I am enraptured. “We learn sign language for Logan,” I repeat with a nod.
When the first DVD ends, we move on to the second. I have an amazing memory, because I have to have one. So, I think I can remember some of this. I’m giddy with excitement. I practice some of the more basic signs with Hayley.
We’re almost done with the second DVD when Paul walks into the room. “Hayley, what are you doing?” He scratches his stomach. His hair is a mess, sticking out all over the place.
She pats my cheek. “I wearning signing with Logan’s girl,” she says.
I like that. I like it a lot.
“Did she wake you up?” Paul asks, smothering a yawn.
I wave him off with a breezy hand. “It’s no big deal. She was showing me the DVD’s.”
He nods, his brows arching. “Well, I’m sorry she woke you. You should go back to bed.”
“Do you think it would be all right if I watch the rest of them later?” I ask, suddenly feeling shy about it.
He chuckles. “Of course. That’s how we all learned.”
I nod. He picks Hayley up, jiggling her until she giggles. He laughs at her. “Next time I tell you to stay in bed, I mean stay in bed, little girl,” he says. She laughs all the way down the hallway, until he takes her in his room and closes the door.
I yawn. The bed is calling to me. I go back in Logan’s room, and he’s lying exactly like I left him. I draw the shades closed, so the room isn’t quite so bright. Then I take off his boxers and slide back into bed with him. He reaches for me immediately, pulling me into him as he rolls and covers me with his leg, his thigh across the backs of mine. “You all right?” he asks.
I nod. I’m all right. I can’t help but think that I’m where I’m supposed to be.
He brushes my hair from my face and nuzzles me with his lips. I settle deeper into him and go back to sleep with him wrapped around me.
It seems like only moments later when the bed begins to vibrate.
Logan
The bed vibrates and I reach over and smack the alarm clock. I hate early Saturday mornings. But I promised Sam that I would go and run some plays with him in the park before the shop opens. Sam’s a football player, and he’s being scouted by a few colleges. He thinks he might get a full ride, and I couldn’t be happier for him. He doesn’t have the grades to get a scholarship like I did. But he’s capable of getting an education through sports, and that works too.
The purr of Kit’s throat tells me that she’s saying something. I look down at her lips, but she’s laying with her face smushed into the pillow. “Did you say something?” I ask, rolling her to her back. I throw my leg across her.
She doesn’t speak, but she signs the word no at me. My heart leaps. She smiles, then her brown eyes open and she blinks at me. “Did I do that right?” She signs the word for right, but nothing more.
“Yes, it’s right. Where did you learn that?”
“I watched some DVD’s with Hayley this morning when she woke me up.” She yawns and turns toward me. “Will you sign with me? I want to learn your language so we can talk around your brothers.”
My heart swells.
“I can learn to sign,” she begins, like she has to justify her ability to learn. I put my finger over her lips.
“Shh…” I say. “I’ll sign with you any time you want.”
She’s lying on her back with my t shirt sliding up to expose a strip of skin over her panties. I reach out, and run my hand along the seam of her panties, dipping the tips of my fingers below the elastic. She squirms and her eyes open. They’re soft and warm and pleading with me.
I should move away from her. But I can’t. I haven’t been able to get away from her since I met her, and I can’t start now.
I bend my head and press my lips to that little strip of skin, lingering there as I kiss my way from one hip to the other. She arches her back, pressing her heat closer to me. If she were anyone else, I would be pulling her panties down her legs by now. But she’s not anyone else. She’s mine. And she’s special. I groan out loud, flip her shirt down and move up to kiss her quickly. I’m sure I have morning breath, so I don’t linger. But as I move to roll off of her, she grabs my shoulders and pulls me back to her. “I’m not a virgin, you know?” she says.
I still. I didn’t know. And I don’t care. “Ok.” I don’t know what else to say.
She closes her eyes so she doesn’t have to look at me as she says, “I just wanted to be sure you know in case that’s why you’re hesitating so much.”
“Ok.” I pry her hands from my chest and roll away from her. She taps my shoulder and I look at her.
“It’s not like I’ve been with a lot of guys or anything.” She hesitates.
“I didn’t ask.” I smile at her in encouragement. But I’m sort of reeling from her declaration. I look into her eyes. “Did you ever do it with someone you were in love with?” I drag my crooked finger down the line of her jaw.
“Not yet,” she says.