Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 60864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“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.
22
JODI
Iwoke up with the kind of fleeting memory of Derek’s mouth on my skin and his body pressed against mine that came with a detailed, delicious dream. Then I breathed in the smell of him and felt his warmth behind me, and I realized it wasn’t a dream at all. That made it all the better.
Snuggling back toward him, I nuzzled into Derek’s arms and smiled when he wrapped one around me, tucked his knee between mine, and leaned forward to kiss the curve of my neck. His movements were a little heavy, and I had the feeling if I looked at his face, I would see his eyes were closed in partial sleep.