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Her body slumps back down, and I trail my lips back up her body. She giggles as I pass her tickle spots on her waist, my smile the widest it has ever been.
“Hmmmm… good morning,” she murmurs, as my lips capture hers.
“Morning.”
“What time is it?” she asks, stretching as she wakes, her naked body on full display.
“It’s about 9 a.m.,” I mumble, as I play with her breasts. They are one of my favorite things about her. I should feel bad about waking her. She has only had a few hours of sleep because we were busy all night.
“Go back to sleep…” I murmur, as my tongue sweeps around her other nipple.
“Unlikely…” she says, and my eyes flick to her, seeing her grin.
I am about to talk dirty to her when a loud clap of thunder steals my voice, and Beth jumps about ten feet in the air.
“Oh my god!” she shrieks, her voice full of fear, her hands gripping onto the bed linen to her chest, white knuckled.
“It’s alright, it’s just a storm,” I say, watching her, grabbing her hand to pull her back down to me. She grips it tight. Her eyes look around the room frantically, and she draws her legs to her chest. Her breathing has escalated, and I notice her hands start to shake.
“Hey, come here,” I say, sitting up against the headboard, pulling her into my side. I drape my arm around her, and she snuggles in tight.
“Sorry, I just hate storms.” I can feel her beating heart on my skin. Concerned, I rub her back and pull her even closer.
“I’ve got you.”
Another rumble breaks through the calm bedroom, and she jumps again, although this time clinging to me even more. I pull the sheets up and cover her.
“Have you always been scared of thunderstorms?” I ask, curious to learn more about her.
“Since I was about five…” she answers as she looks at my large window. I see nothing but dark gray clouds, still thick like the night before.
“What happened when you were five?” I ask, my breathing becoming rapid, matching hers.
“I was in a car accident. That was the night my father lost the use of his legs and the night my mother died,” she says, and my heart stops. I pull her even closer. My heart grows heavy for her and all she has endured.
“I’m sorry, that must have been tough,” I say, my voice low, as I wait to hear more about her history. Rubbing her arm with my hand for comfort.
“Yeah. It was,” she says, not giving me much, but I notice her staring out the window, watching the gray clouds as they skirt across the sky. I don’t push her. I am grateful she is opening up to me. I want to know it all; I want to know everything about her, but in her own time.
“I think your mom would be really proud of the woman you have become,” I offer, because she would be. Any parent would be honored to have someone like Beth as their daughter.
“Do you think so?” she asks, her big blue eyes looking now at me. My heart thuds in my chest, and I drink her in. Looking innocently at me, like I can give her the world. And I will.
“I know so,” I confirm, and she gives me a small smile. I sense that this is a topic she doesn’t want to talk about in depth, so I steer the conversation into a different direction.
“I had a pet dog when I was five called Ralph. A Golden Retriever.”
“Lucky boy.”
“He was my best friend… we went everywhere together. My mother hated him. He was always in trouble and had a special liking for digging up her rose bushes… I still miss that slobbery, hairy friend of mine,” I say, a small smile of remembrance gracing my lips.
“Good to know it isn’t just me your mother doesn't like, then. I think I would have liked Ralph,” she says, looking up at me.
“Ralph would have loved you. And my mother hates everyone, but she will come around once she knows how important you are to me,” I state honestly as I entwine my fingers with hers, seeing the other scar on her palm from that roof fall a few weeks ago. She looks like she wants to say something else, but my small declaration hangs in the air for a beat until she speaks.
“You’ve got to be downtown this morning, don’t you?” she asks, changing the subject, always attune to my schedule.
“Yeah, I have to meet with the Baltimore Business Bureau for lunch with my mother, then I need to go to meet Ben to talk through the law firm quarterly financials,” I say as I rub my head, already hesitant to leave my bed and start the day.
