Until Sage (Until Him 2)

“Hey.” Her eyes come to me over her shoulder, and her cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink.

“Morning.” I lean down, kissing the exposed skin where her neck and shoulder meet. “You got an extra toothbrush?” I ask, and her eyes go soft in a way that I know I could get used to seeing every day.

“No, but you can use mine. I don’t mind.” She shrugs.

“All right.” Touching my lips to her temple, I give her waist a squeeze then head for the bathroom. Coming out a few minutes later, I find her cracking eggs into the pan she just fried bacon in, and as soon as I’m close, she turns her face toward me.

“I don’t know…” She pulls in a breath then lets it out slowly. “I don’t know how this works,” she says, turning around completely, and I stop a few feet away from her. “I mean…” She lets out another huff of air. “I don’t know if you want to eat or if you just want to go.”

“I’m not going,” I state, watching her tense shoulders relax at my answer.

“Good,” she whispers, and I feel that one word wash through me. “Do you want coffee?”

“Yeah.” I close the distance between us, and she pulls down a coffee mug from the cupboard, handing it to me.

“Coffee pods are in the drawer under the machine.” She nods toward the Keurig on the counter. “Cream is in the fridge, and sugar is there.” She points to a canister. “How do you like your eggs?”

“Anyway you want to cook them is good with me.”

“Okay.” She gives me a smile then cracks two more eggs into the pan before taking toast out of the toaster and buttering it. Leaning back against the counter next to her with a cup of fresh coffee in my hand, I look at the shelf we put together and see that she already stacked her books on it.

“You’ve been up a while,” I observe, and she looks from me to her shelf that is now full of books.

“I can never sleep in. No matter how late I go to bed, I always wake up early.” She pulls down two plates before looking at me once more. “Did you sleep okay? I was going to go in and shut the skylight, but I didn’t want to wake you by closing it.”

“I slept better than I’ve slept in a long time,” I confess, and her eyes soften. “I like the skylight. I might have to put one in the master at the lake house.”

“It’s pretty awesome. I like lying under it when it rains even more than at night when the skies are clear.”

“I’ll have to experience that myself sometime,” I say, taking her hand and pulling her a step closer to me after she finishes buttering the toast and putting two fresh slices in the toaster. “What’s your plans for today?”

“I have a client coming into the salon at ten, so I have to work. What about you?”

“Work tonight, but after that I’m free. You feel like hanging out later?”

“Sure.” She leans into me with her weight, and I dip my face, brushing my lips over hers, touching my tongue to her bottom lip. Her mouth opens and I deepen the kiss. “We should eat,” she breathes into my mouth as my hands roams down her body and I drag her tighter against me.

“Yeah.” Kissing her one last time, I regretfully let her go.

“Here.” She hands me a plate loaded with bacon, eggs, and toast. Picking up my cup of coffee, I follow her outside to a colorful round table with two chairs that’s on the deck. “I know it’s not a lake view, but it’s not a bad one.” She takes a seat, setting her plate and cup on the table. Folding into the chair across from her, I laugh when she does. The chair might be okay for a chick that’s probably five-eight, but at six-four, my knees come up to my chest when I sit. “Oh, God.” She covers her face, peeking at me through her fingers. “We can go inside to eat.”

“It’s all good.” I place my hand over hers when she goes to stand. Stretching out my legs, I cross my ankles. “I’ve always been tall. Even when I was little, I was bigger than everyone else, so I had to make it work.”

“How tall were you in high school?”

“When I graduated, I was six-two,” I say, and her eyes widen.

“How tall are you now?”

“Six-four.”

“I knew you were tall, but sheesh, you’re really tall!” she says, and I laugh then watch her pick up her toast and take a bite.

“So you do hair?” I ask, thinking it’s ridiculous as fuck that I didn’t find that out from her yesterday, seeing how we spent the entire day together.