Chapter 21

21

DEREK

I hadn’t meant for this to happen. Not again, at least. Not on purpose. Yet there I was, naked, spent, with Jodi curled up in my arms. We were still breathing heavily, a little giggle escaping our lips occasionally and our legs intertwined. I kissed her neck as she faced away from me, and she cooed, wiggling her butt into my stomach and nearly making me hard again. One more time and she would, and I was pretty sure she knew it. Hell, I knew it, it was just a matter of when.

Oh well, if it was going to happen again, maybe I could get us both into the shower and I could see that hot body of hers glisten under soap and water. Then I could bring her back into this bed and we could get under the sheets and have sex there. If we were going to keep finding ways to end up fucking, we should at least try to do more than finish on a mattress.

Actively, I avoided thinking about how all this happened. I had certainly not meant for us to sleep together when she was so vulnerable. I didn’t want her to think, or anyone else to think, that I was taking advantage of her when she was going through something so obviously traumatic and difficult. Much in the same way, I didn’t mean to end up in bed with her as a thank-you for making sure her brother wouldn’t get to her. I didn’t want sex between us to be transactional.

Yet, while there was certainly a celebratory and thankful tenor to her attitude when everything began happening, it didn’t feel like it was obligatory either. She was just as into things happening as I was. It was as if my protection of her hadn’t been the catalyst, per se, but had been capable of unlocking a door that was already screaming to be opened. If we had found each other without the extenuating circumstances, I felt like the chemistry would have still been there.

“What do you say,” I said tentatively, nearly whispering in her ear, “we hop in the shower and go for round two?”

“Already?” she asked. “I’m not complaining, I just…”

I laughed.

“Is that a no?” I asked coyly.

“I like the water hot,” she said. “Can you take the heat?”

“If it means I get to see you soaped up, I can take a little burn.”

Grinning wide, she rolled out of the bed and bounded to the bathroom. I watched her run, fascinated and aroused by the way her tits bounced and her ass jiggled just ever so slightly as she made her way to the shower. I heard the water turn on and sat up. I didn’t need to wait to see her to begin round two. I was already ready.

A long shower turned into another session, and it continued into the bed before we both passed out into a deep sleep. I couldn’t remember the last time I slept that deeply, that fully. It had been years, for sure. It was certainly the most satisfying sleep I’d had as an adult, ever. There was no question about that.

As the sun rose, I slowly became aware of my surroundings and opened my eyes. The comfort level was off the charts, something I hadn’t really experienced in a long time either. Usually, I woke up with a crick in my back or my neck, usually from bouncing around too much in my sleep and finally zonking out in some crazy position.

This time though, I woke up with Jodi on one arm, her arms around it as she curled up into me. I lay on my back, a pillow propping up one hip so I was almost on my side, but not quite. The way her arm fit in the small nook in my shoulder, the way her back seemed to mold into my chest and her legs wrapped around one of mine, it was as if we were carved out of clay, designed specifically for this purpose. There was simply no more comfortable place I could ever be than right there, in that bed, with her.

I contemplated just not getting up. I could lie there for hours, sinking into the feeling before she inevitably woke and we dealt with whatever the fallout would be. But I couldn’t let myself think about that right that moment. Not when it would ruin what I was feeling. Slowly, I drifted back to a dozing, happy sleep. When Jodi stirred beside me, I hadn’t moved, but the sun was much brighter coming through the shades, and I knew a significant amount of time had passed.

“What time is it?” Jodi asked, turning so she faced me and laying her head on my chest. Inexplicably, it felt even more perfect than the place she had been sleeping before. It was like no matter where she moved or whatever position we were in, it was better than the one before.

I reached over and grabbed my phone, swiping up to get the screen to come to life and show the time.

“Ten,” I said, surprising even myself. We had fallen asleep sometime after two, and usually eight hours of sleep eluded me, and even when I did get it, it was a disappointment. I never felt as rested as I was told I would be.

Yet on this morning, with Jodi still curled in my arms, I felt like I could bound out of bed and bare-knuckle fight a dragon. I was coursing with energy, even while I felt like I could also lie there forever with her in my arms.

“Don’t we have lunch service in an hour?” she asked.

“Not today. Today’s Ally’s day for running service. I go in at one and help clean up and prep for dinner. You aren’t technically on the schedule, right?”

“Something like that,” she said. “I am and I’m not. I have days I’m supposed to be there and days where I can come in and see if there’s someone who wants to cut or who no-shows or something. Today’s one of those.”

“Oh, good. That means we can take our time and have breakfast.”

She smiled. “That sounds nice. Maybe we can lay here a few more minutes though.”

I was about to agree when the furry, forceful face of Gandalf came into my vision and with pinpoint accuracy stuck his wet nose in Jodi’s face.

She giggled and pulled back, immediately reaching over to rub the old boy’s head and scratch behind his ear. He reacted by turning his head and letting his mouth hang open in what I had been calling the “Shire Smile.”

“I think someone wants his breakfast,” I said. “He’s used to getting it about now.”

“By all means,” Jodi said. “I should probably put on clothes anyway.”

“Do you have to?” I asked, getting a smile from Jodi accompanied by her biting her bottom lip teasingly.

“Maybe not a lot of them,” she said.

Well, she wasn’t freaking out. That was a good thing. She hadn’t argued at the idea of sharing my shower and my bed last night and wasn’t horrified or embarrassed by what had happened when she woke up. In fact, she had actively snuggled me when she was awake. I was going to take that as a victory and move on.

“Anything you’re in the mood for breakfast-wise?” I asked as I disentangled myself from her and the still curious Gandalf. I swung around him and to my dresser, where I grabbed a T-shirt and a pair of shorts and slipped them on. Other than my slippers, that was all I was planning on putting on until I had to get ready for work.

“Not sure,” she said, rubbing Gandalf’s head one last time and sitting up herself. She didn’t make an attempt to be modest, covering up or anything. I didn’t make an attempt either, gladly watching her as she slipped out of the bed and walked confidently to the door. “I’ll be in there in just a minute.”

I nodded and watched her walk down the hallway to her room. As she opened the door, I made my way to the kitchen and fed Gandalf, then pulled down some pans to sit on the stove. I opened the fridge and contemplated my options.

I mostly only had the basics at home. Considering I was at the restaurant most of the day most days, I didn’t bother to have much in the way of food at home. Some sugary breakfast cereal was on top of the fridge, and inside were eggs, milk, bacon, and some fruit. I pulled them all out, including pulling the cereal off the top, and sat them on the counter. Then I reached into the rather sparse pantry and pulled out the oatmeal and several spices.

The sound of her door shutting perked my ears, and I listened to her pad her way across the hall and back into my room. Assuming she meant to grab her old clothes, what had made it into my room at least, I waited for her before starting anything. When she came into the room, I felt my cock twitch and heat flush my cheeks when I saw her.

Jodi had her long, brown hair down, just brushing the top of her ass. Which also happened to be just a few inches above where my long, white T-shirt ended. I could see straight through it to where her breasts pressed against the fabric, nipples pink behind the cotton. Her ass cheeks poked out of the bottom, and I gathered that she was either wearing a thong or no underwear at all.

All the lingerie in the world couldn’t have made her any more attractive.

“Wow,” I muttered.

“So,” she said, ignoring me but with a grin a mile wide, “what’s for breakfast?”

We worked well in the kitchen together, making breakfast side by side. It was weird working together with someone who wasn’t a cook by trade, but Jodi seemed to know her way around a kitchen enough that I didn’t need to baby her or instruct her at all. She handled the eggs while I worked on some pancakes from a recipe that I had learned my first week staging in a French-Canadian restaurant.

When breakfast was nearly cooked, and I pulled out the plates, it struck me how much I wanted this to go on forever. Not just today, not just for a little while. For good. It was really sinking in that not only was I hopelessly falling for her, but that I enjoyed the experience. Love always seemed to be such an inconvenience, even when my brothers began finding their women. It messed with their minds, with their rhythms. They found themselves saying, doing things they never would have before.

Then I remembered Noah and all the tragedy he began to move past. Kane and the inverted nature of his life before Danica. Alex and how dull he was before Camilla. Me and how singularly focused on the kitchen I had been.

Now I was in an entirely different kitchen, yet one I had been in a thousand times, and having the time of my life. My heart raced as I rubbed shoulders with her, stole glances at the nearly transparent shirt, smelled her perfume as she brushed by me.

Yes, I definitely wanted to make this work. To make it a real thing, something that lasted. Now I just needed to know if that was something she was into. That wasn’t a given. Sure she was happy right then, but it could be temporary. A way to escape. She had been on the run for a while now. All I could hope was that she would think of me and my place as a good landing spot.

Not just for now.

For good.