49. Birdie
Confession: All future boyfriends require Grandpa’s approval.
Sunday morning, I woke up in bed next to him, fully naked and fully happy. His arm curled around my waist and his chin nuzzled into my shoulder blade, and I felt the steady rhythm of his breath play over my skin.
Yesterday had been a bigger day than either of us expected, but I’d loved the way he’d taken me seriously as we worked to save the bird. He could have easily dismissed it as a hopeless cause or gone along with it all just to appease me, but I’d seen it in his eyes. He’d truly cared, and that mattered to me more than he’d ever know.
My eyes caught paper on his nightstand, and I carefully leaned forward, curious what he’d been reading. I paged the top sheet over and began reading...
It was Emerson Academy’s bylaws, but with revisions and a speech to present to the school board.
My lips parted. Cohen was trying to change the school’s rules, just so he could be with me. It was possibly one of the sweetest things someone had ever done for me.
Slowly, I rolled over in his arms, kissing him awake.
He smiled into the kiss and in that delectably sexy morning voice said, “Morning, babe.”
Babe. I could have melted right then. “Good morning,” I sighed, the happiest I’d been since I couldn’t remember when.
“How’d you sleep?” he asked, eyes still closed.
I took in the peacefulness of his expression, the dark fringe of eyelashes and the small specks of gray in his morning scruff. “Really well. For how long I did sleep.”
He chuckled, blinking his eyes open. “It’s hard to keep my hands off you.” He squeezed one of my ass cheeks, and I giggled.
“I can tell.”
Kissing me again, he said, “I wish I could take you out to breakfast.”
I bit my lip. “Why not?”
His smile was brighter than the sunlight filtering into the room. “You tell me.”
I turned in his arms, facing him and trailing my fingers up his muscular arm. “I thought maybe... you could meet my grandparents? There’s a back room at Waldo’s Diner.”
“I’d love to.” He kissed my hand, then nipped at my knuckle. His eyes were hot on mine, and I felt his erection growing harder by the second.
My stomach swooped, and I was seconds away from begging him to take me again. “What happened to breakfast?”
“Baby, you’re better than any meal.”
I smiled, then kissed him again. “You’re more sugary than syrup, Cohen Bardot.”
“I think that’s you.” He kissed my cheeks and then the tip of my nose.
I smiled, closing my eyes, then blinking them open again. “Is it okay if I shower before we go? Curly hair’s a little crazy without some help.”
He grinned. “Ollie’s told me that a time or two. Can I get you anything while you shower?”
I bit my lip. “I brought a bag just in case I stayed. It’s in my car.”
“In case?”
I smiled. “I didn’t want to be too clingy. Or eager.”
“I’d say you were eager last night.” He gave me a teasing wink.
My cheeks flushed, and I gently hit his shoulder. “If I remember right, you enjoyed it.”
“Oh I did.” He pulled me closer, nipping at my earlobe.
“Okay.” I disengaged, standing and wrapping a sheet around myself before he could get any more ideas that would keep us in bed all day. “You grab my bag from my car, and I’ll shower.”
“Fine,” he groaned.
With a smile, I shed the sheet, letting him see my curves in all their rolled and dimpled glory, then walked to his bathroom and shut the door, locking it behind me.
He tried to twist the knob, then laughed. “You’re sneaky.”
“Save it for later,” I retorted and twisted the knob for the water. Since I had the water to cover the sound, I sat down and went to the bathroom. Everyone pooped, but that didn’t mean he needed to know I was doing it in his toilet.
When I finished, I flushed and got into the shower. Thankfully, there was curl product in there for Ollie’s hair. At least, I hoped it was Ollie’s hair. I tried not to think about it too much as I put a bit on my hands and worked it through my curls.
The water felt amazing on my body, cleansing away sweat and more from the night before. Usually in the shower, I thought through the day before, the students I worried about, the things I could have done better in the staff meeting, but now I just thought about Cohen. About possibilities.
If his proposal went through the school board, which it might according to the paragraph he included about other top-tier high schools that allowed parental-teacher relationships, our lives could change. What would it feel like to go out with Cohen? To sit with him at a school play or ride home with him after school?
To live together someday?
I smiled at the thought. It was still too soon, but that didn’t keep me from dreaming.
A few knocks sounded on the door, and Cohen called, “I’m holding this bag hostage until I can see that beautiful body of yours.”
I giggled. “I’m almost done.”
With the product washed out of my hair and steam filling the room, I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, rubbing a thick towel over my face, then wrapping it around my body.
I walked to his room and found him rolling the sleeves of a shirt. Leaning against the door frame, I said, “You look handsome.”
He grinned at me. “Thanks, babe.”
I could get used to him calling me babe. “You didn’t want to shower?”
Coming closer, he kissed me on the lips. “I’m not washing you off all day.”
My cheeks heated, but I smiled and walked to my bag he’d set on my side of the bed.
My side.
I bit my lip to hide how happy that thought made me and pulled out a long-sleeved dress for the day. Now that we were getting later and later into fall, the air had a chill to it. Cohen’s eyes were hot on me as I put on one of my lacy bras and underwear, then slipped the dress over my head.
When I met his eyes again, he was smiling at me. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to how beautiful you are.”
“You’re sweet,” I said.
His smile was genuine. “I try to be.”
I used the towel to soak moisture from the ends of my hair and scrunched it with my fingers. The curls would air dry eventually and look pretty good when they did. “Ready to go?”
“That’s it?” he said. “It’s not going to take another two hours for makeup and wardrobe changes?”
“Ha ha,” I said.
“You’re amazing me more and more every day.” He came to me and kissed me.
I smiled, wrapping my arms around his waist and looked up at him. “Ready?”
“I am now.”