I don’t even know how it happens. One moment we’re alone together and the next we’re… just… together.
It only lasts for a few moments and then we pull away and sit there in silence.
And nothing about this is awkward.
Eventually we talk. And walk back to the truck. And I drop her off near her uncle’s store and watch her walk into the woods and disappear.
And then I spend all twenty minutes of my drive home replaying that kiss in my head on repeat.
I have a girlfriend.
A real girlfriend.
I want to invite her up to the sanctuary, and give her a place of her own, and sleep with her at night the way Pell and Pie do. And wake up to her. And kiss her good morning, and good afternoon, and good night.
I want to bring her into my world and I want to keep her forever.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE – PIE
Pell stirs next to me. Then it’s as if we both awaken at the same time and cling a little tighter to each other. He pulls me closer, his large palm flat against my lower belly. His… “Oh, God.”
“What?” he mumbles. But I can hear the smile on his face.
“You know what. Your giant package is poking me.”
He buries his face into the back of my neck and a rush of warmth floods my body. Last night was fun.
“Last night was fun,” he says, reading my mind.
“Wanna do it again?”
He lets out a long breath. “Woman, if we get started now you will not be going to work today. Morning sex is for weekends, remember?”
“Throwing my words back at me,” I huff.
He squeezes me. “Tomorrow is the weekend. We’ll have morning sex.”
“Oh. Shit.”
“What?”
“I forgot to tell you. It’s not a seven-day workweek there. It’s ten.”
“Ten?” He sits up a little to look at me. “What kind of fucking monster has a ten-day workweek?”
“Right?” I sigh. “You have to work eight and then you get two off. So I won’t even get my first day off until late next week.”
“You should go on strike.”
“I’m a hundred percent on board with that.”
He presses his lips into my neck. “Ya know… if you can open one door you can open many doors.”
I turn, trying to face him. Pell fights this, unwilling to stop clinging, but I win. And when we’re eye to eye, I place my hands flat on his cheeks. “I was thinking the same thing. I have a feeling I’m good at this shit, Pell.”
“You’re finally admitting the obvious?”
“The obvious?”