CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE #2
She tiptoed from the room and into the main living space, barely daring to breathe in the eerie stillness. Without the steady hum of the refrigerator, the silence pressed in around her as she searched for her phone, praying it hadn’t died in the night.
Relief coursed through her when she finally found it.
The battery indicator sat precariously at five percent, just enough to check her messages, and her face lit up as she read the alert from her boss.
In the chaos of the storm, the roads were still largely impassable, so all non-emergency services were canceled for the day, which meant Cadi didn’t have to leave after all.
She quickly typed out an acknowledgement text before she tossed her phone onto the counter and shuffled back down the hall.
Easing onto the mattress, she crawled toward Elias, watching him as he slept.
The gentle rise and fall of his chest, the peaceful look on his face, his hair still tousled from her fingers the night before.
A flutter stirred deep in her chest at the memory of his lips on her skin, at the way his body had synced with hers perfectly in the dim candlelight.
Even just a few hours ago, that feeling would have been enough to make her panic and slam her defenses back into place to protect herself from the pain that inevitably followed when she dared to care too much. To get too comfortable.
But not now. This, him, them. It all just felt … right.
And as much as she hated to admit it, she missed him even though he was right there. Gods, when did she become so embarrassing? Bending forward, she brushed her lips against his before moving to his jaw, leaving a quiet trail of affection until he stirred.
“Mmm, what time is it?” he grumbled, his voice groggy.
“Six fifteen.”
One bleary eye cracked open in a sleepy glare as a low groan sounded in his throat. Cadi just beamed down at him.
“Oh gods, my girlfriend’s a terrorist.”
Her pulse skipped at his sleepy, unguarded use of the word, and the adorable way it seemed to wrap around her, carried by the faintest hint of his forgotten northern lilt.
“But a cute terrorist,” she teased as she bent forward again to nip playfully at his ear.
When he still didn’t move, she decided that it was time to take her pestering to the next level.
Sitting back on her heels, she began to bounce lightly against the mattress, rocking his body back and forth with the repetitive movement.
She squealed when he lunged, wrapped his arms around her, and dragged her back down onto the bed, locking her against his chest.
A minor setback.
She wiggled against him, tickling his sides as she squirmed, determined to break free. The occasional grunt from him was the only indication that her playful harassment was having any effect whatsoever.
After several unsuccessful attempts to free herself from his unyielding grip, she decided to try a different approach.
She stilled, settling her arms around his waist in a momentary ceasefire.
The quiet of the room settled over them, and she felt his breathing shift back into the slow, deep cadence of sleep.
Which was completely unacceptable.
She tilted her head up, smirking at her newfound ability to be extremely annoying, and lightly dragged her nose against the underside of his chin.
“I’m hungry …”
Her smirk widened into a self-satisfied grin at the long, defeated sigh that ruffled her hair.
“Fine,” he surrendered, at last releasing her.
Cadi bounced off the bed, shuffling to wait by the door as Elias stretched, his long legs slipping off the edge of the mattress.
He tugged on a pair of sweats, his movements slow and uncoordinated through the lingering fog of sleep.
A deep warmth unfurled in her chest at the adorable way he fumbled around, eyelids still heavy, feet shuffling as he moved to the door to join her.
“Did you know your accent slips out when you’re sleepy?”
He gave her a drowsy grin and slipped a hand to the small of her back. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, love.”
Her heart swelled when she heard it again, and this time, he let the soft vowels and curling R’s flow freely. It was softer, warmer than she’d expected, a part of himself that he kept hidden from the world, now only meant for her.
She carried that warmth with her into the kitchen, slipping onto a stool at the island where she watched him assess the questionable contents of the fridge. Since the power had been out all night, it was a gamble as to whether or not anything was still good.
“Probably should have put some of this in a cooler,” he muttered, crinkling his nose as he sniffed a sweaty bag of cheese.
“Whatever happened to being prepared?” Cadi teased.
He shot her a look that should have shut her up, but she only smiled wider.
Elias sighed as he glared into the darkened interior of the fridge. “I don’t think any of this is salvageable,” he said, “and I’m pretty confident no one is delivering right now.”
He glanced toward the window, where debris and water still littered the streets below, leaving them effectively useless until the city managed to get them cleared. And gods knew how long that would take.
Cadi pursed her lips, wracking her brain for any solution to her growing hunger. As if wanting to add its own two cents, her stomach let out a low rumble, the sound amplified by the quiet of the apartment.
“Don’t stores usually have backup generators?” she suggested, recalling the overpriced specialty food store she passed on her drive over. “We could go get something that we don’t have to cook.”
Elias scratched at the dark layer of stubble that covered his chin. “Nothing like a nice muggy walk at six thirty in the morning, I suppose.”
“Great!” Cadi cheered, ignoring his sarcasm as she scurried down the hall to change. A dramatic groan followed her, and she shook her head in amusement. He really should have asked if she was a morning person before they started dating.
A bead of sweat dripped down Cadi’s back as she wove through the brightly lit aisles of the store.
The walk there had been stifling, the early morning sun drawing wisps of steam into the air as it dried the sodden asphalt, and if she was being honest, the inside of the store wasn’t much of an improvement.
The backup generator was doing a fantastic job of keeping the fridges, freezers, and lights up and running, but there wasn’t quite enough oomph behind it to run the air conditioners on top of everything else.
The employees had turned off the automatic doors and left them open in the hope of providing some sort of circulation, but that had only served to bring the heavier heat farther inside.
As she walked past a row of standing freezers, a flicker of movement behind the glass had her doing a double take before she let out a surprised laugh.
In a desperate attempt to escape the oppressive heat, an imp had wedged himself inside the case and was resting his small, leathery body against the bags of frozen peas.
Cadi had to admit, the look of bliss on his face had her wondering if maybe the mythic was on to something.
She turned to Elias, her inappropriate joke about frozen peas cutting off mid-sentence when she realized he wasn’t next to her.
Turning around, she retraced her path until at last she spotted him, unable to stop her snort of laughter.
There he was, all six foot four of him standing at the mouth of the bread aisle, resting his head against a loaf of sourdough.
Slipping up behind him, she wound her arms around his waist to rouse him from his attempted nap. “Why don’t you go see if their coffee machine is working?”
He gave her a sleepy half smile and nodded before he turned to shuffle back toward the front of the store. She shook her head as she watched him go, making sure he didn’t take any detours at the bagels before she continued her search for the premade sandwiches.
The air from the open cooler provided a much needed, albeit brief, respite from the heat as Cadi went back and forth between turkey or ham. Electing instead to let Elias deal with the pressure, she grabbed one of each, just glad none of the options were egg salad.
“Hi, Cadi.”
A tingle raced over her neck at the sound of the familiar voice, and she spun around to find Zoe nervously fidgeting with the handle of her shopping basket.
So much for her streak of avoidance.
“Hi, Zoe,” she replied flatly. A part of her hated being rude, but after what had happened, she wasn’t about to put on a smile and pretend that everything was fine between them.
“Haven’t seen you in a while,” Zoe said, her tone cautious. “I didn’t realize you lived in this neighborhood.”