“Yeah, that sounds good.”
He started loading up the refrigerator while I flipped between the basic channels on the television. I figured it was stolen cable, given Gladys’ approach to everything else involving this house.
“So, what were you out doing all day?” I called out over my shoulder at him, noticing how quickly it had turned dark outside.
“Getting a lay of the land,” he answered. “Took some time to learn Metairie. Drove into New Orleans. Figuring out the lay of the city.”
“Figure out if this place is where you want to bring your club?”
“Not the right time for that yet.”
I smirked. “Seems like nothing’s the right time with you.”
Grizz glanced up, annoyed for a second. I’d gotten under his skin, which I liked. “I can only reach my contact out here on Wednesdays. I have to wait several days before the ball gets rolling. Till then, I’ll be spending most of my time right here.”
Several more days in close proximity to Grizz…
I crossed my legs and turned back around. Desperately, I hoped to hide the way that my core flared up at the thought of being stuck with him.
There wasn’t much further to go after “fucking ourselves together in the shower”…
Grizz focused on cooking, and I focused on thinking about just about anything else than him. Soon, the smells of freshly seared steak started wafting into the room, and I noticed how my mouth watered.
There’s another piece of his meat that my mouth could water for…
I almost slapped myself for that one.
After about forty minutes in the kitchen, Grizz called me over for dinner. I realized that I’d barely eaten all day – just some leftovers for breakfast. My work had built up quite the appetite, so I was pleased that he’d picked up the big steaks at the store.
I sat down at the rickety little dining table at the edge of the kitchen. Grizz had cooked us a steak apiece, along with fully loaded baked potatoes, buttery steamed broccoli, and plenty of garlic bread.
“You were always nuts about garlic bread,” Grizz spoke as I started cutting into the steak. I knew he loved his meat damn near raw, but he cooked mine medium well for me.
He didn’t even complain about “ruining the steak” like he used to.
“You still remember how I like my food,” I blurted out a little more emotionally than I wanted.
Goddammit, Kate, pull yourself together.
“Of course I remember,” Grizz answered. There was tenderness in the way that he looked at me, and I felt my face start to redden under his gaze.
“Yeah, well… it’ll take more than that to get into my pants again,” I smugly retorted. “More than a good meal, no matter how delicious it is.”
“So you do enjoy it?”
I was taken aback. “Of course I do.”
“Good,” he let out a sigh of relief. “Glad that it’s to your liking.”
I nodded, taking another bite.
Silence came over us while we ate.
But tonight, it wasn’t as awkward a silence as the night before. This time, we were comfortable. We didn’t have to fill the air with blurted confessions or small talk.
After we finished our food, I took our paper plates away while Grizz rose to wash the cookware.
“Don’t worry,” I told him. “I’ll get them.”
He glanced over at me. “Are you sure?”
“Well, yeah,” I replied. “After all… I guess I’m kind of just living here with you. It’s the least I can do. Hell, I should have been the one cooking.”
“I like to spoil you,” he said. “Besides, you cleaned the place up for me.”
“Yeah, well…” I pushed him aside. “Go sit down. Pick a decent channel or something. I’ll fix it all up in here and join you.”
Grizz didn’t argue.
He gave me a warm smile, before settling down on the couch with the remote. While he did that, I started setting leftovers aside in the tubberware abandoned to us, then scrubbing the pots and pans.
When I was done, he was stretched out against the arm of the couch, remote still in his hand. The credits to a movie were shrunk down on the screen during a commercial, and it looked like another one was about to start.
I glanced over at the comfy chair, where I’d been sitting earlier. It looked inviting.
But there was lots of space on the couch next to him, and just because I wasn’t fucking him didn’t mean I couldn’t sit with him.
Right?
I plunked myself down next to him on the couch, noticing with a hidden grin that he straightened up slightly.
There were maybe a few inches between his hip and mine. It would take no effort to just brush up against him, or pretend to stretch and close that distance…
But I resisted the urge, and a film started.
Although, I couldn’t help but grow a little tired as the film went on, and I eventually realized that I was curled up against him, his eyes focused on the screen but his arm around my shoulder…
His warmth was only causing me to doze off harder. My eyes finally started blinking shut, and a large smile crossed my lips.
Admitting it to myself was hard, and I hated doing it, but I was the happiest I’d been in a damn long time.
I smiled harder.
Damn you, Grizz Hawkins…
Grizz
When I woke up the following morning, I was sprawled down the couch. The backs of my fingers on one hand rested against the hardwood floor.
My other arm was around Kate.
I almost jumped when I realized this. Opening my eyes to the unfamiliar weight, I noticed how she was draped over my chest, her head against my heart.
Kate…
I almost didn’t want to wake her.
But I could already see that the sun had risen outside, the night having completely moved without us.
Hell, the television was still on…
My fingers felt around against the wood for the remote. Once it was in my grasp, I clicked the power button and watched the old glass screen shut off with a fuzzy burst.
I lifted my watch.
It was nine-thirty in the morning.
Ignoring the urge to brush her aside so I could take a leak, I breathed in and out and enjoyed the pressure of her body on mine. Kate murmured in her sleep, and I squeezed her a little tighter against me.
My heart swelled with love.
I wanted her back for so long. It had been such an unachievable dream to have her in my life again that I’d turned my back on those thoughts years ago…
And here she was, in flesh and blood, pressed against my chest.
Indulging in her body’s limp weight on me, I felt myself wondering if I could bring myself to give her what she wanted.
I wondered if I could tell her the truth.
Every time I thought back to that time of my life, my chest seized with panic. The fear had whittled me down to the mere clay that I was made from, barely clinging to my mind.
Kate expected – demanded answers.
Who was I to deny her that?
But if she only knew the sheer pain that struck my chest when she brought it all up, her persistence only growing…
Maybe I can do it, I thought.
Maybe I can give her what she wants so badly.
Kate murmured in her sleep, shifting against my chest. Taking advantage of the pivotal moment, I lightly pushed her.
She snapped to a jerking awake, holding herself up on her palms as she blinked widely and gazed around slowly.
“Kate… wake up,” I commanded.
“I… I’m awake…”
“Need to get up,” I told her softly. “We fell asleep here.”
She looked at me as if seeing me for the first time, slowly accepting consciousness. After a moment of gazing half-asleep into my eyes, she suddenly pulled away, curled up a few feet across the couch.
“Sorry! I didn’t mean to… to fall asleep here… on y
ou…”
“It’s okay,” I replied truthfully. I pushed myself up to a seated position and stretched, a great yawn ripping my jaws apart.
I left her to her startled thoughts on the couch as I wandered to the bathroom. As much as I had loved her warmth and slumbering form against me, her knee had been on my bladder, and I was one wrong move from having a real problem.
After that little moment of sweet relief, I started making us breakfast. Kate had already fallen back asleep, but it was about time that I was up, so I put some coffee on for myself.
I felt bad about disturbing her, so I left her a plate of breakfast on the counter and changed into newer clothes. By the time I was done, so was my cup’s worth of coffee, so I took it black and drank deep.