Chapter 6 - Rami

“Vera,” Rami looked up from his cup of coffee, scowling. “What are you wearing?”

It was early and Jessa was still asleep in her crib, leaving Rami a few quiet moments with his caffeine fix, the baby monitor at his side. Vera peered down at herself.

“Pajamas?” She shrugged, reaching for the coffee pot.

He took a slow breath in and out, prying his eyes away from her perfect skin and long, lean legs. The silk pajama set she was wearing left little to the imagination, clinging to the peaks of her nipples and hugging the curve of her ass, and he wanted to slide his hands underneath it. She’d always felt so good in his hands.

Dammit. She had to know what she was doing. As she reached up high to grab down a mug her top rode up, revealing a strip of moon-pale skin at her lower back. Rami’s dick responded eagerly. It had been too long since he’d last had sex, and the sight of his mate—no, not his mate anymore—half naked in his kitchen was too much to handle.

“That’s barely clothing. I can see—“ He broke off and took a big swallow of coffee.

“What can you see?” Vera filled her mug and turned, a mischievous grin playing across her lips, daring him to admit that he’d been staring.

Somehow, it was worse from the front. The cream-colored fabric was so sheer he could make out the darker mauve of her nipples.

“Nearly everything.” His fingers tightened around the mug. If he stood up now to walk away, she’d see the effect she was having on him, and that devilish smirk would become a permanent fixture. “Don’t you have anything more substantial?”

Vera raised her eyes to the ceiling as if she were struggling to recall the contents of her wardrobe. “Hmm, nope. I think this is it. Sorry.”

She didn’t sound the least bit sorry. In fact, she sounded positively gleeful. Rami drained the last of his coffee and stood, knocking his chair back. He moved toward her, pleased to see the smirk fade to something less cocky, and grabbed the coffee pot.

It was nearly empty, just a tablespoon worth of coffee puddled at the bottom of the glass. He shook it at her.

“You finished it?”

Lifting her mug, she took a long, slow sip with her big, blue eyes sparkling over the rim. “There’s a little left, if you look close enough.” She wrinkled her nose. “You make the weakest coffee. What do you do, show the water the beans, then take them away?”

He set the pot down and crossed his arms. “I don’t make jet fuel like you do because I like the enamel on my teeth, thanks. I swear the stuff you brew could strip paint off the walls.”

“You said you liked it whenever I made it for you!”

“Well, I lied to keep you happy. It felt like you were trying to scour my insides every time you handed me a cup.”

She rolled her eyes and snatched the coffee pot away, nudging him to the side with her hip. He tried not to breathe in the intoxicating scent of her, but it wafted his way in the shake of her hair, the sweet smell of her shampoo, and the subtle perfume she wore mixing with the scent that was all Vera.

“I’m making the second pot so we can have a proper wake-up, and you’ll drink it.” She scooped spoonful after spoonful of coffee into the maker and hit the brew button, turning back to face him with a defiant look on her face.

They were too close still. He could practically see down the front of her shirt, and she had her arms crossed underneath her breasts, pushing them up toward him. The thin strap of fabric holding the tank top slipped off of one of her shoulders, revealing even more of her skin to him.

“Vera,” he growled, gripping the edge of the counter.

“Yes, Rami?” She blinked in an impersonation of innocence, batting the long dark lashes that framed her ice-blue eyes.

She was doing it on purpose. Taunting him with what he’d had and had given up. Did it serve him right? Probably. But she didn’t understand his reasons for the breakup, and they’d had nothing to do with her, not really. Nothing she’d done had made him want her any less.

His body was reminding him right then just how much it wanted her, and his mind was having difficulty remembering why it was a bad idea. Vera leaned closer. What was she doing? If she reached for him right now, he didn’t think he’d be able to resist her.

Her hand went past him, grabbing a dish towel off the counter behind him. The soft mound of her breast pressed against Rami’s arm, and his cock stiffened when she lingered there, struggling to reach the cloth.

“Dammit,” he swore under his breath, fighting back a groan.

Her fingers closed around the towel, and she bounced back to her space by the counter, breasts jiggling, a wicked little smile on her face. “Got it!”

With more enthusiasm than necessary, she started to polish the space on the counter where a few drops of coffee had spilled. She was bent at the waist, pushing her ass out so the shorts strained to cover it. He was pretty sure she wasn’t wearing anything under them.

There was no hiding the effect she was having on him. The fabric of his athletic shorts was tented from his erection, and once she turned around again, she’d spot it in a heartbeat.

“Take this,” he said, pushing the monitor toward her. “Have to shower.”

He stole one last look before bolting for the stairs. Her laugh followed him up, devious and delighted with herself. So much for the workout he was planning on. Now, he had only one thing on his mind.

Rami yanked open the shower door and turned on the water, filling the bathroom with steam. It fogged the mirrors as he pulled off his clothes and climbed in, letting the hot water sting his skin. Fuck . She’s trying to drive me crazy. And it was working.

Ducking his head under the stream of water, he let it wash down his back, wishing it could wash away thoughts of Vera. He’d had to dump her before their relationship could devolve into constant arguments, before all of their memories were bad ones. It was exactly because he cared for her that he’d had to leave.

Even though he knew he couldn’t have her, desire pulsed through his veins. Vera. Rami shut his eyes as his cock swelled, so hard now that it ached. He wrapped his fist around it. Fantasy flooded his brain, a sad replacement for the real thing down in his kitchen, but all he could let himself have.

In his mind, she’d followed him up into the shower, stripping off her clothes on her way up the stairs. She’d slide in behind him, water streaming over her perfect, taut body, dripping off the tips of her nipples, over the smooth plane of her stomach, to the warm dip between her thighs. All the places he wanted to touch.

Rami started to stroke himself, giving in to the dream.

“I know you want to touch me,” she’d say, pressing herself against him. “And just this once, I’ll let you.”

Her voice was so real, her taunting, bratty tone in his ear.

“We shouldn’t,” he groaned aloud, but in his mind, he was already reaching for her, wrapping his arm around her waist.

He bent to take her nipple in his mouth, tugging it with his teeth into a hard peak. Memory mixed with fantasy. He knew the sounds she made when he caressed her, and he could hear them now, her eager little gasps driving him on.

It was her hand on his cock, tugging him closer and closer to the edge. She’d slide closer until her pussy was pressed against his dick, until he could feel the slick heat of her when she started to rock back and forth against him. Her teasing look would fall away as her own pleasure started to build, bucking her hips, her tits bouncing, her eyes half-lidded.

“But you want to,” she’d moan, tilting her hips until the head of his dick was pressed to her entrance. “Don’t you?”

More than anything. He was close now, picturing the way she’d bite her lip and wait for him to lose control. Vera was a tease. She’d sit there and let him feel how wet she was for him, daring him to push inside when he knew he shouldn’t.

Maybe she’d slide a little closer until he could feel the pressure of her tight pussy squeezing him. Rami could feel it, like it was more than his own hand around him, like she was there in the shower, needy and mewling for him.

“Oh fuck, Vera.” His muscles clenched, and cum shot from his cock, spattering the floor of the shower.

Rami dropped his head against the tile and waited for his heartbeat to slow, for the vision of Vera to clear. But his release hadn’t purged the desire for her from his system.

He cleaned himself off and twisted the faucet to off, stepping out into the steamed-up room. The real thing was down there in the kitchen, half-naked, and was still the only woman he desired. Maybe he could’ve handled that. But the real thing still had his heart, and that was another thing altogether.

Vera with her schedules and data and her secret soft side. Vera with her fingers laced through his, her eyes shining when she looked up at him from the passenger seat. Vera with her complications.

If only they could’ve kept avoiding each other, none of this would have been a problem. Thoughts of her wouldn’t be driving to distraction, to jerking off in the shower like a teenage boy again because he’d seen a woman in her pajamas, for fuck’s sake. But the curse had made it impossible to let her out of his sight. She was his mate, dammit, and he’d keep her safe. Even if her teasing and her temptations drove him mad.

Maybe he could take a page of Vera’s book. He went to his bedroom and pulled a sheet of paper and a pen from his desk. They had to live together for now, but he could adjust things so that the time they actually spent together was minimal. That’d leave less time for his heart to get any stupid ideas about getting back together with her.

Drawing lines on the paper—not perfectly straight, and he was positive Vera’s eye would twitch at that—he filled in the schedule with alternating time blocks, leaving them each some time in the house. He’d get the early morning hours, and she’d get the evenings. They’d split the weekend.

She’d probably color code it and make them each a copy, top it off with some of those little Post-it notes. Rami pulled on a flannel button-down and a faded pair of jeans, hoping they’d have the same effect as a suit of armor. He needed protection for that woman.

Schedule in hand, he jogged down the stairs. Vera was bottle-feeding Jessa at the kitchen table, and the morning light was casting them both in bronze. His foot stuttered on the last step.

“There you are.” Vera cast a glance over her shoulder at him, one perfectly plucked eyebrow arched. “Good shower? Do a lot of thinking in there?”

He ignored her, stooping to kiss Jessa on her forehead. She smelled like milk and sugar, her bleary little eyes blinking up at him in recognition. Every time he saw her, it felt like his chest would burst. How his heart expanded so quickly, his life rearranging so that he couldn’t imagine she’d ever not been a part of it.

“I made this.” Rami set the schedule down on the table in front of her and stepped back to let her read it.

“Have you heard of a ruler?” Her nose wrinkled cutely in disgust at the wobbles in his lines, as he’d known it would. “What is this?”

She frowned, and it deepened the longer she read.

“A schedule.”

Jessa drained the last of the milk from the bottle. Vera tossed the empty bottle at him, and he caught it, droplets of formula dribbling over his fingers.

“You do realize I live here now, right?” She grabbed her clipboard from the far side of the table and set it down on top of Rami’s makeshift schedule, jotting down her latest feeding notes in Jesse’s schedule.

“Yes, and this will help us minimize the amount of time we actually spend together while still making sure that Jessa is cared for. It’s a perfect solution to the problem.”

“And what is the problem, exactly?” Her tone had gone dangerous. If she were a snake, her tail would be rattling.

Rami plowed on anyway. “You. You’re around, and you’re just distracting me.”

Her laugh was cold, disbelieving. “You hired me, Rami. If you didn’t want me around, maybe you should have decided that before telling me I had to take the job. Remember that? You pleaded with me to take it.”

Gently, she lifted Jessa to her shoulder, setting a muslin between herself and Jesse’s head, and began rubbing her on the back. Firm circles. Not patting. Maybe she had read Rami’s suggested list after all.

“Yes, because I need you close.” Rami ground his teeth in frustration. “Not like that. I mean, with Jessa and the curse, it’s just better if you’re close right now.”

“Not like that. Not like you want me around because, you know, you like me. Just because you’re worried about me. Is that right?”

She was still talking in a quiet, mellow voice, almost pleasant. Jessa cooed happily on her shoulder, resting one of her fat cheeks against it. But if Jessa weren’t there right now, Rami knew they’d be arguing. It was exactly the sort of thing he’d been trying to avoid by breaking up with her.

So, even though he knew he was stepping into a trap, he carried on. “That’s right. It’s safer. Neither of us wants this, but here we are.”

Vera got right up in Rami’s space, tilting her chin back to look at him. She snorted a laugh. “Well, sorry, but I’m not following that.” She jerked her head toward the schedule. “It’s my house too now, and I’ll come and go as I please, or I’m out of here, and you can find a new nanny.”

It wasn’t an empty threat. She didn’t make those.

“We’re going to the park now,” she said, spinning on her heel away from him. “And Rami? I brought a lot of pajamas.”