Page 33 of Under Control
Derek climbed onto the bed and pulled her close, but he didn’t yank the covers up over himself. Instead, he propped his head on his hand and smoothed her hair away from her face as he smiled down at her. “Do you want me to go?”
While she appreciated that he’d asked because she hadn’t been sure how she’d feel about it when the time came—though she’d stocked up on breakfast foods, so maybe she’d had a hunch—now that he was in her bed, she wanted to keep him there. “I want you to stay.”
He buried his face in her neck, nipping gently at her skin. “Good, because I’m not done with you yet.”
Seconds ago, Olivia would have guessed she was about as sated as a woman could be, but as soon as he said the words, her body responded. “You were right. If I’d put dinner in the oven, the smoke alarms would be going off right now.”
* * *
Derek woke before Olivia did, opening his eyes to a bedroom awash with light. He had room-darkening drapes in his apartment because sometimes he needed to sleep during daylight hours, but he didn’t mind the sun streaming in this morning. Olivia was warm against his body, her breathing slow and even, and he was content to lie there.
It was almost unnaturally quiet this high up in a luxury building, though. Sunday mornings in his neighborhood weren’t quiet. Doors slamming. Cars starting. Kids playing. Lawn mowers running. People yelling at neighbors who mowed their lawns too early on a Sunday morning.
He loved his messy, loud, slightly—or maybe not too slightly—tattered-around-the-edges neighborhood. It suited him and though he hoped to upgrade to a nicer apartment or a small house at some point in the future, he couldn’t imagine himself living anywhere else. And he sure as hell couldn’t imagine himself living in a place like this. If Olivia hadn’t worn him out, he wasn’t sure he could evensleepin a place like this.
And even though it was way too early in the morning and far too premature in their relationship to be worrying about it, he couldn’t help acknowledging that after seeing her here, he couldn’t picture her living in a place like his.
It wasn’t long before Olivia stirred. After opening her eyes for a second, she closed them again before making a sleepy sound and nestling against him.
“Good morning.” Her only response was another sleepy sound, so he kissed the top of her head, letting go of the pessimism that had been on a slow but steady roll through his mind. “Not a morning person?”
“I usually am, but I also usually go to sleep when I go to bed.”
“Regrets?”
She laughed softy, and her breath was warm on his skin. “Not a single one. Well, except for the food situation. I think I promised to provide you with a meal. A midnight raid on the fridge isn’t a meal.”
“You didn’t specifywhichmeal.”
“Good point. And I just happened to buy everything I need to make a good breakfast for two.”
He slid his hand down her arm. “Just happened to, huh?”
“Just in case.” She pushed herself up, taking the sheet with her, much to his disappointment. “And now that I’m talking about it, I’m starving. Time to get up.”
“I’m going to jump in your shower for a quick minute if you don’t mind.”
Her shower blew his mind, though, and he was in there for a lot longer than a quick minute. Multiple shower heads. Water hot enough to produce billows of steam. And water pressure that felt almost as good as a massage. It was so good that he didn’t even mind that her shampoo and body wash smelled a little less masculine than he was used to.
When he reluctantly dragged himself out of the shower, he pulled on his jeans and went to find Olivia.
She was in the kitchen, the place smelled like bacon, and Derek couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this damn happy this early in the day. Or at any time of the day, honestly.
He stepped up behind her and kissed the side of her neck. “Where do you keep the coffee?”
“I don’t drink coffee, remember?”
He froze, unable to comprehend how a person transitioned from waking up to being a fully functioning human being without caffeine. “But I see a Keurig. Why do you have a Keurig with no coffee?”
“Herbal teas,” she said matter-of-factly.
“On a scale of you-don’t-care to you-never-want-to-see-me-again, how bad is it to do a walk of shame to a coffee stand and back?”
She laughed. “Kelsey keeps coffee in the cabinet over there, so you can help yourself. I swear her blood type is caffeine-positive.”
Crisis averted, Derek brewed a mug of coffee and brought it to the table. After talking a sip, he set it down and walked to the tall windows to look at the water.
“I didn’t think the view could get any better,” Olivia said. “But you shirtless is definitely an added value.”
