“Hi, I’m alive. Fell asleep at Remi’s. Just woke up because…”
“Why are you up and in a towel with wet hair before the sun is even up?” she asked.
“Have to go help Richie get ready for the day,” he said, as he looked at his reflection as he carefully trimmed his beard and mustache into a perfect frame for his face.
“…he’s up at the butt crack of dawn to go cook before either of us should even be awake yet.”
She hit send, and scooted down further into the covers, pulling the covers up higher to tuck under her chin, and inadvertently rubbing her arm across her breast. “Ow!” she exclaimed, lifting the covers to look down at her breast. “I don’t suppose you could have just made a single bite on a shoulder or something instead of a perfectly round bite all the way around my breast, top and bottom?”
“The idea struck me and I liked it, so I went with it.”
She looked down at her mating mark, her fingertips lightly stroking over it. “It is kind of pretty. Or will be when the bruising goes away.”
“I’m rather pleased with mine, too,” Remi said, walking out of the bathroom and tossing his towel to the foot of the bed on his way to dig through his closet for some clothes.
She watched him, totally nude, move comfortably through the bedroom, taking briefs and socks out of a drawer, and a pair of jeans and a shirt out of the closet. She sat up, leaning forward when he opened his closet door. “That’s it?” she asked.
“What?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at her as he put on his briefs, then pulled on his jeans.
“The closet. Your clothes. That’s all you have?” she asked.
“I don’t need much. I only brought a few things with me. And there are a couple of pairs in the dryer, too.”
“You can’t have only four pairs of jeans and six shirts.”
“It’s what I’ve got,” he said, pulling his shirt on.
“I’m getting you more,” she said, her expression one of determination.
“You get whatever you want, baby. Just not too much, okay?” he asked, as he leaned over to kiss her.
Cristie eagerly turned her face up to his, hungrily accepting his kiss, then lifting his shirt to press a kiss to his mating mark.
Remi’s chest rumbled when her lips pressed to the mark she’d left on him.
Cristie sat back, grinning, clearly pleased with herself.
“There is one good thing about you not having a lot of clothes, though,” Cristie said.
“And that would be?” Remi asked.
“More room for all of mine,” she said on a yawn.
Remi laughed, went to brush his teeth, then came back and sat on the foot of the bed, causing it to jiggle and shake as he put his shoes and socks on.
She didn’t complain out loud, but that shaking the bed before sunrise every day was not going to happen. She made a mental note to call the furniture store and ask if they had a backless bench that could fit at the foot of the bed for either of them to use, but especially Remi when he put his shoes on so he wouldn’t wake her every morning.
When he was finally ready to go, he stood up and walked over to his night stand, shoving his wallet into his back pocket, his keys into his front pocket, and his phone into his other backpocket. “You know where I’ll be,” he said, stopping on her side of the bed to kiss her again, but this time, he kissed her temple.
“Mmhmm,” she agreed.
“You going to work today?” he asked.
“I think so. But we do get some time off if we want it,” she said. “Newly mated and all.”
“You tell me what you want, and that’s what we’ll do.”
“Think I’m going in today to let them know to cover my shifts for a few days at least. Then I’ll figure out what I want from there.”
