This time, when he stopped talking, she started.
“Someone you love?” she whispered.
“Sorry?” he asked.
“You said you don’t want to lay the heavy on someone you love.”
Well, fuck.
He had said that.
He stared in her eyes.
She stared in his.
They did this a long time.
He broke it.
“I would have wanted to do that with more fanfare, maybe some roses, definitely Mexican street corn deviled eggs.”
She didn’t laugh.
Didn’t even smile.
Tears started shimmering in her eyes.
He thought it was a little freaky, but he couldn’t deny it. He loved to see his girl cry, though only when it was tears like that.
She was pretty all the time.
Even a pretty crier.
But at its core, it was the emotion behind it that he loved.
“You’re pretty when you cry,” he said quietly.
“Dad hated it when I cried.”
“Of course he did, he loves you. No parent wants to see their kid cry. I don’t mind because you’re crying because I love you. And, bears repeating, it’s pretty.”
“I didn’t get it,” she said.
Okay, not only didn’t he understand that, it wasn’t what he expected after he told her he loved her.
Her jumping him, yes.
Her getting tears in her eyes, yes.
Her telling him she felt the same, he fucking hoped so.
That, no.
“Didn’t get what?”
“I knew I was happy, and I’d never really felt that before you.”
There it was, and now the warmth he was getting from her he felt burn in his gut.
She kept going.
“I was happy because I had you, and Dad was turning around, and I love my job. But I was really relieved to get back into the studio. And I was surprised how relieved I was. I thought my art was just an outlet. Something I was messing around with. I’d always been creative. I didn’t realize, until recently, that I just did what I did. But one of the things I didn’t do was allow myself to dream. I was just going through the motions of life. I never let anyone know I did that. My work in the studio. I never gave it any importance. Not because I feared no one would think it was good. Because I was so stuck in a life that was going nowhere, I didn’t think there was anywhere to go. I just never thought to dream.”
Axl said nothing.
Hattie did.
“And you came into my life. And suddenly, I’m not at Dad’s every night. And clearing a drawer for you is the highlight of my day. And every little thing I learn about you is like discovered treasure. Cleo. And the Jacuzzi. And how much you like creamer. The sound of your purr. That you can cook. That I can make you laugh. You made me happy. And being happy, I began to see my life clearer. Or, more to the point, take time to look at it at all. And I began to understand who I was when I wasn’t just existing. I love to dance. And I love my art. And I’m going to have a show. And now, I can dare to dream. Because I have what I need. I know who I am. And the thing that makes it safe is that I’m in love with a really great guy who also loves me.”
When she quit talking then, the nacho plate hit his nightstand half a second before he hit Hattie.
After a lot of kissing and the same amount of groping, he was tugging at her panties when she said breathily, “You need to save some stamina. I want to try the you-do-yours, I-do-mine porn thing tonight.”
Fuck, just that and he felt himself beading.
Christ, his girl.
“Quiet.”
He got her panties down over her feet, surged up, Hattie opening her legs as he did.
Yeah.
His girl.
“And maybe explore that light bondage thing you were mentioning,” she went on.
Fortunately, it was only Hattie who got dressed in her panties and his tee when she got up to nuke cheese on chips.
So once he positioned, he was all set to slide in.
Which he did.
And fuck.
Connecting with her, he realized he did purr.
She huffed out a breath, her pussy closing tight around him, and caught his ass in one hand, claiming the back of his neck with the other.
Gazing down at her, her hair all over his pillow, those gorgeous brown eyes hot and bothered, he started moving.
“Love you, baby,” he whispered.
She cocked a leg high, pressed it to his side, planted her other foot in the bed and reared up to meet his strokes.
“Love you too, Axl,” she whispered back.
He kissed her.
He fucked her.
They both came.
And after cleanup, he saw the chips and cheese no longer looked so hot.
So Axl put on some sweats and went to the kitchen to assess things.
He didn’t have fresh cilantro, but he had everything else.
He went back to her while the eggs were boiling, but he left her again.