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Well.
At least they were till I started sleeping with Emmett.
It was damned near impossible to leave him in the morning, especially since it required wiggling out of his embrace, which was basically like waking up to a daily morning torture.
On the particularly rough mornings, Emmett would stir and manage a few adorably sleepy words of protest – usually “stay with me” or “five more minutes,” the latter of which always included a groggy little grin. Because the first and only time I stayed five more minutes, it wound up being twenty. And when I gasped myself awake and tried to wiggle out of his arms, he locked them tight around me, keeping me trapped in his embrace for another ten seconds while he buried sleepy kisses in my hair.
Lord.
Leaving bed after that was the actual worst, and I wound up spending the first few hours at work pouting over how much I missed him.
“That’s a good problem, ya ding-dong.”
Those were Evie’s wise words to me that morning. The exact words, actually, were that’s a good problem, ya lucky fuckin’ ding-dong, but that didn’t stop me from mentally replaying them today as I lifted Emmett’s gorgeous arms off my body and crawled quietly out of bed.
“Morning,” I whispered to Ozzy.
As usual, he watched me from his corner, stretching lazily and waiting for me to pass by him on my way to the bathroom. Once I did, he got up, his tail wagging as he sniffed a polite hello around my legs. He’d see me out of the room, but within my first two steps into the hallway, I’d hear him hop up onto Emmett’s bed and get comfy in the spot I’d just left.
It was no different this morning and it made me smirk. As Emmett predicted, Ozzy was getting used to me and in some way, it made leaving Emmett a little easier. At least I knew someone was happy about the situation.
Thanks to my longer-than-usual shower, I didn’t get downstairs till about half past five. I still had to pack up my bag but that only took about five minutes, and that was fine since Emmett and I had stocked up at the grocery store last night, which meant we had more than enough options for on-the-go breakfasts.
I was already planning on a banana and vanilla Greek yogurt, but once I got into the kitchen, I fr
oze.
Holy what.
A stunned smile drifted onto my lips as I stood and stared at my surprise view this morning: Emmett shirtless, wearing just sweats and a backwards cap on his head as he toiled over the stove.
Oh… my frickin’ word.
On the cutting board next to him, I could see some leftover mise en place that was so perfectly chopped that I wanted to ask when the heck he’d learned to cook. But I kept my mouth shut because priority went to soaking all this in – especially when he started tossing the contents of his sauté pan. It prompted his bicep to flex, and it made all those muscled lines in his back move in a way that had me damned near drooling on the floor. I honestly could’ve stood there watching till noon, but there was still that whole getting to work thing to remember, so I made myself snap out of it.
“Good morning?” I finally said, the biggest grin on my face when Emmett tossed his cooking rag over his naked shoulder and turned around.
Good God. This man. This view. It was even cuter to me that he still looked sleepy as hell while doing all this for me.
“’Morning,” he said, lowering the heat on the stove before he grabbed a mug he’d pre-set next to the coffee maker, filling it up before coming to me. As he wrapped my hands around the mug, he kissed me. “Hey.”
“Hey yourself,” I murmured. I could almost feel the awe glimmering in my eyes as I gazed up at him. “I can’t believe you’re up this early.”
“I wanted you to have a nice breakfast before work,” he said simply, nodding for me to take a seat at the counter. “I cleaned up the stuff on the dining room table and put it in your folder, which should save you a couple minutes, right?”
I stared at him in a daze.
“Uh-huh,” I replied while wondering what the hell I’d done to deserve this man. I cocked my head curiously as I watched him put the finishing touches on whatever he was cooking in the pan. Another sprinkle of salt, a dash of pepper, and suddenly, there was a gorgeous thick-cut bacon and sweet corn hash on the plate before me.
I was impressed enough with that, but then Emmett opened the oven and took out two perfectly browned pieces of toast, and baked eggs in a cast iron skillet.
I stared at him.
“Emmett… for lack of better words, what the fuck?” I burst out laughing. I laughed even harder when I finally got a big, sleepy grin from him as he finished plating in front of me. “I feel like I’m at some super fancy restaurant. Do you realize how much money a restaurant could make if you were the chef and you served everyone shirtless?”
“That’s definitely an idea. But I only bust out these moves for a select few people.”
“That’s smart, because if you did this for any of your hook-ups, they’d fall instantly in love with you.”
