But when I pulled my phone out from where I stuffed it under the pillow the night before after calling to ask my next-door neighbor to use his emergency key to feed Frankie, I realized it was still early. There was plenty of time to have breakfast together before I needed to leave. That could wait for a few minutes, though. I wanted to relish cradling Lindsey in my arms and feeling her body against mine for a little bit longer.
She flipped over onto her other side and buried her head in my chest. “Turn off the lights.”
I chuckled and leaned down to kiss her head. “The lights aren’t on. That’s the sun coming through the window.”
“Turn off the sun,” she said.
“Not a morning person, are you?” I asked.
She lifted her head and looked at me. “I am most certainly a morning person. It just so happens I have two mornings. The one right before I get off work, then the one after I slept. And that one comes in a few hours.”
“It’s morning now. And I’m starving,” I said.
I started to get up, and Lindsey held on to me. “You can’t get up. I’m comfortable. Just… shhhhhh. You’re too loud.”
“You are adorably grumpy in the morning for someone who doesn’t have to go to work until late in the afternoon. And who has someone else willing to make breakfast for her,” I said.
“You make breakfast, I’m going to go back to sleep,” she said.
“Nope. You have to get up and tell me where things are in your kitchen.”
She rolled over and put the pillow over her head. “You’ll find them. I have faith in you.”
I laughed and pulled the blanket off her. A sharp, playful smack on her cute round ass made her jump. She gasped and stared at me with a look of mock horror. I couldn’t help but laugh. The sparkle in her eyes said Lindsey didn’t mind as much as she was letting on. Pulling my boxers on, I headed for the kitchen. A few seconds later, she came in wearing my shirt and we made breakfast together.
It was oddly satisfying moving around the kitchen with her. We weren’t making anything elaborate, just some scrambled eggs with onions and peppers and the bacon she didn’t make on Sunday. But it still felt meaningful. I could see us doing this much more often. Maybe that should have scared me, or even just given me pause. But it didn’t. I wanted this to be the first of many mornings spent just like this one.
We ate breakfast, and she loaded the dishwasher while I gathered everything up to leave. I pulled her in close for a long, deep kiss. Her arms wrapped around my neck, and she sighed into it.
“Are you sure you have to leave now?” she asked. “You could come back to bed with me.”
My body tightened, and I groaned. “You have no idea how much I wish I could. But I have to go back to my house and get ready for work. Frankie is already going to be pissed at me.”
She looked at me strangely. “Frankie? Did your mother hire someone new for the office?”
I laughed and gave her a fast kiss. “Frankie is my roommate. And my alarm clock. And is also a cat. He doesn’t like having his routine disrupted, and my neighbor couldn’t get to the house to feed him on time this morning.”
Lindsey looked at me incredulously. “Are you saying you are choosing a cat over coming back to bed with me?”
“I could make some really off-color jokes right now, but out of consideration for your sweet, delicate ears, I’m not going to. But, no, I’m not choosing Frankie over you. He has an automatic feeder that will give him all the dry food he wants. He’s just picky about his wet food. I have to go because I have conference calls this afternoon and have to look presentable.”
She smiled and cozied up to me again. “I like you better naked.”
“Another thing we have in common,” I said, lowering my mouth to hers for another languid kiss.
Just as I expected, Frankie was not pleased with me when I got home. But even his angry yowling and face of judgment couldn’t take the edge off my high from Lindsey.
I got to work with a little bit of time to spare. That was a good thing because it meant I could get settled into my office and go over the notes for the conference call before the first one started.
I shot off a quick text to Lindsey before signing on for the call just so she would know I was thinking about her. In between calls, we exchanged a few messages, but the second call dragged out longer and more complicated than I expected it to. Caught up in an issue with a few purchase orders from one of our parts vendors, I couldn’t keep up with the conversation with her.