After losing her job and her girlfriend, it's time for Annie Abraham to admit defeat and move back in with her parents. She has hardly been back to her tiny Montana hometown since the unforgettable summer before her senior year of college, when she...
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I lose track of time. It's easily done when all I can think about is the girl in my arms, her head on my heaving chest, but the next time I tune in to the sound of the clock outside and I lose count of its chimes, I check my phone. Somehow it's nine o'clock already. When the clock quietens, there's not a sound to be heard except Annie's soft breathing and the beat of my own heart.
We're still fully dressed but a little more disheveled than when we got here – there's plenty that can be done without getting naked, plenty of ways for Annie to make my head spin with her hand inside the cup of my bra and my lip between her teeth. I can't believe I just had sex at work. Can't believe that tomorrow I will have to come here and work with Ruth knowing what Annie and I have just done. I need to practice not blushing when Ruth asks how this evening went, because she can't know that Annie slipped her hand beneath my underwear and fingered me to two breathless orgasms as she kissed me.
"Do you have to get back?" Annie asks, a yawn distorting her words. She always gets sleepy after she comes and she's double tired tonight, her boneless body soft in my arms. It's a good thing no-one lives above the store, no-one around to hear her frantic cries as I pushed her over the edge.
"Yeah. Shit, it's late."
"What time did you tell Ruth you'd be back?"
"I didn't give her a time. I wasn't sure how long we'd be, and I thought we'd end up getting dinner. I didn't think we'd do ... this."
"Let's just stay here all night," Annie mumbles. It's tempting. I'm so damn comfortable right now, lying on the deep sofa with her draped over me, an extra blanket covering us both. When I designed Jacob's Ladder to be the coziest of bookstores, this wasn't what I had in mind.
"We'd be the talk of the town if we were caught sneaking out of here in the morning. Word gets around fast in a place like this," I say, my fingers trailing patterns over Annie's arms. I don't want to let go of her, but I need to. "I need to get home."
Annie reluctantly detaches herself from my side and stands with the blanket around her shoulders so I can get up. I gather the bits and pieces I've shed over the last couple hours – my boots, kicked off beside the sofa; my phone on the coffee table; my jacket at the front of the store. But when I check the pockets of my pants for the key, I come up empty. Nothing but a crumpled receipt and a pen cap.
"Have you got the key?" I ask. Annie, still bundled up in the blanket, shakes her head.
"You locked the door after I got back with the pizza."
"Shit."
"Have you lost it?"
"It was in my pocket," I say, patting every pocket I have. Definitely nothing in there. "I'm sure it was in my pocket. Damn it. It must've fallen out."
While we were fucking on the sofa, my brain supplies, reminding me of the unspoken rules I've broken tonight.
"Uh oh," Annie says. She doesn't sound particularly bothered. In fact, she's smiling.
