She was slick, wet for me already, and I slid inside her easy, then covered her mouth with mine. My mouth muted her moans, and as her body melted against mine, I slowed, finding a rhythm with her that seemed to slow down time.
This was where I wanted to be. Here with June. I knew what waited for me on the other side of West Bend. Being here with her, I didn’t feel the same darkness I felt outside of here. I wanted to push the pause button on us.
She pulled me in tighter, and when she came, she clawed wildly at me, letting out this sound, this animalistic noise that made me crazy for her. I looked into her eyes as she came, and what I saw there, the way she looked at me, pushed me over the edge to my own climax.
I stayed inside her, not moving, listening to her breathing return to normal. Her eyes closed for a while, and then finally fluttered open, and she flashed me a smile.
“Oh,” she said. “You’re still here? I thought you’d be making me some breakfast by now.”
I kissed her on the nose, pulled out of her, and stood up, the blood rushing to my head. “Lay you good a couple of times and all of a sudden you think you think you own the place. Careful, girl, I’m going to have to set you straight.”
“Yeah, yeah,” June said, rolling over. “Hey! Remember how I like my eggs.”
I walked toward the bathroom, shaking my head and looking at Bailey laying in her dog bed in the corner of the bedroom. “Don't look at me like that, girl. I didn't do anything to your momma."
June
Cade walked past the bed, headed out to the kitchen.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Going to make you breakfast,” he said. “You’re a demanding taskmaster.”
“Like that?”
Cade turned toward me, stark naked. “You got a problem with something?”
I giggled. “It just doesn’t really seem sanitary,” I called as he walked out the door. Not that I had any problem with him strutting his stuff around my house, butt freaking naked. I wasn’t going to get tired of seeing his ass - that was for sure.
I laid back against the pillows, pulled the sheets up, cool around my nakedness. I wasn't sure what to think about all of this.
Cade, making me breakfast in bed.
Cade, back in my bed.
Axe, or whatever the hell his name was now.
Bailey jumped up on the bed, interrupting my thoughts, and tucked herself by my side in her usual place, whimpering.
"Hey, baby, do you need to go out again?" I asked. She laid her head down on me and sighed, settling in. Scratching her behind the ear, I spoke to her softly. "I know you're used to having me to yourself, but..."
But what, exactly?
But Cade is going to be around here more now?
Because he's not.
I swallowed the lump in my throat that formed as I thought about him, and shook my head. There was no use in getting upset about it.
It is what it is. A short-term reunion.
Ex-sex, that's all.
He'd be leaving for California soon. And, even if he were here, did I think he was going to magically become a different person? Sure, the past week he seemed clearer somehow...sober, even - but that didn't mean anything.
People don't change.
Short-term with him was okay, I told myself. When I'd left high school, it was sudden, yanking me away from Cade. Here I was, getting the chance to revisit the past. I was fortunate. Not many people had the opportunity to do that. Just because it was a short-term thing didn't mean it wasn't any less meaningful than something long-term, I reasoned. This, the time with him now, would be the last chapter in our story. It had to be.
Cade just wasn't a long-term guy.
"I hope you're resting up." Cade entered the bedroom, a tray in hand, wearing one of my aprons. And nothing else. He set the tray on the bed in front of me, and I laughed.
"What?" Cade asked.
"Nothing," I said. "I'm just laughing at the sight of your naked ass in that apron."
"You always said you liked a man in uniform," Cade said.
"Oh, that's a uniform, now?"
"If you had a chef hat, I'd have worn that for you instead. But all you had out there was an apron."
I laughed, although I had to admit, the image of Cade wearing nothing but a chef's hat wasn't exactly unappealing.
"Are you still laughing at my apron?" Cade asked. "That's pretty brazen, considering I'm the guy with the food."
"No," I admitted. "I just pictured you wearing nothing but a chef's hat."
Cade raised his eyebrows and handed me a cup of coffee, nudging Bailey over. "Scoot, you," he said softly to her. Then, to me- "What? I would even wear it on my head, just to be polite."
"Where else would you wear it?" I asked, automatically. Cade glanced down.
Oh.
Yeah, Cade the ex-sniper Marine, the outlaw biker covered in tattoos, naked in my kitchen, a chef's hat covering the goods...that was definitely not funny.
Sexy as hell. But not funny.
Cade must have noticed the look on my face. "Eat your french toast and stop thinking about me naked."
"You don't know what I'm thinking about," I said. But I felt a warmth on my cheeks anyway.
"Junebug," he said. "I can read you like an open book."