Chapter 11
“I’m going for a run.”
The words barely registered in Elodie’s brain. She squinted her eyes open and saw Scott hovering over her. He had on a tank top and a pair of running shorts. She frowned. “What time is it?” she asked sleepily.
He smiled and leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Early. Go back to sleep. I’ll be gone about an hour and a half or so.”
“You’re going to run for an hour and a half? Are you nuts?”
He chuckled. “I’m a SEAL,” he said as if that explained it.
Then he turned and headed for the door. Before he got there, he turned again and came back to the side of the bed.
He leaned over once more and put his hand on her cheek.
“For the record…I like having you here in my bed. Thank you for last night.” Then he kissed her on the lips and was up and moving before she could respond.
Shifting on the mattress, Elodie smiled.
She was delightfully sore in all the right places.
But glancing at the old-fashioned clock radio on the table next to the bed turned her smile to a grimace.
Four-thirty. It was way too early to get up, especially considering it was her day off.
She’d sleep for a bit, then get up, shower, and make breakfast for Scott.
She actually looked forward to cooking for the first time in a long while. Breakfast wasn’t exactly haute cuisine, but she made a mean eggs benedict if she did say so herself.
Turning over, Elodie inhaled the scent of Scott, lingering on his pillow, and closed her eyes.
She woke up later groggy and disoriented. When she looked at the clock again, she saw it was nearly nine in the morning.
Shit! She’d totally overslept. Sitting up, she also realized she was still completely naked.
Bringing the sheet up to cover her chest, she inhaled deeply.
It smelled like she was way too late to impress Scott with her prowess in the kitchen this morning.
The scent of coffee, bacon, and bread filled the room.
Elodie climbed out of bed and went into the attached bathroom. She took a quick shower, making sure not to get her hair wet since it took forever to dry, and contemplated what she could wear after to greet Scott.
He had literally ripped her dress practically in half in his hurry to get her naked last night.
Not to mention her underwear was probably still in the foyer of his apartment.
She debated rummaging through his drawers, and decided she was going to have to.
There was no way she was going to parade out into his living room without a stitch of clothing on.
Since it was a bit chilly in the mornings, she grabbed a long-sleeve gray dress shirt from his closet. She also found a pair of sweatpants that would work for now. They were huge on her, and she had to roll the bottoms so she didn’t trip over them, but at least she was warm.
Elodie knew she looked ridiculous, but she didn’t care. Wearing Scott’s clothing was intimate, and after last night, when they’d both gone at each other like sex-starved jackals, she figured he wouldn’t mind.
She took a long look out at the ocean from the window in his room and sighed.
She didn’t think she’d ever get tired of that view.
She hadn’t had time to appreciate it last night.
And besides, it had been dark. But if she lived here, she’d buy one of those overstuffed comfortable easy chairs and plant it right in front of the window so every time she looked up, she’d see the serene Hawaiian surf.
Looking at the waves was soothing; being in them, not so much.
In the past, when she’d woken up in a man’s apartment or house after sleeping with him, and not really knowing him, she’d felt awkward, making up whatever excuse she could think of to slink out as fast as possible.
But surprisingly, she wasn’t embarrassed at all by her behavior from the night before.
Being with Scott felt right. And easy. She couldn’t wait to spend the day with him, despite knowing she needed to spill the beans about her complicated life.
Eager to see him again, Elodie wandered out of his room and into the living area of his apartment. He was sitting at the end of a small table next to the kitchen, drinking what she assumed was coffee.
The second he saw her, his eyes lit up and he smiled and stood. “Come ’ere, sleepy head,” he said, holding out a hand.
Elodie padded over to him without hesitation. He pulled her into him, then sat, shifting her so she sat across his thighs.
“Morning,” she said softly.
“Morning. You sleep okay?”
“Like a rock. You?” she asked.
“Better than I have in months,” he returned.
“How was your run?”
“Good.”
“I can’t believe you ran for an hour and a half,” she muttered.
“I actually felt so good, I went for two hours,” he informed her.
Elodie shook her head. “Right, so we should talk about this now. I’m not a fan of exercise.
I mean, I like to walk and hike, and go see beautiful wildlife and nature stuff, but I’ve never been the kind of person to like to exercise because it’s a healthy, responsible thing to do.
We’ll never be the kind of couple to participate in partner marathons or stuff like that.
I’ll go and watch and cheer you on, but I’m not going to strap a number on my chest and run for fun. ”
Scott threw his head back and laughed so hard, Elodie thought he was going to fall out of the chair. When he got himself under control, he looked at her and said, “Noted. What about bike rides?”
“Only if there aren’t any hills and you get me an electric bike,” she quipped.
“Swimming?”
“In a pool or hot tub, where I can bob up and down and have a drink in my hand, yes. You already know how I feel about the ocean.”
He chuckled. “Can you swim?”
“Of course I can swim,” Elodie told him. “I’ll never make the Olympics. And swimming back and forth, watching that black line on the bottom of the pool? That’s boring as hell.”
“On that, we agree,” Scott said. “I don’t expect you to do anything with me that you don’t want to do or enjoy. We don’t have to like all the same things, and we don’t have to always be joined at the hip.”
“Good,” she said.
“Good,” he echoed. “Now that that’s out of the way…there’s something else we need to do.”
“What’s that?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“Say good morning properly,” he said, then leaned closer.
Elodie eagerly met him halfway, bringing a hand up and resting it on the back of his head as he kissed her. The kiss was long and slow, with none of the frenetic urgency of the night before. He tasted like coffee, and for some reason that seemed extremely intimate.
He leaned back, but Elodie didn’t remove her hand from his nape.
“Good morning,” Scott said huskily.
“Morning.”
“And…in case you don’t remember me saying it when I got up this morning…last night was one of the best nights of my life. I think most of the reason I felt so good on my run was because of you. Because you simply make me happy. I know that’s sappy as hell, but so be it.”
Elodie still had some reservations about what they were doing, how fast they were moving, but she was going to hold on to this happiness with both hands for as long as she could.
“I wouldn’t have stayed if I didn’t feel connected to you, Scott. I admit that I don’t really understand it, but at the moment, I don’t care. It was as if the second I saw you on that dock, something clicked inside me. Something I’d been missing since you left the Asaka Express.”
“I feel the same way. It’s as if I’ve known you forever…here.” He put a hand over his heart.
Elodie nodded in agreement.
“Right, so no more talking about moving too fast or whether or not things are weird. We aren’t, and they aren’t. Okay?”
“Okay,” she happily agreed.
Scott leaned back and pretended to inspect her from head to toe. “Love the outfit, babe.”
She laughed. “Well, my pretty dress seemed to have gotten torn last night.”
“It did, huh? That’s too bad.” Scott reached for the top button of the shirt she had on and deftly undid it. Then he popped open the next one, revealing quite a bit of skin. “But I have to say, I like what you’ve got on right now. I like seeing you in my clothes.”
“They’re huge on me. You’re like a Bigfoot or something.”
“I am not, I’m only six feet tall. Midas is the Sasquatch at six-four.”
“Well, since I’m only five-six, you’re all huge to me.”
Scott leaned down and nuzzled the skin of her chest that he’d uncovered. “You showered,” he complained.
“I did. After last night…well…let’s just say I needed to clean up.” It should’ve felt weird talking about something so intimate, but with Scott, it felt natural.
“I wanted to shower with you,” he told her.
Elodie realized for the first time that he must’ve showered as well, because he certainly didn’t smell like he’d been on a two-hour run. “But you already took one,” she said.
“And?” he retorted.
“Right. Forgot, you’re a SEAL. You’re practically a water baby.”
“That, and I’ll pretty much never pass up a chance to see boobs.”
Elodie burst out laughing. Had she ever laughed this much with a man before? She didn’t think so. “Ah, the truth comes out,” she said.
Scott took her face in his hands and kissed her hard and fast. “As long as they’re your boobs, that is. Scoot off, I made you breakfast.”
Elodie continued to sit in his lap, reluctant to move and trying to catch up to the topic change, so he shifted her off his thighs and then seated her in the chair. “Stay there. No moving. How do you like your coffee?”
“Black and strong,” she said.
“Hmmm, I would’ve pegged you for extra-sweet with cream,” he said.
“Nope. Long days and nights in kitchens have taught me to take my caffeine as undiluted as possible,” she told him.