Chapter 6
Chapter Six
JOE
Waking up with Thea was the manifestation of my high school fantasy. Because my habits were deeply ingrained, I woke when it was still dark. Thea was curled up warm and soft beside me. Her knee was thrown over my thigh, and her head tucked into the crook of my shoulder.
I took a deep breath, letting it out quietly.
I didn't want to wake her. I didn't want to snap this moment.
Her breathing stayed even and steady. My pulse had initially kicked off at a rapid pace once my awareness flickered into wakefulness, but it slowed.
As good as this felt and as exciting as it was, a sense of peace came with it.
Of course, my body had ideas. I’d woken fully aroused. I chuckled to myself. That woke Thea.
“What?” she murmured, her voice roughened with sleep.
“You. Us. Here,” I explained.
She shifted, and her knee brushed against my arousal. “Oh, is that what's funny?”
“Something like that.”
My arm was curled around her shoulders, and I moved my hand up, sifting my fingers through her hair.
“It's windy out,” she murmured into the darkness.
“I think it's still snowing.”
I could hear the barely-there sound of the wind blowing the snow against the house. It wasn't like rain. There was a soft brushing quality to it, but I knew the sound well because I’d lived on the coast of Maine for my entire life.
“Do you normally wake up early?” she asked.
“Yeah, you?”
Her chin shifted in a nod against my shoulder. “I always have, even in high school.”
“I used to sleep in, but that habit has been thoroughly broken.”
“How?”
“I start work early. Before I took over management at the business, I was more frequently on duty for the emergency service too. I'm usually up by five, whether I want to be or not,” I explained.
I could feel the curve of her smile against my shoulder. Something about this conversation felt like a lasso cinching around my heart—the intimacy of it, the mundane details of our lives, all these things we didn't know about each other. I knew Thea, but then I didn't.
“What are you doing today?” I asked.
“Well, now, I don't know.”
I felt her shift, rising up on an elbow. My fingers slid through her hair as she moved. “I have no idea.”
“Really?”
She rested her palm on my chest and her chin upon that. “Are you working?”
“I'll probably go in just to check on things, but we’re closed except for emergency service for the two weeks around the holidays.”
She seemed surprised by this, her brows hitching up. “Oh, we stay busy. The admin offices are open, and the emergency appointments keep the garage busy. My dad always did that.”
“I don't remember that.”
“There was no reason for you to know. You gonna go see your brother and Jane today?”
Thea took a breath, letting it out in a soft sigh. “I'll go at Christmas, like we planned. But no sooner.”
“How come?”
“I just don't want to get into all of it.”
“Tell me what happened,” I pressed.
She was quiet for a moment, and then her stomach rumbled. I let out a hearty laugh.
“How about we have some coffee and breakfast? I even have a waffle maker.”
Thea’s giggle tightened that lasso around my heart. “Yeah, let's do that.”