Lake stirred, smiling before she even opened her eyes. “That feels nice.”
I realized I was petting her. “I woke you. I couldn’t keep my hands to myself.”
“Did you have sex with me?”
“While you slept?” I heard the alarm in my voice. “I generally prefer you to be conscious.”
She smiled wider. “I guess it was a dream then.”
“So all the sex we had over the past forty-eight hours wasn’t enough? You dream about it, too?”
“All signs point to yes.”
I was understandably hard. Not only had I just woken up, but she was on her stomach, the sheet light over her shoulder blades. It’d be the perfect moment to have her from behind for the first time.
“Is it late?” she asked.
“Hmm. I’d say around noon.”
Her head shot up. “Noon?”
“You were out like a light.”
“Shit.” She turned over, keeping the sheet around her breasts as she sat up. I pulled it down so I could see her, thumbing a bubble-gum pink nipple as I salivated. “I’m supposed to be arriving at work right now.”
“Can you call in?”
“I already did yesterday and the night of the show,” she said, standing. “Damn it.”
I reached for her hand, pulling her back on the bed. “It’s not inconceivable that you’d be sick for four days. Tell them you have the flu or something.”
She sighed, letting me fit her back against my front. “I already said it was food poisoning.”
“Well, you’re not a doctor. How could you have known?” I nuzzled her neck. “Besides, I have another job for you.”
“Does it pay more than minimum wage?”
“I’m hungry, Lake. I need to be fed.”
She twisted in my arms to look back at me and sigh. “I guess it’s a good thing I picked up all the ingredients for the Lake Special on our way home last night.”
When she’d turned, her crotch had brushed mine, and now I had a dilemma on my hands. I was horny for her. I was also starving.
She wiggled out from under me and grabbed a thin robe off the back of her door.
“Do you need to be clothed to make sandwiches?” I asked.
She smiled as she tied it closed. “What if Val comes in?”
As she left, I got up to take a piss. I guessed it was too much to ask for Lake and me to have a space of our own, but I really fucking hated that we couldn’t just relax.
On my way out of the bathroom, I pulled on my underwear and found Lake in the kitchen, peppering the counter with ingredients. “I’ve been craving the Lake Special since I had it the first time six years ago,” I said.
“You had the real Lake Special last night,” she teased.
“I did.” I came up behind her, pulling some of her hair aside to kiss her neck. “And I’m going to have at least a few more helpings today.”
She pointed at a cabinet. “Can you get down the plates?”
“You mean these?” I asked, reaching for a stack of dishes in the door-less cabinet right in front of us.
“No. I have special plates on the top shelf. In case . . .”
“In case?”
“I ever had an important guest.”
I raised my eyebrows at her, reaching above her head to the top cabinet. “What do you do when I’m not here to get them down for you?”
“I have a stepstool.”
It was so cute, I almost picked her up right there and took her back to bed.
“Also,” she added, “you’re the only important guest I’ve had.”
I kissed the top of her head. The plates were hard plastic with flowers, nothing special, but to me they indicated she’d been thinking of me when I wasn’t around and that was definitely something I’d hold on to while I was away.
“Manning?”
“Hmm?”
“Want to learn how to make the Lake Special?” she asked.
“Won’t you always be around to make it for me?”
“Mhm, that’s the plan.”
As I watched her smile to herself, my lungs constricted. Lake had always been part of me, tangled with my insides in ways I’d often wished she weren’t. I held her as close to the chest as Maddy’s death or my time in SHU. But in only two and a half days, she’d become my world. And in another two and a half days, I’d be separated from her again. How long would I be gone? I didn’t know. I didn’t care how to make the damn sandwich, but I would take an excuse to watch and listen to her do anything. “Teach me.”
“Wash these.” She slid over a cutting board with lettuce and a tomato. I indulged her, sneaking glances at her bare legs when I could. Once I’d cleaned and sliced, I washed my hands and without drying them, slipped them inside her robe, hugging her from behind.
She inhaled a breath. “Your hands are wet.”
“Mmm.” I ran them over her stomach then held her back to my front as she worked at the counter.