25. AJ
Imoan as I start to wake. My body feels battered, my joints are sore, my muscles even worse. I dig my head further into the pillow, still half-asleep, wishing for a few more hours. But as I take a deep breath and pick up a floral scent, I’m suddenly more awake.
I rarely spend the night with a woman. We have a good time then I exit as soon as I can. I don”t like chicks who are clingy, who want more. I usually wait until they fall asleep and then walk out, disappearing into the night with no desire to see them again. But I carried Valerie to her room last night after our shower, and we fell asleep in her enormous bed, until I reached for her another two times in the early morning. Now, I am rock-hard again, thinking of her amazing body. I feel warmth next to me and lift my hand to grab her, but I meet something fluffy.
“What the…” I come face-to-face with a giant rat. “Who the fuck are you?” I growl, my voice still yet to wake, and the dog looks at me before it leans forward and licks my nose.
“First and only time that is going to happen, my friend.” I sit up, wiping my face. The little thing clearly snuggled into me for a bit as my other snuggle buddy has already vacated the bed. The sheets, which feel like I slept on a fucking cloud, gather at my bare waist, and I look around her bedroom in the light of a new day. This room alone is bigger than my entire apartment. Like the rest of the place, it is white, with splashes of pink, fresh flowers adorning her shelves. Her drapes are thick but open a little, and sunlight streams in from what looks to be French doors to a patio. A wide fucking patio, fifty floors up. I see an outdoor lounge and a fire pit. A fucking herb garden. Wow, how the other half live.
Then I hear some movement out in her kitchen. She must have been up a while because I smell bacon. I haven’t eaten in a while, and my stomach rumbles immediately. I spot my clothes folded on an armchair in an area that can only be described as a mini living room… in her bedroom. I climb out of her soft sheets and slip on my jeans, but I don’t see my t-shirt, so I stay bare on top and walk out.
I take only a few steps and see her in the kitchen. Her hair is up high on her head in a messy bun. She is stirring something in a pan, moving around the kitchen with ease, wearing nothing but my t-shirt, which fucking makes me feel something I haven’t before.
“Morning…” She blushes as she looks at me.
“Morning,” I say, walking toward her, wasting no time grabbing her around her waist and kissing her. I slide my hands down and palm her ass, confirming she has nothing underneath. Lifting her, I place her on the counter and stand between her legs, like I did last night.
“You okay?” I ask her, not sure why. I’ve never cared about any of the other women I have fucked, but this time feels a little different.
“Sore, but good,” she says, her hands coasting up and down my bare torso. And I like it. “You?”
“Sore, but good.” I give her a small nod. “You made breakfast for me, sweetheart?” I ask her the obvious while my heart thuds in my chest. No one has ever cooked for me before. Not like this. No one has gotten up early, made me a variety of things, taking thought and consideration into what I may or may not like. I swallow, looking at the food she has put together. As a kid, I was lucky if I found an apple to eat most days. I am surprised she doesn’t have a cook or a butler, but she is fiercely independent and somewhat stubborn, so it makes sense that she wouldn’t rely on others to put together a meal.
“I did. But I am a terrible cook. I knew you would be hungry, so I just… you know…” She shrugs and looks at her countertop, and I follow her gaze. There is a literal feast on offer. I spot plates of bacon, eggs, waffles, pancakes, fruit, coffee, juice. You name it, it is here. “You don”t have to eat it. I mean, if it isn’t any good, you don’t need to pretend. I wasn’t expecting you to stay, so I didn’t have much to cook.”
I look at her and frown.
“Not stay?” I ask her, intrigued.
“It’s just that no one has ever stayed… you know…”
“No one has ever woken up next you?” I ask. I find it very hard to believe a man hasn’t completely fallen at this woman’s feet already.
“I guess that they never had a good time,” she says, looking a little unsure of herself. I hate that. She is literally perfection to me, and I have a really, really good time with her.
“They all sound like men who aren’t worthy of you,” I tell her and see her body relax.
“How can you be a complete fighting machine one moment and say sweet things like that to me the next?” She smiles.
“I’m not sweet, just being honest.” I am about to say something else, when the rat barks, and I look down at it sitting at my feet. It was stealth. I had no idea it had followed me out of the bedroom. It’s lucky I didn’t step on it.
“You have a rat,” I say to her, my eyes thinning at the ball of fluff.
“This is Bordeaux. He is my guard dog,” she says, looking worried as I bend down and reach out to pat him.
“Not much of a guard dog. I didn”t hear him at all.” I scratch his head.
“He is small but has a big bite. Be careful,” she warns as I scoop my hand around his body and tuck him under my arm. He is as big as my bicep.
“He is harmless,” I murmur, my fingers scratching under the dog”s chin, and it tilts its head into my hold, wanting more.
“That’s weird. He barks and bites everyone who comes into this apartment.”
“Maybe you just don’t have the right people in your apartment,” I tell her, and her eyes flick to mine.
“I think you are right about that.” Arching a brow, she looks between me and her dog. “I have a lunch meeting today, but maybe we can catch up later?”
“Sweetheart, I think if you are going to cook like this and tease me by wearing my t-shirt every morning, it is going to be very hard for me to ever say no to you.” I grab her neck and pull her to me. I know she likes it, so now I’ll want to do it all the time. She moans in my mouth before I pull away, leaving her a little wanting. “I know you are a lawyer, but what exactly does your work entail?” I ask, and she looks at me with intrigue. “What?” I ask.
“Nothing. I just don’t have many people ask what I do,” she says, her smile small.
“Well, I have no fucking idea, so enlighten me.” I pick her up off the counter one-handed and pop her onto her feet before leaning over and placing her guard dog on his feet too.
“I work at our family business. The last few years in the legal team. I am a lawyer, as you know.” I nod and I grab a plate and start loading up on the eggs. “But I am trying to… progress things…” she says suspiciously.
“No doubt you will succeed,” I tell her, not prodding, and she smiles even wider.
“You seem to have faith in me, yet have no idea exactly what I am doing.” While I don’t know much about being a lawyer, I can already tell she is a good one.
“Yeah, but you’re sassy and have balls of steel when you walk into an all-male gym on the wrong side of town or get tickets to fight night that you have no need to be at. I have a feeling you are a woman who gets exactly what she wants.”
She breathes out a sigh. “Let’s hope that my plan will work, then. Coffee?” she asks as she walks along the large kitchen, and I nod as I eat. Her food is delicious, and I shovel it in, wondering why she thinks she can’t cook. Working a fancy barista machine, she presses a few buttons. Then she reaches up to a cupboard to grab a cup, my t-shirt sliding up her legs, showing me the bottom of her ass cheeks, with nothing but nakedness underneath it.
I swallow my mouthful and look back over the food. She is without a doubt one of the most amazing women I have ever met. But I also can’t stay long. Because I do need to go to the gym and stretch out properly and move my sore muscles. I also need to see Marcus today. Collect my money for last night. I knocked the guy out in round three just as he asked, and with the large crowd we had, I am expecting a sizable sum. So much so, I think I can announce my retirement from boxing soon.
For the first time in my life, things seem like they are truly coming together.