AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Did you throw a party in here last night?” I asked while looking at the floor. Cups of all different shapes and sizes were littered about. An open package of Oreos was abandoned on the desk alongside an empty glass still cloudy from the milk it once held.
There was no way in hell we would live this way.
I scanned the foot of the bed to find the edge of the blankets. Using both hands, I whipped the bedding off in one quick yank, leaving Agatha curled on her side on top of the mattress.
And how had I not noticed what she was wearing when she answered the door? Just a T-shirt marked with some university’s athletic department’s sizing. On the bottom, she wore a simple pair of cotton bikini panties, and I was transfixed as though I’d never seen a woman in just underwear before.
Her feet seemed to move on their own then. I was at the foot of the bed one moment, dropping the bedding in a heap with the rest of the stuff scattered about. In the next beat, I was beside her on the mattress. I had to touch her. Had to feel that tantalizing, warm body. Her skin was lighter than mine, and we looked good together.
She didn’t object to my location, and I knew she wasn’t sleeping. Otherwise there would be bulldozer sounds coming from her tiny body.
Jesus Christ, her body.
I scooted closer from behind and curled my frame around hers. We exhaled together, and the stress of the past five days beckoned me to sleep.
We had way too much to accomplish for catnapping though. I took one fortifying whiff of her hair and interrupted her pending slumber.
“As much as I would love to do this and similar things for the rest of the evening, we need to get up.”
The troublemaker wriggled her ass against my crotch, and we both groaned from the sensation. My large hand on her hip stopped the delightful torture.
“Are you sure? Feels like you’re already up, husband.” She snickered at her own joke, and I couldn’t help the grin I had just from hearing her happy and playful.
What the hell would the feeling be like to purposefully do something kind for her? I filed that experiment away in the back of my mind. Definitely would be giving it a try sooner rather than later. First and foremost, I needed to learn what she liked and didn’t like.
Deciding to leave her comment hang there unaddressed, I changed the topic while getting off the bed.
“Do you drink coffee in the morning? I want to be sure we have all the groceries we need. I can schedule a delivery to arrive when we do.”
“Carmen, listen…” She rolled to her back and found me watching her from alongside the bed. We held each other captive in a hungry, needy staredown.
“Go on,” I finally urged. My voice was low and promising, but we needed to pack before anything else.
“Two things, actually,” she began while sitting up and scooting back to lean against the headboard. “We need to be serious here about this moving in together. How can I afford rent without a job?”
My guess was she thought this would put an end to our agreement, but I’d thought a lot about it last night when I should’ve been sleeping.
“I’ll cover the expenses until you get a new job. What is your chosen career path? Maybe I know someone.” My question seemed absurd, but really, I was married to a stranger.
I would not let her sabotage us before we even tried. Plastering on an extra bright smile, I asked, “What’s the second thing?”
“I can’t let you do that. I wouldn’t feel right,” she insisted while searching around the bed.
“What do you need, Storm?” I finally asked after watching her impatience balloon.
First, an icy glare because of the nickname, then a heavy sigh. “Do you see my robe? It’s blue with daisy smiley faces on it. I usually put it on the end of my bed for middle-of-the-night walkabouts.”
“Middle of the night what?” Now that was a term I hadn’t heard used that way.
“Here, in this house, we call it night walking. Most of us have insomnia to some degree, so we are awake throughout the night. Oftentimes, I run into a family member if I go out to the kitchen for a snack or whatever.”
I found her robe in the pile of bedding and held it open for her to step into. If she got out of bed, we’d be one step closer to our goal.
I shook the thing by the shoulders. “Come on. I’ll help.”
She scowled. “I can manage a bathrobe, Carmen.”
Like a matador’s cape, I waved the blue monstrosity in front of me. “I’m sure you can, but I want to help. Come on.”
