Chapter 12
Alex woke to an empty blanket fort and the particular, disoriented panic of reaching for someone who wasn’t there.
The panic didn’t last long. She heard the telltale sound almost immediately, slow, deliberate breathing from across the room, and pushed up onto her elbows to find Dani exactly where she’d been that very first morning, facing the windows, mid-pose, the low winter sun catching gold in her hair.
Alex lay there a moment just watching her, fairy lights still glowing faint against the daylight, the whole absurd, wonderful wreckage of last night’s blanket fort scattered around her, and felt something settle warm and certain in her chest. Four days ago this exact sight had sent her creeping across the room armed with a TV remote.
Now it just felt like waking up to something she wanted to keep waking up to.
“Morning,” Dani said, without turning around, apparently sensing the audience the same unnerving way she had that first day. “You’re staring.”
“I’m allowed to stare. I built you a blanket fort.”
“You did.” Dani unfolded out of the pose, turning to look at her properly, soft and amused and lit up in a way that had nothing to do with the sunlight. “Best one I’ve ever slept in, for the record. Even the second half, once it stopped technically being for sleeping.”
Alex felt heat climb up her neck, entirely undignified for a woman who prided herself on composure. “Careful.”
“I’m just saying. Very effective use of fairy lights.” Dani crossed the room, dropping down to sit beside the wreckage of blankets, close enough that Alex could feel the warmth of her, freshly moved and glowing from the yoga. “Join me? Ten minutes. I promise it’ll wake you up faster than coffee.”
“I have told you multiple times that I would rather eat glass.”
“You’ve also told me multiple times you’re allergic to change, and yet.” Dani gestured at the fort, the fairy lights, four days of very unlike-Alex behavior stacked up as evidence.
Alex considered her, considered the smug, entirely justified look on her face, and felt something competitive and fond flare up in equal measure. “Fine. I’ll make you a deal.”
“I’m listening.”
“I do ten minutes of your ridiculous yoga. In exchange, I get full, uncontested control of breakfast. No commentary on cholesterol. No swamp juice anywhere near my pans.”
Dani’s eyebrows went up, clearly delighted by the negotiation. “Full uncontested control. Bold demand from someone who’s about to discover she can’t touch her toes.”
“I can touch my toes.”
“We’ll see.” Dani held out a hand, sealing it. “Deal.”
The ten minutes that followed were, by any reasonable measure, a disaster.
Alex wobbled through poses she had no business attempting, swore twice in the first ninety seconds, and toppled sideways out of something Dani called a half-moon with so little grace that Dani had to physically brace her to keep her from taking out an entire side table.
But Dani laughed, real and delighted and entirely unbothered by Alex’s incompetence, correcting her stance with warm, steady hands that lingered a beat longer than strictly necessary, and Alex found she didn’t actually mind the humiliation nearly as much as she’d expected to.
“You’re better than you think,” Dani said, guiding Alex’s hips into some alignment that felt, to Alex, indistinguishable from every other position she’d already failed at.
“I toppled over four times.”
“Four is an improvement over falling immediately, which is where most people start.” Dani straightened, pressing a quick, unthinking kiss to Alex’s shoulder before stepping back, like it was the most natural thing in the world now, no hesitation left in it at all. “Breakfast. You promised.”
“I did.” Alex headed for the kitchen, still faintly wobbly, deeply pleased with herself despite the wobbling.
She had bacon in the pan and eggs cracking into a bowl within minutes, falling into the same easy rhythm she’d found that very first morning, except now Dani didn’t hover at a wary distance, she draped herself against Alex’s back instead, chin hooked over her shoulder, watching the bacon crackle with an interest Alex suspected had very little to do with the bacon itself.
“You’re in my way,” Alex said, not moving to correct it.
“I’m supervising.”
“You said no commentary.”
“This isn’t commentary. This is moral support.” Dani pressed a kiss below Alex’s ear, unhurried, and Alex nearly dropped the spatula entirely.
“You’re going to make me burn this.”
“Worth it.” But Dani stepped back, if only slightly, settling onto a stool at the island instead, watching Alex work with an expression too soft and too fond for someone claiming to just be there for breakfast.
They fell into easy conversation while Alex cooked, Dani stealing bites straight off the cutting board and getting swatted away for it, Alex threatening consequences she had no real intention of following through on.
When the eggs were done and the bacon was draining on paper towels, Alex turned to find Dani had abandoned the stool entirely, standing close, close enough that the space between the stove and the counter had shrunk down to nothing at all.
“You know,” Dani said, eyes glinting with exactly the kind of trouble Alex was starting to recognize, “we probably shouldn’t let things go too far in a kitchen that isn’t ours.”
“Probably not,” Alex agreed, not moving away.
“Very risky. Very much someone else’s counter.” Dani’s hands found her waist, easy and deliberate, backing Alex gently up against the counter in question. “We should be responsible about that.”
“We should.” Alex’s pulse had picked up considerably, breakfast entirely forgotten behind her. “I’m a very responsible person.”
“Devastatingly responsible.” Dani’s voice had dropped low, teasing and certain all at once, and Alex felt the counter’s edge press against the small of her back as Dani closed the last of the distance between them.
“The eggs are getting cold,” Alex managed, though it came out considerably less convincing than she’d intended.
“The eggs,” Dani said, “can wait.”
Alex’s hands settled at Dani’s waist, steady and sure, and she smiled against the curve of Dani’s mouth as she answered.
“You’re right. The eggs can wait.”
She kissed her once, slow and deliberate, then broke away just far enough to look her in the eye. “But you’re still in my way.”
Dani’s eyebrows lifted, delighted. “Am I?”
“You are.” Alex’s grip tightened, and she lifted her clean off the floor in one smooth motion, settling her onto the counter with a soft thump that made Dani laugh in surprise. “There. Much better.”
“Show-off,” Dani said, but her voice had gone a little breathless already. She hooked her ankles loosely behind Alex, pulling her closer. “You just wanted an excuse to manhandle me.”
“I did.” Alex stepped between her knees, palms sliding up Dani’s bare thighs under the hem of the oversized sleep shirt she was still wearing. “And you let me. So whose fault is that?”
“Yours. Entirely yours.” Dani’s hands found Alex’s shoulders, then the short hair at the back of her neck. “I was being perfectly responsible until you started lifting people.”
Alex kissed the corner of her mouth, then the hinge of her jaw, then lower, following the line of her throat. “You’re a terrible influence.”
“I’m an excellent influence. You’re just weak for excellent influences.”
Alex hummed against her skin and pushed the sleep shirt higher, exposing more warm skin to the cool morning air of the kitchen. Dani shivered, but she didn’t pull away. Instead she leaned back on her hands, watching Alex with that same soft, amused look from the yoga mat earlier.
“You know,” Dani said, “if Marisol and Cass walked in right now, this is going to be very difficult to explain.”
“Then it is a good thing they aren’t even in the country.” Alex’s mouth found the soft skin just above the waistband of Dani’s underwear, and she felt the way Dani’s breath caught. “You’re the one who said the eggs could wait.”
“I stand by that decision.”
Alex glanced up, grinning. “Good. Because I’m not done.”
She hooked her fingers in the waistband and tugged. Dani lifted her hips without being asked, and Alex slid the fabric down and off, letting it drop somewhere near the stove. Then she settled in, hands firm on Dani’s thighs, spreading them wider as she leaned down.
The first slow lick made Dani’s head tip back with a quiet, involuntary sound.
Alex took her time, learning the rhythm that made Dani’s fingers tighten in her hair, the exact pressure that pulled soft curses out of her.
She kept one hand splayed across Dani’s stomach, grounding her, while the other held her open.
“Alex,” Dani breathed, already a little wrecked. “You’re very focused for someone who just fell four times doing yoga.”
Alex pulled back just enough to answer, voice rough. “I’m highly motivated.”
She went back to work, slower this time, deliberate, until Dani was shifting restlessly against the counter, thighs trembling under Alex’s palms. When Alex finally pushed two fingers inside her, curling them just so, Dani’s whole body arched and a sharp, broken sound spilled out of her.
“That’s it,” Alex murmured against her. “I’ve got you.”
She kept the pace steady, mouth and fingers working together, until Dani came with a low cry, one hand fisted in Alex’s hair, the other braced hard against the counter.
Alex stayed with her through it, gentling the touch only when the tremors started to ease, then pressing a soft kiss to the inside of Dani’s thigh before straightening up.
Dani was flushed, breathing hard, hair a little wild, looking thoroughly pleased with herself and the situation.
“Well,” she said after a moment, voice still rough. “That was an extremely effective use of someone else’s counter.”
Alex pressed a kiss to her knee, unhurried, still catching her own breath. “I thought so.”
Dani reached for her, pulling her in for a slow, lingering kiss that tasted like shared heat and morning light. When they broke apart, Dani glanced past her toward the stove.
“The eggs are definitely cold now.”
“Tragic.” Alex rested her hands on Dani’s still-bare thighs, thumbs stroking absently. “I’ll make more. After you put your underwear back on. Or don’t. I’m flexible.”
Dani laughed, bright and warm, and hopped down from the counter, retrieving the discarded fabric with far more dignity than the situation deserved. “You’re going to be insufferable about this for the rest of the trip, aren’t you.”
“Absolutely.” Alex turned back toward the stove, already reaching for the carton of eggs. “I earned it. Ten minutes of yoga and a successful breakfast. I’m unstoppable.”
Dani stepped up behind her again, chin hooking over her shoulder the way she had earlier, and pressed a soft kiss to the side of her neck.
“Yeah,” she said quietly. “You really are.”