21. Lyra
Idrift off feeling so completely content, with his warmth at my side and the multiple orgasms turning me to butter. In the morning, I wake up to him spooning me. The arm banded around my waist is immovable as my eyes adjust to the faint sunlight just starting to stream in through my white curtains. We”re snuggled in my sky blue comforter and bamboo white sheets, so it”s basically going to be torture to leave this comfortable, warm cocoon. When he feels me stirring, the arm tightens even more.
“Don”t get up yet,” he groans, kissing my shoulder before burying his face in my neck.
“I have to use the bathroom, let Brody out, get coffee going, and at least log in to check work email. Some of us still have to work today,” I tell him on a laugh, leaning my head back to kiss his jaw. He yawns and stretches, doing one of those cute, sleepy lip smacks as he starts to wake up. Then he presses a kiss to the crown of my head. We”re both a little tired since after a couple of hours of sleep, we woke up and had another sleepy, slow round before passing out again.
“Alright, you use the bathroom and I”ll let Brody out. Then we”ll figure out coffee and breakfast.” He gets up and pulls on his clothes from yesterday, while I throw on something presentable enough for my work meeting before I go take care of business. When I come out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, I see Taran still in the backyard with Brody, throwing the ball and playing around with him. It makes my chest ache because it looks like he belongs out there. Like he belongs here. In this house, waking up with me, taking care of the dog while I get breakfast ready. One night with him and I”m turning into a stage five clinger, so I need to get my shit together. I get out mugs, creamer, and sugar, not sure yet how he takes it, and take a quick inventory of what flavored pods I have for the machine. I have plenty of eggs and bread, too, so I can easily make us some quick scrambled eggs with toast if he wants.
He comes in and goes right to give Brody a treat from the jar like he”s done it every day forever, telling him what a good boy he is as Brody sits nice. Then our eyes meet and I can”t help the soft smile that overtakes my face. He mirrors it back, like we”re both thinking the same thing. This is so domestic, cozy, and easy. Never mind that I still need to learn how he takes his coffee. There will always be new things to learn about him, I suppose. Coming over to me, he wraps me up in his arms while giving me a quick kiss.
“Good morning,” he whispers into my hair.
“Good morning to you, too,” I murmur into his chest, breathing in the scent of the cold outdoors on him. “I hope you don”t mind the pod coffee machines. I have a few different flavors here, and either hazelnut creamer or regular milk, plus the sugar.”
“That”s awesome, hazelnut is my favorite,” he tells me, kissing my forehead tenderly.
He goes over to the machine without hesitation, and I watch closely as he uses a hazelnut pod and pours a decent splash of the creamer in. I quickly get mine brewing once he”s done.
“Is scrambled eggs with toast ok?”
“More than ok.” He rubs his stomach in anticipation, making me laugh.
“Worked up an appetite last night, did you?” I tease, winking at him. His eyes heat, turning to molten chocolate.
“Sweetheart, you have no idea.”
My toes curl, and I clench around nothing as I try to focus on feeding us. I manage to get the bread in the toaster, and the pan out, before retrieving the eggs, butter, cheddar cheese, and everything else I”ll need from the refrigerator. I feel him watching me the entire time, and he raises his eyebrows when he sees me whisk mayo in with the eggs.
“Trust that this is good. Mayo gives the eggs fantastic texture. My brother-in-law Charlie taught me that trick, and he is the breakfast king in their house. I also like to put salsa and everything bagel seasoning on mine. What about you?”
“I’ve never had them that way, but I”m dying to try it.”
I smile as I cook the egg mixture to a soft scramble and melt in the cheese. Once I plate everything up and add the toppings to the eggs, I anxiously watch him take his first bite.
“I need this everything bagel seasoning in my life permanently, I love it on the eggs.” He’s shoveling them into his mouth like there’s no tomorrow.
“Right??” I’m not being much more elegant about it. I worked up an appetite last night, too.
We eat contentedly and sip our coffees while we make small talk. After we”re done, we clean up together and I quickly get my work laptop booted up just to login and check my email while he scrolls through his phone. We move into the living room, watch trash daytime TV, and chat while I answer emails and he checks in with his family. He fills me in that his brother”s flight is on time, so he”ll head to his mom”s later to be there once they arrive. The kids will be sharing his old room, while Seth and Sienna take Seth”s old room. Val already put together a huge casserole for them to enjoy for dinner, and they”ll be able to all catch up tonight by themselves before the larger dinner party tomorrow night. He sounds so freaking excited to see his family and I love it.
I get a text notification as we”re talking from the jaw specialist”s office, reminding me about my appointment in the beginning of December. I called weeks ago after Jeanie got on my ass about it, but between the doctor”s schedule and me trying to find an ok time to leave work early, it took a lot to get on their calendar. I purse my lips as the small dose of anxiety hits over it. Of course, Taran clocks it.
“Everything ok?” He runs his hand down my back as he peers at my face.
“Yeah, just a reminder about a doctor”s appointment I have in a couple of weeks. I”m a little anxious about it, but it”s not anything serious.”
“How not serious are we talking?” His face is now etched with concern, and I”ve brought down the whole wonderful mood of the morning. So I try to brush it off.
“When I had to take the growth hormone growing up, not everything grew in proportion. My hands and feet grew a lot more quickly, but I grew into them. The left side of my jaw also grew slightly more quickly than the right. It”s just causing some pain on the joints, having it out of whack. It”s going to require surgery, but nothing I can”t handle. I”ve had a ton of surgeries to correct my other issues and they”ve all been fine.” I”m absolutely reassuring myself just as much as him.
“Is the surgery scheduled?” His face hasn’t relaxed, in spite of me trying to brush it off. In fact, it’s more tense with his jaw tightly clenched.
“Not yet, this appointment is the consultation to figure out exactly what will be involved.”
“Want me to go with you?” His voice is strained, though. I don’t want him worried and upset over this, so I snuggle into him. He holds me to his side as he kisses my hair.
“I’ll be totally fine, but I really appreciate the offer. I promise I”ll fill you in on all the gory details,” I tell him.
“The gorier the better, little miss independent,” he deadpans, but his tone is off, and he’s still tense. Then he shakes his head as if he’s trying to get rid of something unpleasant, before he looks at me intently.
“So, before the dinner tomorrow, I wanted to ask. Should I, um, introduce you as my girlfriend? Is that what we are now?”
“Is that what you want us to be?”
“Firecracker, I”ve wanted us to be that for weeks now. I”m more worried about rushing you. I know you want to take it slow.”
“In that case I”d say to call me your girlfriend, because I”d really like to call you my boyfriend.” Then I shake my head as I laugh at the words that just came out of my mouth. “We sound like we”re teenagers.”
There”s that blinding grin again.