Page 79 of Devoured

"I like waking up next to you,” she whispered.

"I could get used to this." I ran my fingers through her hair, letting them disappear into the symphony of colors.

She laughed. "So what does the elusive Professor Hunter usually do when he wakes up in the morning?"

I just wanted to stare at her. "Are you a morning person?" I mumbled.

"I signed up for classes late and got stuck with all 8 a.m.s. I've gotten used to waking up early."

"Well." I reluctantly rolled over and looked at my alarm clock. "You're like clockwork then. It's 7:30."

"Is Comm the only 8 a.m. class that you teach?"

"Yes. It's funny, I didn't want to teach it at all. I kind of got stuck with it. But I'm so glad that I did."

"Me too." She kissed my collarbone again.

I really liked when she did that. And I liked last night. How easy it was to show her parts of my life I’d kept hidden. I wanted to keep doing that. And that meant answering all her questions. She wanted to know what my morning routine was. I yawned and sat up. "I usually go for a run before breakfast. But I just want to hang out with you today. What do you want for breakfast?"

"What do you usually have?"

"Ellen usually fixes me something. But I gave her the next few days off."

"Is that your chef?"

Ellen was a lot more than that. My friend. My surrogate mother. One of the only other people in this world that gave a shit about me. "She cooks and cleans and does everything that I don't know how to do.” Which was a lot of things. “You'll like her. Come on, let's get up." I lightly slapped Penny’s ass.

Penny laughed and climbed out of bed. Instead of any of the little satin nightgowns I’d bought her, she was just wearing one of my t-shirts. And I’d never seen her look sexier.

"Does Ellen know about me?"

"Yes. She was the one who went grocery shopping for you.” And bought all those clothes. “She's excited to meet you."

Penny followed me into the kitchen. "And she's the one who buys you juice boxes?"

"Mhm. She's a keeper." I opened up the fridge. "How about a bagel?"

"That sounds perfect."

I grabbed two bagels, sliced them, and put them in the toaster. I was glad I at least knew how to do this. "Do you want some coffee?"

"Do you have any orange juice?"

"That I do." I poured us each a glass.

"So I was thinking a little about my speech. And I'm not really sure what to talk about this time. Usually I was flirting with you or losing my mind. I guess I should just do something normal for once?"

I wasn’t sure Penny was capable of normal. Everything she did was extraordinary. But I was biased. And we both knew it. "I wouldn't worry about it too much." I winked at her.

"I haven't even thought about a topic yet, though."

"Certainly you'll get an A. You're sleeping with your professor, after all."

"What happened to no perks?"

"Well, Miss Taylor. That concept kind of flew out the window when I fell in love with you."

"Oh yeah?"

---