33. Present Day
Present Day
“What were you going to do today? Before.”
Before the bathroom at the Haunt, the staircase where Jase had used his tongue and hands to make her come, this morning, when Jase admitted Lindsey was the first woman to sleep in his childhood bed.
Before she became the first woman he slept with in it too.
“Well,” she said from her perch on the counter where her bare legs occasionally knocked into Jase flipping eggs in his boxers. “I was going to keep working on my apartment.”
“Moving your stuff out?”
She took a green grape from the bowl beside her and popped it in her mouth.
“Packing and cleaning, yeah.”
His lips turned down as he moved two over-easy eggs to a plate and grabbed a fresh egg from the carton. He cracked it on the side of the cast-iron skillet with one hand and reached for a second.
“I can’t believe you cook,” she said.
I can’t believe he makes cracking eggs look sexy. What Jase could do with his hands was a marvel.
“I have a few standbys. A man can’t live on takeout alone.”
“Ah, yes. You’ve always lived alone, so you can’t be totally useless in the kitchen. Wait—have you always lived alone?”
“Yes,” Jase said. “If you’re leaving your apartment, are you moving in here?”
Lindsey freed another grape from the vine and studied him while he studied the eggs popping in the skillet. His curiosity explained the frown. She considered what to say that wouldn’t scare him away.
“I haven’t made up my mind yet,” she said, which was the truth. “My lease is up at the end of July and I’m not renewing it.”
He looked up from the eggs. Once again, his face was slack and happy from sleep and sex. Maybe she imagined the frown.
“I can help you, if you want.”
She stuck her foot between his legs. “Do you really mean help? I have a lot of work to do and you’re awfully distracting.”
“Hey, I’m just trying to make you breakfast. You’re the one with your foot on my dick.”
Jase moved to stand between her legs. If she was the first woman to sleep in his bed, he probably never had sex on the kitchen counter either. If she was creative like that, there were still things she could do with Jase that he hadn’t already done with someone else.
He kissed her, and her hips lifted, as they seemed to do any time he was within grinding distance.
“I’m serious,” Lindsey insisted, not serious at all. Her hand closed around his erection through his boxers.
He grunted. “You sure? Kind of feels like you need a day with a dick inside you.”
“You’re the one who’s hard.”
Jase squeezed her butt cheeks, and she almost jumped off the counter.
“Watch it,” she warned. “I think I’m bruised from the bathroom sink.”
He frowned and pulled the top of her pajama shorts down.
“How’d I miss that?”
His callused hands gently massaged the tender skin.
“It’s okay,” Lindsey assured him. “I like the reminder.”
“You like proof that I fucked you in a dirty bathroom?”
“I like proof that you couldn’t wait to get back here to put your hands on me.”
“Fucking Christ, Sundress.”
He dropped his forehead to hers and closed his eyes, still running his hands over her bruised ass.
He’d done that last night too—rested their heads together.
In the bathroom at the Haunt when he entered her, in the parking lot after he finally said what she needed to hear and she kissed him.
Last night before they fell asleep. It was as if he needed to reassure himself that she was really in his arms.
How could she not be in love with him when no other man had ever anchored himself to her, as if holding her was reason to live?
“Hurry up and eat your breakfast so I can take you back upstairs,” Jase said. “And then we’re going to work on your apartment.”
“As long as we’re there by ten,” Lindsey said, stroking his length through his boxers. “I have a guy coming to look at my couch.”
He lifted his head. “A guy coming to look at your couch?”
“Mm-hm. I’m selling my furniture.”
“This guy, how do you know him?”
“He messaged me online.”
Jase stopped her hand. “And you’re letting him inside your apartment alone?”
She absolutely would’ve let him inside her apartment alone if it meant he was hauling away her couch.
“He has a good buyer rating,” she said.
Jase scoffed. “You’re a creep magnet, Linds.”
“You would know.”
“Yeah, I would know. You’re nuts if you think I’m letting you meet this guy by yourself.”
“Letting me?” she laughed.
“It’s not happening,” Jase said.
“Yesterday you wouldn’t have cared.”
“Yes, I would. You just would’ve been too stubborn to tell me about it.” He shook his head and muttered, “Still no self-preservation.”
Lindsey didn’t know if Jase was swearing at her or the eggs in the pan that were over-hard and crisp around the edges. He transferred them to a plate with the others and killed the gas burner.
“You have no idea,” she said. Trusting this…whatever this was…with Jase was far more dangerous than selling a stranger a couch. She popped another grape and tried not to let her trepidation shadow her voice. “It’s a good thing I have a big, strapping man now to come with me.”
His chest hitched with a silent laugh. A woman could get lost in those muscles.
“Sundress.” Jase interrupted her progression from his pecs down to the V pointing to the appendage she was still getting reacquainted with. “Eat your eggs. Or do I need to put on a shirt first?”
“No.” She looked up. “And I will.”
Helen came through the kitchen door and stopped short.
“But you do need to do something about that,” Lindsey said quietly, glancing at the very obvious tent he was pitching that Helen would see if he faced her.
Helen opened the fridge and mumbled, “At least you’re wearing shorts this time.”
“This time?” Lindsey asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Jase said. “Don’t worry, I won’t be walking around naked anymore. All my clothes are clean.”
“What a relief,” Helen said.
“I must’ve missed it,” Lindsey said.
“Lucky you did, or you wouldn’t have been able to contain your lust.” Jase looked over his shoulder at Helen, keeping his erection pointed at the stove. “You and the asshole want eggs? The pan is still hot.”
“I think Graham lost his appetite after this morning,” Helen said.
“What happened this morning?” Jase asked.
Lindsey nudged him with her knee. What didn’t happen this morning?
“We weren’t exactly quiet,” she murmured.
Helen, her face in the refrigerator rather than looking at them, confirmed, “No, you were not.”