21. Jefferson
CHAPTER 21
JEFFERSON
Waking up with a naked woman in my arms is never a bad thing. But I am amazed at how much better it is when that naked woman is Harlow Hansen.
I lie wrapped around her, my hand splayed over her stomach, breathing in the scent of her hair, absorbing the feel of her soft, warm body against mine, and replaying last night for several long minutes.
It’s about fucking time.
Worth the wait.
Those are the two things that keep going through my mind. Everything about last night felt like we had been building toward that for years. Not just the last few days, but at least since we’ve been working together with Alex, and I truly think long before that.
I take a deep breath and nuzzle my face against her neck.
I could wake up like this for the rest of my life.
But I need her awake now too. I stroke my hand back and forth over her stomach, I kiss her neck, then run my hand a little lower.
I hear her breathing change, then a soft moan as I drag my hand down one of her legs, and back up.
“Good morning,” I start.
But just then I hear a meow from the floor and feel a soft weight suddenly land on my foot.
Oh yeah, we have cats.
“Not the pussy I was hoping for,” I mutter against her shoulder.
She laughs softly and rolls to her back. “At least they left us alone all night.”
Fuck she’s gorgeous in the morning. Okay, she’s gorgeous all the time. But her, soft and a little sleepy, and in my bed, takes my breath away.
Another meow and I feel four little paws against my leg. At least two of the cats are in the room.
“True,” I say ignoring the animal on the bed for now. “At least I was able to get up four to three.”
Her eyes widen. “What? We are three to three.”
I shake my head slowly. “Oh, I don’t think so, gorgeous. I had my face between your legs around three a.m. and that definitely put me up one.”
I see her cheeks flush slightly.
“Oh,” she says a moment later. “I thought that was a dream.”
I give a surprised laugh. “You thought me making you come on my tongue was a dream?”
She blushes a little darker, but admits, “Well it’s not the first time I’ve had that dream.”
That gets her a very long deep kiss. But the cats are not patient. A minute later, we have two on the bed and another on the floor meowing.
“Let me go take care of them, then I’ll come back and take care of you.”
She sits up as I climb out of bed. “We’re supposed to be making breakfast together.”
My gaze drops to her naked breasts. “I’m hungry for something else.”
She’s watching me as I pull on sweatpants.
Yeah, I fucking love this. Us together, still teasing, but able to do it completely naked in the bedroom? Huge improvement.
“Well, someone helped me burn off a lot of calories last night and I’m actually starving,” she says, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. “Can we have breakfast and then do other things?”
“In case I wasn’t clear,” I tell her. “We’re going to be doing those ‘other things’ in between all of the normal everyday things we both do from now on.”
The smile she gives me makes my heart kick against my ribs. She looks pleased and a little surprised, and definitely turned on.
“That sounds amazing,” she tells me.
We make our way to the kitchen with three cats weaving between our feet. Obviously, they’ve already gotten over feeling scared or shy of us.
She feeds them as I get French toast cooking. Yes, I remember her teasing me about that the first morning.
She comes over to the stove and wraps her arms around me from behind. “By the way,” she says. “I wasn’t joking about the fact that I basically can only make peanut butter toast.”
I dish up the French toast and move the pan off the burner. Then I turn and wrap my arms around her. “I’m not kidding when I say I’m not with you for your cooking skills.”
She looks up at me through her lashes. “And why are you with me?”
“I am so fucking glad you asked me that.”
I scoop my hands under her ass and she wraps her legs around my waist. I carry her over to the table, sit her on the edge, and then tip her back. She’s only pulled on a long t-shirt of mine and panties and I quickly strip both off.
I pull up a seat, putting me right between her legs.
“Jefferson,” she laughs softly. But she sure doesn’t try to get away.
“What?” I ask, running a hand up her inner thigh.
“I’m a mess.”
I stand, leaning over, bracing one hand beside her hip, keeping the other on her thigh. I look her directly in the eye. “I think you are the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever met. All the time, Harlow. But I want to tell you something.”
She looks a little worried, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. I reach up to free that lip with my thumb and then run my thumb back and forth.
“I’ve known you for years. I have seen you muddy from head to toe. I’ve seen you dressed up for prom. And everything in between. You don’t have to impress me. I love when you wear sexy blue dresses for me, but I don’t need that to want you. The most beautiful you have ever been to me was after you hadn’t slept, showered, and had barely eaten for twenty-four hours when we were trying to find Alex. Your emotions were all over your face, you couldn’t hold any of your worry or anxiety or love for him inside. You didn’t care about anything except that kid. That was the most beautiful you have ever been.” I reach up and run my hand through her hair, then down the side of her neck and down her arm to link our fingers together. “Your hair, or your face, or this amazingly gorgeous body are all sprinkles on top. What I love about you is your heart.”
She sucks in a deep breath, her eyes welling with tears.
“You just said love.”
I nod “I did not intend to tell you that when you were laid out naked on my kitchen table,” I tell her. “But it’s true. It’s been true for a little while.”
She reaches for me and I let her take my face between her hands and pull me in for a long deep kiss. “I love you too,” she says against my mouth.
Relief washes over me. Not so much that she feels it, but that she’s admitted it. To me and to herself.
I kiss her again and then sit back in my chair and run both hands up her inner thighs. “Now excuse me, I have very bright, full sunlight here, and I want to see every inch.”
She covers her face with her hands and laughs. “Oh my God.”
“By the way,” I say leaning in and kissing her inner thigh. “Five to three.”
She looks down at me. “You can’t count an orgasm ahead of time.”
I grin. “Give me three minutes.”
* * *
I’m in the best fucking mood I’ve been in in months. And I’m a generally pretty happy guy. And I finally left my house. I definitely got up five to three and it was halfway to number six before she slid off the table and into my lap and we ended up at six to four. Then we ate French toast, showered, and dressed for the day. We’re splitting up for a little while now. She’s going to the bakery to help her mom. I’m actually heading over to help with some set up for the wedding tomorrow.
I text her as I remember I’ve forgotten to tell her about tonight.
Going out with the guys for Carver’s mini bachelor party. Basically just at the Come Again. Will probably be late.
She texts back, Good. I can finally have a movie night with my friends without you bothering me. Then she sends a kissy face emoji.
Jefferson: You better plan on being home later and working on evening things up. I’ve been doing a lot of work.
I just get another kissy face followed by an eggplant and then a water spray emoji. I’m grinning like a dumbass for the rest of the day.