I hated when common sense made sense. There were some moments in your life when you didn’t want that to be the case, and now would be a perfect example of one of them.
Finally, I blew out a frustrated breath. “I can’t switch my brain off. There’s just too much going on inside it and inside here, too.” I thumped my chest with my fist to indicate where and winced when it bounced off my left tit.
Fucking ow!
Leaning up on an arm in the mattress, Carter watched me through the light from the hallway. The change in positions also allowed me to look him over, and for the first time, I realized he was naked under the sheet.
A naked Carter Lane in my bed… and I hadn’t even known.
My life was the ultimate shit show!
Doing a slight wiggle to see if I was still fully dressed like a loser, I also became aware of the fact I appeared only to be in my panties and the tank top I’d been wearing earlier.
Reading me correctly, one side of his mouth tipped up in an almost shy smile. It killed me again that my friends hadn’t seen him smile properly because he had deep dimples in his cheeks when he did. I could spot a polite and fake Carter smile a mile away because those puppies hid themselves unless he smiled fully.
And seeing one appear on one side of his face packed a punch. I had to figure that if they were on both sides while he was lying naked or semi-naked next to me in my bed, my vagina would likely combust, the easy little hooker.
“I can see what you’re thinking right now, clear as day,” he muttered. “I didn’t want to leave you in your clothes in case they made you feel uncomfortable, so I took your shorts off. You then woke up enough to remove your bra and went back to sleep.”
Skimming my eyes down his naked torso, I licked my lips without volition. “And you?”
“Can’t sleep in rough clothing, so I stripped down to my underwear.”
Desperately trying to think of something other than the fact he was only in his underwear, and I was only in mine and a thin tank top, I searched for another topic to move the conversation onto. This would work two-fold for me: distraction from the lack of clothing and distraction from the shit stew my life was. Again. Because of my fucking mother. A-fuckin’-gain.
“Oh, shit, the fish babies. Did you check on them?” I moved to get out of bed to do it, but a strong arm wrapping around my abdomen stopped me from getting any farther than a halfhearted ab curl.
“Last time I checked was just over an hour ago, and I found another five babies in the big tank. The fry in the nursery are zipping around, looking happy and content. I also cleaned out the remainder of the special food for them, so it didn’t rot and kill them.”
“Damn it, I hadn’t thought of that.” I shoved my fingers into my hair agitatedly, thankful I hadn’t washed it earlier so they went right through it smoothly, without getting snagged on knots and tangles.
“The only reason I did it was because I looked the breed up earlier and how to look after the babies. Did you know a female Molly can get pregnant without having sex for months after she did it with the male? She just re-impregnates herself by storing the sperm inside her.”
“That’s barbaric,” I breathed, then gasped when something huge hit me. “Foosball my life, I’m going to need more tanks. If that’s how many babies they have the first time, imagine how many I’m going to have by the time they stop. And we don’t even know how many of them are pregnant, Carter.”
He looked at me sheepishly. “Come to find out, what we thought was poop in their stomachs were the babies, so I do know which ones are pregnant.”
Blinking rapidly at the thought of all of the fish and trying to figure out how many tanks I was going to need, I growled. “How do we keep the boys and girls apart?”
“I’ve ordered a tank partition and a small filter for the side that won’t have one so we can separate them. I’ve also ordered another tank for the babies, which I can keep at my place if you’d prefer.”
“You’re not taking my fishy babies from me.” I shot him a glare. “I like those little guys, and Shanti’s going to love them.”
This time when he grinned, I got hit with the double dimples. “I know. Not gonna lie, I kind of feel like the absolute shit right now. Shanti loves the tank as it is and knowing how she’s going to react to the fry… I’m excited to see her when she gets back tomorrow and sees it all.”