Page 61 of Nailing Heat
Dex leans in and kisses me again. And that’s how we spend the night, swapping kisses and stories.
Chapter Twenty-Two
~DEX~
Iwake up on the couch the next morning and see that she’s sleeping quietly. I look at the time, and I’m not surprised to see that it’s after nine in the morning. We were up pretty late last night, talking and, of course, kissing. It was as I suspected; once I started kissing her, I could not stop. I had been wanting to do that since I saw her scurry into her room that first night. When she was half naked from the shower and still rosy from the hot water.
I decide to make her eggs so that she has some good energy to help with her recovery. I want to bring her with me into work today. I think it would do her some good to be around her teammates, and also Coach Watts is hoping to have a team lunch today. This way everyone can see her, and it won’t be as overwhelming as if they were all coming over here.
Amelia knows about the lunch; Coach put it out on the team group chat. I’ll be driving her for a bit, while she’s on her painkillers.
I’m cooking the eggs and frying the bacon in the skillet when I hear the clinking of her crutches. I turn and there she stands.She’s so short, it was adorable how low I had to make the crutches so that they could fit her. I grin at her.
“Good morning, sleepyhead, how was your night?” I ask her.
She grins at me. “It was very nice, actually. Got some sleep, got made out with on the couch and then got to cuddle with that same man.”
“Sounds like you had a good night.” I wink at her and turn the bacon in the pan before returning my attention to her. “I made you some breakfast and then I thought we could head into the office.”
She nods. “Yeah, it would be nice to see everyone.” Her smile is bright, but I can tell it’s forced.
“Nervous about going in there?”
“No, it’ll be fine.” She tries again and fails to mask her insecurity.
“It’s okay to be nervous. I’m sure it’ll be weird to see everyone and not be practicing but it’ll be fun to see your team and all,” I try to encourage her.
She nods. “Yeah, I know. It should be fun.”
“Well, I’ve got a good breakfast planned for you - eggs, bacon and toast. So that will get your day started off nicely. Then we can head over to the field. Hang out in the trainer’s room with me for a little bit and then see the team.” I try to sound upbeat and excited about it because I know she’s not.
But she holds her hand up and says, “Please, stop it with the false excitement. It looks weird on you.”
I grin at her. “Fine, I’ll be glass half empty about it all. Today will suck but at least there will be free food.”
Amelia laughs at my blunt statement. “You can be cheerier than that. But you don’t have to fake the enthusiasm with me. I get it; it’s going to be hard. But I’ll get through this, and staying away won’t make it any easier,” she reasons.
“Good point.” I prepare her a plate and place it on the table. “Here, eat this.” I fix my own plate and head over to the table to eat as well. “Should we talk about last night?”
She takes a bite of her eggs and moans. “I’m sorry, what? I blacked out there for a second. How in the hell do you make such fluffy eggs? These are so freaking good.”
“Glad you like my cooking. I had some baking powder to the eggs,” I tell her, revealing the secret that my grandma taught me. But when I married Elise, I learned it wasn’t that much of a secret.
“Well, it makes them taste delicious. Thank you for breakfast.”
“It’s the least that I could do after I practically mauled you on the couch last night,” I tease her and she laughs, thankfully. It’s then I decide to ask her what I’ve been wondering since I got up. “How do you want to handle what happened last night and today at the fields? Am I allowed to kiss you in public, or do we pretend that it didn’t happen? Or is it one of those ‘for this house only things’?”
She takes bite of bacon and chews it, taking her time before answering me. I feel my nerves skidding on edge, waiting for her to decide whether or not last night meant something to her or if it’s just something that happened once.
“I think it’s something that could happen again and again. But I think we wait and see where this goes and what comes naturally to you and me.” When she finally says this, I feel my whole body exhale a breath that I had no idea I was holding.
“That definitely works for me. But tell me, am I allowed to kiss you in public? Like in front of your friends.” I go for the specifies because I don’t want to catch her off guard or not live up to her expectations.
That’s the thing about Amelia; she makes me feel like that. Like she is something special and something that I’ve been waiting for my whole. I don’t think I ever felt this way about Eliseand that fact both excites and scares me. Elise and I were great in the beginning but when I went back to my old ways, it turned sour. Something that I promised myself last night while I watched her sleep that would not happen.
“Let’s see how it goes, Romeo.”
I love the lightheartedness of her tone and the way we can casually have conversation without awkward silences. I barely know her, I know this, but it doesn’t feel this way. It’s like when August couldn’t find an apartment for me, fate intervened.
