Her cheeks flush, but she admits nothing about her coffee-stealing tendencies. "Iced or hot?"
"Hot."
She leans down to press her lips to my forehead. "Morning breath. Meet you in front of the hotel?"
"I'll be there." I stare at her ass as she leaves.
Violet arrives just in time to step onto the bus. As promised, she has a coffee for me. There's enough almond milk and sugar it's clear the drink is half for her, but I need the caffeine too much to mind.
Most of the time, I drink my coffee black, but not because I prefer the flavor. It's because drinking it like this—sweet and creamy—makes me think of her.
She steals half the coffee as we hang out in the small kitchenette.
Mal and Kit hang out on the couch, speaking in hushed voices. Joel hides behind his sunglasses, occasionally groaning about how loud or bright it is in here.
Mal and Kit take turns laughing at his hangover.
For me, this is normal. It's normal enough it feels like home. But Violet looks nervous. She alternates between shooting Mal frustrated glances and watching me make breakfast.
I wait until I'm done constructing our scrambled eggs, with vegetables and one avocado for each of us, to ask about it. "You want me to tell Mal to go fuck himself?"
"No. He's just…" She scoops eggs with her fork and takes a long, slow bite. "These are really good."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." She takes another bite, chewing and swallowing for longer than should be humanly possible. "It's not important." She looks up at me with a smile. "Try these. They're amazing."
Maybe it's not important. I squeeze into the seat across from her and try the eggs. They're as good as any eggs I've ever had.
"See." She plays with her fork. "You're good at lots of things."
No. I'm good at a few things. Not at the one thing that matters to me at the moment—getting Violet to open up to me.
I steer the conversation to her favorite topic—sci-fi TV shows—and get lost in the way her green eyes light up with enthusiasm. Violet spends most of her time trying to convince people she's tough. She is tough, but she's soft too. She's full of passion, enthusiasm, and understanding.
We hit enough traffic that the drive to Seattle takes four and a half hours. Sitting across from Violet makes the time fly by.
After we check in to our separate hotel rooms, I lead her to the first stop on our afternoon of sightseeing.
The Sky View Observatory is at the top of a downtown skyscraper. At lunchtime on a weekday, the building is packed. Violet sticks by my side in the crowded elevator. She slides her arms around my waist and rests her head against my chest.
Holding her body against mine makes me warm all over.
The elevator arrives at the forty-somethingth floor. We walk around the corner to the second elevator, the one that goes all the way to the top.
This time, we're alone. Violet sighs with relief.
Her lips curl into a smile as she looks up at me. "Think we have time for anything fun?" She hooks her leg around my hip, grinding her pelvis against mine.
"I'm game to find out."
She shakes her head and unlocks our bodies. Her eyes go to the elevator's control panel. "We only have ten floors to go."
It's a shame. She looks hot as fuck in her tight black and red dress. I want to tug at the corset lacing until her breasts spill out. I want to push that short skirt to her waist and dive between her legs. I want to pin her to the elevator wall and drive my cock deep inside her.
The elevator ding pulls me out of my thoughts.
She claps her hands together. "Let's go."