“Number four.”

I love how having my head on his chest allows me to feel the low rumble of his voice just before his words reach my ears. It makes our current position, sprawled on the living room floor, feel even more intimate than the latest round of athletic sex we just engaged in. Like we’re the only two people in the entire world.

Still, his words don’t make any sense. Without lifting my head, I roll my eyes in the general direction of his face. All I see is the underside of his jaw and a slice of cheek. “Number four what?”

“Rooms.”

“If you think that clarifies anything,” I say, “you’re mistaken.”

“I didn’t tell you my new goal?” Jason says, sounding surprised.

“No.”

He dips his head and kisses the top of mine. “I’ve decided that I want to make love to you in every single room in this house. This is the fourth room we’ve done it in.”

I reach down and pull a smashed carton of fried rice out from beneath my hip. Luckily, in this case, the box smashed in such a way that the contents remained in the carton as opposed to being smeared into the carpet, but I have a feeling that the rest of the Chinese food we ordered for dinner and only ate a small amount of before we were on one another like white on rice.

The exuberance of our lovemaking made us fall off the couch, crash into the small table where we’d set up our food, and knock all the containers to the floor.

I’m really glad I’m not Jason’s maid or wife so that I don’t have to worry about cleaning up the mess. In fact, I’m glad I’m not Jason, who is going to have to explain how so much sweet and sour shrimp and orange chicken got ground into the carpet fibers.

He’ll be lucky if the maid doesn’t quit right then and there. I know I would if I walked in and discovered the mess.

“Are you sure the house will still be standing after we make our sex journey through it?”

“Considering what I paid for it,” Jason says, his voice shaking with laughter, “it had better.”

“And what happens after we get through all the rooms?” At the rate we’re going, we should accomplish Jason’s goal in just a few hours. There seems to be no end to Jason’s endurance. All it takes is one look from me, and he’s ready and willing. I’m starting to wear out a little, though.

“We take the show on the road,” Jason decides. “Every hotel room in every single hotel in the great city of Chicago.”

I laugh. “Sounds ambitious.”

“Perhaps, but I know I’m up for the challenge,” Jason says, cocky. “I’m more concerned about you.”

“Oh,” I float a brow and snuggle in more deeply against his chest. “Why’s that?”

“Are you up for it?” He shifts his position and stares down at me. “I mean, you’re already falling asleep, which doesn’t bode well for your ability to keep up with me, now does it?”

“You just lead the way and I promise to match your every move.”

“Fair enough.”

Now that the conversation has run its course we fall silent, content to lay on the floor, surrounded by the remains of our dinner, and simply enjoy the feel of skin on skin contact and the warm, post-coital afterglow.

Jason’s left hand slowly strokes the long, smooth muscles of my back with a featherlight touch. The repetitive motion feels hypnotic, each long sweep dragging me just a little closer to him.

I stretch languidly, rubbing one foot lightly against the side of his leg. Yawning, I snuggle closer to him and close my eyes.

“What happened to you, Ella?”

“What do you mean?” Sleepiness gives me a slight slur.

“When we were together in Florida, you were so confident, so full of dreams and ambition. All you were needed was to complete your degree and then you were going to take over the world. You inspired me to work harder than I ever would have worked if I hadn’t met you. You don’t know it, but you’re the reason I stopped tinkering around with software design ideas, but actually finished them and started marketing them.”

I remember the girl he spoke of. He was right, she was full of herself, so confident and happy. It’s hard to believe she and I are, were, the same person.

Man, I was so naïve back then. Convinced that with a little determination, a little hard work, anything was possible.

Now I know better. Now I know that life can spin on a dime and that keeping your head above the water isn’t easy.

“The entire time I was looking for you, I was sure that I’d find you doing great things,” Jason continues. The last place I expected to find you was at some call center. Something must have happened.”

Something happened all right. Kelsey happened. She completely changed my world in ways I hadn’t ever imagined possible. And, while life with her is tough, tougher than I ever imagined it would be, I wouldn’t change having her in my life for all the gold in the world.

Jason doesn’t know it, but that night in the lifeguard station, he gave me the most precious gift.

I open my mouth, ready to tell him about Kelsey. Ready to tell him that he has a beautiful, vivacious six-year-old little girl, but the words dry up in my throat.

Right now, Kelsey’s all mine. And while that means I have to handle all the fear and concerns about her health on my own, it also means that all of her love is directed toward me. I’m not ready to give that up any time soon. I don’t know how I’d cope with things if I suddenly wasn’t the most important person in Kelsey’s world.

And then there’s the mess with Abe and his father. There’s no way I can drag Jason into that disaster. It’s my mess to clean up.

So instead all I say is, “Things change.”

“Yeah, they sure do,” Jason agrees but he’s not ready to let the matter drop. “But they don’t change without a mitigating reason and you were too ambitious, too smart to simply throw everything you worked for away. So what happened?”

I’m tired of this conversation. With the direction it’s taking and if Jason keeps pressing, I might crack and then the whole story will come flooding out.

I need to distract him and I have just the trick.

I twist and slowly crawl up his chest, making sure to let my breasts rub against him each inch of the way until my mouth is less than an inch from his. His eyes are bright in the darkness.

“I’m all sticky and covered in Chinese food. So,” I close the distance between our lips and kiss him hard until we’re both panting. A familiar pressure has started to build in my pussy and Jason’s cock is starting to swell against my bare thigh.

“How about we head into the shower on this floor and check another room off your list?”