guitar played over a steady beat, and Lauren recognized the tune quickly enough to hum along. Luke looked from her to the phone.

"You know this one."

"Very well."

"I’ve never heard it downstairs."

"Not everything I like belongs in the café."

She placed the phone against a book so the speaker remained clear. A woman’s voice joined the guitar. Lauren quietly sang part of the chorus while opening the window a little farther, then turned to find Luke holding out his hand.

She looked at his palm. "What are you doing?"

"Asking you to dance."

Lauren’s hand stopped on the window latch. Her gaze moved past him toward the narrow space between the sofa and the rug, then returned to his face.

"Here?"

"Unless you were planning to make me do it downstairs."

Her smile appeared before she answered. "Here is fine."

Luke used his foot to slide a cushion out of the way and checked that the corner of the table was behind him. Then he took her right hand in his left. Lauren came close, laying her free hand lightly on his shoulder while his injured arm remained relaxed at his side.

He waited for the beat, moved, and immediately discovered that she had expected him to go the other way. They stopped without colliding. Lauren looked down at their feet, and Luke adjusted his stance before starting again.

"We can stay in one place," she said.

"I was hoping you’d say that."

This time he kept the movement small. Lauren followed easily, her bare feet brushing the rug while they shifted from one side to the other. Luke watched the edge of her robe near their ankles until she moved her head into his line of sight.

"My feet will survive. Look up."

He did. She lifted her chin to meet his eyes, and he could see loose strands of hair escaping around her temples. Her hand slid from his shoulder to the back of his neck as they settled into the music.

The chorus ended. Luke had finally found the beat and did not appreciate the singer changing it on him. His pause made Lauren laugh, but she stayed close while he listened for the guitar beneath the voice.

"There," she said when he moved again. "Follow that."

He caught the next few steps without help. Lauren stopped watching their feet and began humming once more, close enough that he heard her better than the phone. Luke found himself smiling at a note she held a little too long.

"What?" she asked.

"You’re singing into my ear."

"Is that a complaint?"

"No. I was going to ask you to keep doing it."

Her thumb moved against the back of his neck while they swayed. She sang the next line quietly, then lost the words when he turned them far enough for her to face the window. Luke waited until she finished laughing before bringing her back toward him.

A gust lifted the curtain behind her. She glanced at it, but Luke kept their hands joined and moved them away from the sill. They were barely crossing the rug, yet he liked having somewhere to take her that she had not chosen first.

"You can let go of my hand," Lauren said. "We don’t have to hold ourselves like a pair of ornaments."

He released her fingers and placed his left hand at her waist. She brought both arms around his shoulders, leaving his right side clear. They stayed close enough that the music mattered less to their feet than it had a moment earlier.

Luke kissed her forehead. Lauren tipped her face up, and he kissed her mouth too, gently enough that neither had to stop moving. Her fingers slipped into the short hair at the back of his head.

They missed the end of the song. The next track began with a much faster beat, and Lauren broke the kiss with a surprised laugh as Luke instinctively tried to follow it.

"Absolutely not," she said, reaching for the phone.

He let her go. "Now I want to hear it."

"Then sit down before you try to dance to it."

Lauren left the song playing and took the corner of the sofa. Luke sat beside her with his right forearm resting on a cushion. She drew one leg beneath herself, and he listened while the music filled the room at a volume barely louder than their conversation.

It was not what he would have chosen for her. The drums were too loud, the singer sounded annoyed with everyone, and Lauren knew almost every word. Luke lasted until the second chorus before laughing.

"You look far too pleased with yourself."

"I’ve spent enough time listening to other people’s choices. Tonight, you get mine."

"Fair."

Lauren touched his knee before he could reach for the phone. "Wait. This is the part I like."

The singer fell silent, leaving the guitar to pick up the melody. Luke listened as the notes climbed, expecting the chorus to return, but the guitarist carried on. Lauren tapped the rhythm against the cushion, lifting one finger just before a sudden change.

"You’ve heard this a few times."

"Enough to know when someone cuts it short."

She turned the volume up a little. Beneath the instruments, Luke caught the sound of a crowd, distant until the guitar paused and someone shouted.

"It’s live?"

"This version is. The other one’s shorter."

Luke leaned forward to listen through the phone’s small speaker. He could hear the difference now, the second voice coming from somewhere farther away as the singer returned. Lauren watched him rather than singing along, and he stayed quiet until the last chorus finished. This time he understood why she hadn’t let him skip it.

She handed him the phone when the song ended. Luke scrolled through the titles with his left thumb while she rested against the back of the sofa. He recognized a few names but chose something from the middle of the list without asking for her opinion.

The opening notes earned a nod. Lauren settled closer, and Luke put the phone on the table before turning toward her.

"Does this one meet your standards?"

"You picked it. Let it play."

He listened through the introduction. It was slower than the last track, with a piano beneath the voice. Lauren did not sing this time, and he found himself missing the sound of her trying to remember the words.

"I liked the first one," he said.

She reached for the phone, but Luke caught her hand before she could change the music. "Not instead of this. Send me the name later."

Lauren looked at him, then left the phone where it was. "I’ll send you the whole list."

"Even the angry one?"

"Especially that one."

He shook his head and finished his water before leaning back beside her. A few minutes earlier he had been planning to return to bed as soon as they finished their drinks. Now Lauren’s shoulder rested against his, and the open window kept the room pleasantly cool. He moved his left hand over hers on the sofa.

She turned it palm up and rested their joined hands in her lap. Luke could feel her thumb following a faint callus beside his fingers. Neither of them spoke until the piano grew louder near the end of the song.

"Do you want to go back?" he asked.

Lauren glanced toward the hallway, then shifted to face him. She placed one hand at the back of his neck and brought him close enough for a kiss, letting it linger before answering.

"Not quite yet."

Luke stayed where he was while she settled beside him again. When another song began, Lauren reached past him and lowered the lamp instead of stopping the music.