“That sounds good to me.” I grinned. She lifted her coffee cup, and I clinked mine against hers, a deal sealed.
“And I’d like to move into your room,” she remarked, punctuating it with a sip of her coffee as I snorted in surprise.
“What?”
“I mean, so when our families come to visit, they don’t get suspicious about me sleeping in another room,” she pointed out calmly. “Maybe I could move some of my stuff in there when I get home from work tonight. Or you can move it into my room.”
“I think I could live with that.” I nodded, trying to play it as cool as I could. I wanted to ask if this meant she would be sleeping there more often, too, or if this was all for appearances, but I held back.
“I guess I should think about getting ready for work.” She got to her feet, taking a last bite of her breakfast and flashing me a smile. As she brushed by me, she let her hand trail over my back, and she planted another kiss on my cheek. She smelled so sweet, so good, and I closed my eyes for a moment to savor the feeling of her close to me.
“I’ll make dinner tonight,” I called to her. She paused in the doorway of the kitchen and shot me a look over her shoulder, a slightly cheeky smile on her pretty face.
“You better,” she replied before walking down the hallway.
I wanted to watch her undress, hell, almost needed to, but I was more than happy to have her on my side again. I wasn’t sure what the hell I had done to earn this kind of reaction, but I was more than happy to revel in it for the time being. So she wanted to play at being my wife for real? Well, I was going to let her, especially if it meant walking in on her in satisfyingly few clothes, cooking me breakfast in the morning.
I got ready for work and headed out not long after her. She refused to let me take her back to her car, so she grabbed a cab, ignoring my grumbles over her choice.
I spent the whole day with a smile on my face thanks to the thought of her. Even the sub-standard coffee she’d been forced to make for us was enough to keep me going when it was matched with the rush of energy I felt from the way she’d casually planted that kiss on my cheek as though it belonged there. I couldn’t shake the memory of that image I’d had when I’d wandered out of the bedroom, her dancing, humming, the outfit, the food, and the coffee. Everything seemed to fit so perfectly together, and now our families were going to be meeting on the weekend. Hell, if you squinted at it and tilted your head sideways a little, you could nearly have mistaken this for a real marriage.
When I got home that evening, she was already in the shower. I ignored my natural urge to go in and join her and cooked us something to eat instead. It was just something simple, a stir-fry with noodles and fresh vegetables, but she emerged from the shower to find me plating it up she let out this long, satisfied sigh.
“How did you know exactly what I’d been craving all day?” she remarked as she took her seat, and I grabbed her a beer from the fridge. A part of me was waiting for the carpet to be whipped out from beneath me, like I knew in my heart this couldn’t last for long, but she seemed totally relaxed, totally at ease.
We ate together and chatted about our day, and then she helped me clean up afterward, splashing water on me playfully as I dried.
“You just don’t want to get your hands dirty,” she teased me.
“I think we both know that’s not true,” I shot back, and she bit her lip and giggled and shook her head, turning her attention back to the dishes.
When we were done, she headed through to her room to start moving some of my stuff in there so it would pass the family test when the time came, and I helped her out. I didn’t want to ask outright if this meant she wanted me in there, too, but I was bursting with curiosity.
“Hmm, thank God that’s done,” she sighed, flopping onto the bed. “I’m so tired. You want to go to bed?”
She was patting the spot next to her, and I hesitated for a moment, not sure if I was going to mess things up by taking her up on it. But fuck it, she was the one asking.
“Sounds good.” I nodded. “Let me just get ready, okay?”
The two of us brushed our teeth and got changed, and I came back through to find her slipped beneath the covers. She was wearing some light, strappy top that would have been so easy to peel off her, but I kept my hands clenched tightly at my sides and ignored those urges. I had to hold myself together.
I slid in next to her, and she snuggled up to me at once, letting her head lay on my chest as though this was what she’d been imagining all week long. I slipped an arm around her and closed my eyes. I was surprised at how good this felt, even without the sex. I opened my mouth to say something but then closed it, thinking better of it. I just wanted to be here in this moment with her and not think about anything but how good this day had been and how much I hoped we could hold onto it for the rest of our time together. However long that was.