I saunter over, grabbing the coffee cup I'd left on the counter and bringing it to my lips. It's cold. May as well make it iced. I walk over to the top cabinet, where I keep my cups, and grab a tall glass. Walking to the freezer, I fill the cup with ice and pop the top off of the cup, pouring its contents over the ice. I grab a straw, stick it in, and sip on it. I lean against the counter, watching Harley cook. We stand there for a bit, listening to the music transition, a comfortable silence stretching between us.
Finally, Harley puts the lid on the gravy, and I set the cup down. He eyes it. “I knew I should have made it iced.” He laughs and walks a little closer.
Wait, made this?This time, my outside voice has permission to speak. “Wait, you made this coffee?” I ask him, squinting one eye.
He laughs. “Yeah, the local coffee roaster gave me a key while he’s closed during his chemo, so I can go in and roast my beans.” He stops and leans against the counter a few feet away, propped on his elbow. “And then I have a De’Longhi espresso machine at home.” He smiles. “That was the blonde espresso roast. It has those light caramel notes in there. I think I remember you liked caramel in your coffee.”
The man had found his way back into my heart within twelve hours of walking into Atlas’ backyard. Why don’t most men understand how easy it is? Just care a little and put in a little effort.
I grin from ear to ear. “Well, that was delicious, and I'm gonna need to buy some of those blonde beans from you.”
He laughs and turns back, just as the timer goes off on the oven, letting us know the biscuits are ready. “Let’s eat!” he says excitedly, rubbing his palms together.
I grab two plates from the cabinet and set them out. He puts two biscuits on his plate, and one on mine. I open his biscuits and lay them flat, before I move onto my plate. He grabs the plate, sees that I opened the biscuit, and gives me a little grin. Moving on to my plate, I smother my biscuit. We work quietly before heading into the living room with Harley carrying our plates, and me carrying the cups of orange juice.
Harley sets the plates on the coffee table and retreats into the kitchen, quickly returning with some DVDs in hand.
“You can pop them into the DVD player on the side, or I have them downloaded on Prime,” I tell him before taking my first bite from my plate. It's not as good as dad’s gravy, but I'm biased. It's pretty damn good, though.
“I’m going DVD. For the experience.” Harley laughs, looking back at me as he squats down, pushing the tray back into the player.
I reach for the remote and click it to the right HDMI channel. “Aye, Aye captain.” I salute him before reaching for my OJ.
Harley comes back over to the couch, sitting down and grabbing his plate, holding it to his chest to dig in. I swear he doesn’t even taste it while he’s eating it. He’s done before the movie starts.
The opening credits start with the PNW trees.“I’d never given much thought to how I would die…”
I finish eating, wiping my face off before throwing the paper towel on my plate and setting it on the table. “That was so fucking good, I could totally pass out now.” I laugh, rubbing my full belly.
Harley smiles sweetly. “Good, I'm glad.”
I grab two blankets off the back of the couch and toss one to him. I lean over, squishing a couch pillow into the armrest and lean over on my side, curling into a little ball, covering myself with the blanket. I finally pass out sometime after“Sex, money, sex, cats…”
I wake up and the credits are playing. It's bright outside, the sun shining in between the curtains. I go to stretch and feel a strong arm over my middle and a hard body behind me, soft sighs blowing out while Harley sleeps. It’s been awhile since I cuddled anyone. I lay there, enjoying his familiar smell. He still wears Blue Seduction cologne. Breathing in, I suck in that minty, musk, and leather scent. I snuggle back into his hold, his arm tightening slightly around me, before I doze back off.
I wake up a bit later to Maggie trying to join us on the couch, walking right over us. Being just like a cat, not giving a shit who’s around her. I laugh and scratch her ear and feel Harley tighten his hold again. He brings his nose to the side of my ear, breathing into my hair.
“Hey,” he says, his voice low and sexy, with hisjust woke upvoice.
“Hey,” I say, hearing the smile in my voice.
CHAPTER SIX
HARLEY
Inhaling her scent,and holding her tighter, I freeze, realizing I’d migrated towards her when I fell asleep. She isn’t pulling away, but that doesn’t make it okay.
I press a soft kiss into her hair before leaning up, pulling her fluffy furball with me.
“I’m sorry, I should have stayed on my end of the couch.” I laugh softly, one hand on the cat, the other pushing my fingers through my hair.
“You’re fine, really,” Ember says lightly, pushing up on her elbow. We sit there, silent, for just a few minutes.
Ember finally stands and stretches, arms reaching for the ceiling, letting out a yelp of satisfaction. I follow suit and get my stretches out as well.
Ember chuckles, eyes wandering over the coffee table. “Did I grab my phone from the kitchen?”
Looking around, I don’t see it. I spin around and head through the doorway of the kitchen. It’s sitting on the counter, near the oven. It lights up just as I make my way to the counter. I grab it, and try not to be nosy, but she doesn’t have the privacy settings on her iphone, so I can see there are five missed messages fromUNKNOWN. The latest one makes the others readily readable.
