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Chapter Nineteen
Clark
PJ was sound asleep finally and even though the sun had risen, I wasn’t about to wake her. We had spent hours looking at old photo albums, with her telling me some of the craziest stories of growing up with Crystal. PJ definitely sounded like the grounded one, but she also had an adventurous side. That shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did. Any other time, I would have explored some of that side of her.
Not that I was happy Crystal had been in a car accident, but somehow that had brought PJ and me to a different level in our relationship. Even by the stories that we both had shared last night, it said that we had formed a trust in each other. We had laid in bed, just talking and I never felt as though I was missing out on anything. Sex with PJ was amazing, and I could make love to her for the rest of my life, and still want more. But PJ was filling another need in me, one I never even knew existed. It was…beautiful and so damn unexpected. She completed me.
But I wasn’t here to tell her I loved her. I wasn’t here to show her, either. I was here so she didn’t have to go through this alone. I was going to be the man she needed me to be, the one she called, when she could’ve called anyone else. This was my chance to show her a side of me that no one else has ever seen.
Not even myself.
I had left Boston so suddenly that there were things at the office which still needed my attention. Slipping from PJ’s bed, I grabbed my phone and went into the kitchen to make some coffee. As it brewed, I called Maria.
“Good morning. Are you in the office already?” she asked.
“No. I’m in Orlando. I need you to cancel my meetings for the rest of the week.” I wasn’t sure PJ would need me here that long, but I had no intention of going anywhere.
“Do you need anything shipped to you while you’re there?” she asked.
I rattled off a list of files. “If you can have them sent overnight to me, that would be great.” I gave her PJ’s address. I would get a hotel room, but only if PJ asked me to.
I ended the call and poured myself a cup of coffee. When I opened the refrigerator, I saw all the breakfast items she’d bought. It would be a nice gesture if I made her breakfast in bed, but the odds of it being edible were slim.
How badly can I screw up toast and eggs?
There’s a first time for everything, and PJ was the only person I’d do this for. I opened her cupboards and pulled out a frying pan. I turned her electric stove on high, added butter, and cracked open six eggs. While those cooked, I found the bread and put a few slices in the toaster.
This was easier than I thought. While everything was cooking, I prepared a tray with a plate, silverware, and a coffee mug. But I shouldn’t have turned my back on the eggs, because the pan started smoking, and the eggs turned brown. I turned off the burner and scraped the eggs out of the pan and onto the plate. When I turned around, smoke was coming out of the toaster. I pushed the button and up came two pieces of black toast.
Maybe it’s not that easy.
Before I could put the toast onto the plate, the smoke detector started blaring.
What the fuck!
I grabbed a dish towel and started waving it in the air.
“What on earth is going on in here?” PJ asked from behind me.
I continued waving at the smoke detector trying to get it to shut off. PJ grabbed the broom and smacked it, knocking it off the ceiling.
“Well, that’s one way to handle it,” I laughed.
She looked at her mess of a smoked-filled kitchen and said, “Are you trying to burn the place down?”
I shook my head. “I thought I’d surprise you.”
“You did. I almost called the fire department.” PJ picked up the plate of eggs and poked them. When she turned back to me, she said, “I thought we decided cooking was on your ‘can’t do’ list.”
“I’m blaming you,” I said.
“Me? What did I do?” she asked.
I grinned. “You made it look easy.”
She laughed and said, “Do you know what else looks easy?”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear her answer.
