He cleaned himself up at the sink then left me to do the same, except over the toilet. Sex was messy. Maybe condoms would be a better way to do it?
“Hey, could you tell the contractor to hurry the hell up? Now you live here, you can get all the jobs that need a strong, tall man to make people do the shit they’re getting paid to do done.”
“Absolutely. Now, out you come so we can cuddle in bed and go to sleep.”
I was done, but the command made me pause out of badness. “Why don’t you get in and wait for me?”
His tone was almost petulant when he replied. “I don’t like being in it without you. It’s not the same, and it doesn’t smell nice like you do.”
Had I mentioned that I loved this man? Because I did, with my whole heart.
Chapter Eighteen
Heidi
Three months later…
“Baby, wake up,” Bond crooned in my ear.
Normally I was slow to wake up in the morning and needed at least one cup of coffee before I could deal with his ‘ready to go as soon as he woke up’ personality, but there was a difference this morning that I felt immediately.
He was butt naked. I was butt naked. And he was lying on top of me.
It wasn’t uncomfortable or hard to breathe because he was bracing his weight. Instead—as always—it was just right.
And then he kissed me—soft, gentle kisses followed by a quick suck of my lower lip into his mouth. It felt like I peeled my eyes open when his mouth disappeared, and as things got into focus, I saw him smiling down at me.
“There she is.”
Tilting my head to the side on the pillow, I noticed he looked more awake than usual. That’s when the instinctive parental panic hit, and I turned to look at the clock. Fuck!
“Shit, I don’t have time for this, Bond. Nemi’s late for preschool.”
Yeah, my little baby had settled in at preschool, and my heart was broken. She’d started last month and had loved it from the second we got there, whereas I hated it and wanted to bring her home with me. Each morning was a struggle as I adjusted to the change, and wasn’t that just fresh. Parents were supposed to happily wave their kids off to school while they looked forward to the peaceful hours ahead of them, but I wasn’t like that. I’d adjust, I knew I would, it was just taking time.
But I’d never slept through my alarm, though, and now I needed to get her up and dressed quickly. Shitting hell!
“No, she’s not. I turned your alarm off and let you sleep in while I took her. You needed it.”
Work had been busy over the last month, with more people wanting wedding cakes and big, towering ones for events. It’s like the end of August/beginning of September signaled a free for all with parties and celebrations.
Bond had been incredible, helping me out and looking after Nemi during the moments I couldn’t. Not that I allowed there to be many. Even if it meant working through the night, I made sure my daughter had my attention regardless, and Bond, too. They were too important to me. I even found time to go to the gym with him still, and either rowed on the rowing machine with a book or went through to the back to take a Strippercize class.
Blinking at him, I repeated, “You turned the alarm off and took her?”
“I did.”
“But why?” I was still confused and low on caffeine, so this was taking me a while.
“Baby, you’re exhausted, and I’m here to help out with her, so I took her in and dropped her off.”
This man. Was there anything he did that wasn’t romantic?
“Bond,” I said softly, lifting to kiss him and not getting far. Tilting my head back so I could look above me, I noticed my hands were tied to the slats of our new bed. Our new silent bed. “Why am I tied to the bed?”
“Ah, that’s a great question,” he said cheerfully as he got to his knees between my legs, reminding me I was as naked as the day I was born. “I’m glad you asked.”
When he didn’t explain further, I shook my hands to see if it was just a joke and I could get free of the ties easily. It wasn’t, and I couldn’t. “Bond, if you’re glad I asked that question, I’d be really glad if you answered it. Now.”
I’d still been staring at the ties as I snapped at him, so when he called my name, I looked down at him, glaring.
“Well, see, I’ve been thinking recently, and this whole situation isn’t working for me anymore.”
My heart sank. He didn’t want to be with me anymore? Who tied a woman up to break up with them? Unless he thought I was going to boil his bunny—literally. Oh, my God, Bond thought I was a psycho Bumper boiler.