Always & Forever (Nick & Bailey #2)

21. Nick

Nick wakes up as he tries to roll to his side but is unable to. He realizes quickly that the reason is Bailey. She's lying on top of him, head on his chest, legs straddling his hips.

They had decided to sleep in the car for a few hours in order to get rid of the weed still in their systems before driving home. He doesn't actually remember positioning themselves this way, but he's not surprised. It's his favorite sleeping spot—directly beneath her.

He turns his head toward the windshield and sees that the sun is rising. They will need to leave soon if they're going to get home before her parents wake up. But for now, he just listens to Bailey's breathing.

She is truly a remarkable person—the best, actually. She turned yesterday from an awful, shitty day into one of the greatest. No one else would have been able to do that.

As he stares at the sky, a part of him hopes he never sees another sunrise after this. It would never top this one, with her, after the night they had.

He moves his hand from behind his head to her back, and immediately regrets it. The movement causes her to stir, and she blinks up at him, smiling sleepily.

"Sorry," he says, pushing a strand of hair away from her eyes. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's alright."

"Did you have fun last night?" He asks.

She smiles and shakes her head, like the answer's obvious. And he doesn't know why, but he needs to hear the words.

"Say it."

She sighs, still smiling. "Yes, Nick, I had fun last night. I had a thrilling, entertaining, lovely time, all thanks to you."

Now he returns her smile. "That's what I thought."

He places his hands at her sides and pulls her up to his level, kissing her softly. He wishes they could do more than kiss, but they need to get back home. Bailey's eyes widen suddenly as if she just had a revelation. "Shit. Nick, what time is it?"

"I don't know. But we should be fine as long as we go now."

She sits up straight on his lap, her hair falling over her shoulders. He can smell the chemicals from the pool as she runs her hands through it. This entire car interior probably smells strongly of chlorine, but since Nick is part of the overall odor, he can't detect it.

Bailey rolls off of him and into the driver's seat. She is barely awake and silently turns the key to start the ignition. He should probably start a conversation to make sure she doesn't doze off before they get home in five minutes.

"So about what you said to me last night..." Maybe he shouldn't be bringing this up so soon, but she made one declaration that he can't stop thinking about.

"Yeah?" She seems unconcerned, not taking her eyes off the road.

"When you say you want to have my babies, is that just an expression people say? Or..." he clears his throat which feels dry. "What did you mean by that?"

Now she looks confused. "I meant that someday I want to have kids, and I would like if we were still together at that point."

That's what he was afraid of.

She is silent as she waits for him to say something. He searches for the right words. "You see, the thing is...I don't want kids, ever."

"Why do you say that, Nick?"

"I've thought about it a lot, and I know it's not for me. Why would I willingly bring a kid into this world? I've never really had a dad, I wouldn't know the first thing about being a parent."