Page 41 of Jake and Conner
My lack of reply seemed to take the wind out of Conner's sail a little. "You're impossible," he said with a huff.
I laughed, which was probably the wrong move, but I couldn't help it. How often had he said that to me? "I may be impossible, but you're adorable."
"I'm not adorable. I'm mad at you!"
"I know. I deserve it. C'mon, let's go downstairs and have some coffee."
"I need to get to work."
"Trust me, what you need is a cup of coffee."
Conner huffed again, but followed me down the stairs, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt while he walked.
"You think you should have a shower before you go into work?" I suggested. His hair was sticking out at odd angles and I reached out to smooth it down without even thinking about it. Conner didn't stop me.
"Damn it," he said. "You're right."
I smiled at him.
"What?"
"Nothing. I just remembered that I only get to hear you curse if I catch you before coffee. It's been a while."
"I curse at other times of the day," Conner grumped as we entered the kitchen.
"Rarely," I said, preparing a mug of coffee for my disgruntled omega. "Here," I handed it to him. "That should help."
"Thank you," Conner said, because no matter how early it was, he could never forget his manners entirely.
"Sit down at the table. I've almost got breakfast ready."
"I don't have time for--"
I shot him a glance and he shut up. We'd often argued about how much time Conner spent at work versus with me, and I didn't want to get into that this morning. I got the feeling that neither did he. "You think you can spare another ten minutes to have breakfast with me?" I asked.
He nodded and sipped at his coffee. I knew we weren't entirely done with this topic, not for eternity, but for today we were.
I finished preparing breakfast while Conner petted my dog and then I carried two plates of eggs and toast and bacon to the table, setting one before Conner while the other one was for myself. For the first two or three minutes, we ate in companionable silence, Conner doing his best to actually chew his food rather than wolfing it down to be done faster the way I knew he wanted to.
He was making an effort for me.
Swallowing a crisp piece of bacon, I looked at him. "Any regrets?" I asked, because I needed to be sure, because having Conner in my kitchen like this, having breakfast with him... it was almost too good to be true.
Conner took another sip of coffee before responding. "Regrets about what? Last night?" A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "I might be a little sore." A faint blush crept into his cheeks as he said this and I loved him all the more for it.
"I can't say that I'm sorry about that," I said with a grin.
"No, I didn't think you would be." Conner pierced a piece of egg with his fork. "You've never been."
"Not true. I was kind of sorry that one time. You remember? The morning after that day I came back for the summer my first year of college."
"Oh... that." The healthy red on Conner's cheeks deepened a little. "That was a good night, though."
"Yup." I beamed at the memory of a night well spent. "No regrets about that. But Iwassorry when I saw you wince in the morning."
"It was fine. I wasn't regretting anything either."
"That's good to know." I pushed the remainder of my meal around my plate with my fork. "So... how about last night? Any regrets?"
