Page 51 of Crumbling Truth
“There’s only one situation where I’d begrudge you falling asleep on me, and I will do my best to avoid that ever happening.”
I huffed a laugh and glanced at my watch. “We should get dinner started.”
“Yeah.”
His lips moved over the crown of my head and it suddenly struck me that maybe Theo, too, needed his fill of affection from this arrangement. I’d noticed how touchy-feely his family was—not with me, probably because my expression was the human equivalent of a neonKEEP AWAYsign, but with each other. It was as natural to them as breathing, this tendency to hug or brush fingers or squeeze a shoulder as they went about their business.
For the first time in a long time, I wanted that.
“You’re looking very serious,” Theo said, trailing his lips along my ear.
I shivered at the caress before leaning in with my chin propped on his shoulder. “I like this.”
One dark brow lifted as he asked, “What do you like, Esther?”
Those words, that low rumble of his voice reverberating from his chest into mine, held me frozen for several beats, staring into his warm gaze.
“Being with you.”
The admission was so quiet, he probably wouldn’t have heard me if we weren’t so very close to one another, but I watched it hit him, watched the softness that came over his expression before he tipped his face down to kiss me.
I was in over my head. I knew it, he knew it, even the cat in the corner of the room probably knew it as she stared at us with golden eyes full of feline judgment.
It was just…I couldn’t bring myself to worry about it.
For right now, everything I needed was right in front of me, and I was going to reach out with both hands and hold on for as long as it lasted.
Chapter Twenty-One
Theo
Sidesgivingwasanunprecedentedsuccess.
Since the meal included only our favorite items, there was no need to gorge on things we didn’t like just to be polite, leaving room for all the things we loved. Esther’s sweet potato dish was to die for, the stuffing came out perfect, and the blissful look on her face when she bit into one of my homemade dinner rolls had my body clenching with desire.
It was the best Thanksgiving dinner I’d ever had. Sharing it with Esther was certainly the deciding factor.
Once we’d finished the meal, cleaned up, and finally enjoyed the apple pie that had been a joint effort when we came back to the guest house after the dog show, we collapsed onto Esther’s bed to recover from eating so much. We lay there, side by side, only our fingers entwined.
Long after the sun had set, Esther rolled toward me without saying a word. I mirrored her movement, turning into her arms as they wrapped around me, finding her lips in the darkness. A hint of cinnamon lingered on her tongue, and I spent what feltlike centuries exploring that sweetness before her hands tugged at my tee.
We moved together in silence, like it was all part of a hazy fantasy instead of real life. Even my name on her lips when she came was barely more than a breath, a magic spell weaving its way around us both.
I drifted off there in her arms, my head on her breast as I slid into sleep, where soft swirls of vanilla and peppermint soaked deep into my soul, twining there like ivy.
For the first time I could remember, I wanted to stay right where I was instead of walking away, consequences be damned.
I awoke to the weak morning sunlight gilding Esther’s skin under my cheek. The only sign she was awake was the soft scrape of her nails along my scalp. Turning my head, I pressed a kiss to her golden skin and then met her gaze, warm and sleepy.
“Good morning, sweetness.”
“Morning.”
Her fingers stayed in my hair as I trailed my lips across her torso, pausing only for the briefest moment when she arched upward as I licked her nipples into tight peaks before moving down her ribs, trailing kisses over the soft swell of her stomach. The dreamy haze persisted even when I settled my mouth between her legs, teasing until her breathless cries and tugging fingers pulled me up over her body.
Some amount of time later—an hour, a day, a lifetime—Esther declared it was time to get to work.
After a quick breakfast of coffee and leftover apple pie, during which her sated expression never faded, I ran back to the house to feed Toni. When I returned, Esther was already setting out everything we needed.
