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Dragan mumbled something, one arm disappearing beneath the covers. She immediately missed the comforting weight of it from her body, even if it did return with his phone and the time only being just shy of 9 a.m. Eye closed, he put the phone haphazardly on her nightstand, shifting to his side so she was fully wrapped in him again. He threw a heavy leg over hers and kissed her forehead.
“How long do we have?” He mumbled into her hair.
Her finger traced the valley of his spine, the slope of his board shoulders. “Not long.”
They laid there until the anxiety of missing her meeting proved too much, and June somehow managed to pull herself away from the hunk of a man sleeping his her bed. Raised on one arm, she watched the rise and fall of his chest, the sweet parting of his lips. His tousled hair begged to be touched, and June reached a hand to smooth it from his forehead. He looked so serene, in a way she’d never seen him before, his large body finally at peace. She stroked his cheek, down his neck, a small smile spreading across his face.
“That tickles.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t let it get out out of hand.”
He laughed and flipped onto his back. He reached for her, pulling her onto of him, her face to his. He swallowed her, and when she looked into his dark blue eyes, she welcomed drowning in them.
“Good morning, sunshine.” He gave her a chaste kiss before throwing her back down on the bed. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, and June heard someone in the kitchen.
“Shit. I might have to sneak you out.”
“My light is still hooked up downstairs, I think they know,” he chuckled. “They know you’re an adult, June.”
“You don’t get it.” She huffed off the bed, walking to her dresser to start pulling herself together, annoyed at now having to deflect her grandparents.
“I don’t understand that family asks a lot of questions, so it’s better to avoid them at all costs? You’re right, I totally don’t get it. I didn’t need you to stand in as my girlfriend at all to help avoid my grandma’s disappointment or my aunt’s worry.” He stood, stretching as much as the low ceilings would allow. “It’s okay, June. I get it. But I don’t want to hide. I think if we’re honest with ourselves, we can admit that’s kind of what we’ve been doing for years.”
He came up behind her, placing his hands on her arms. Bending, he kissed the dip between her neck and her shoulder. When he raised his head, she caught his eye in the mirror while she worked out the knots in her hair. Dragan took her brush from her hand, sectioning her hair and slowly working the brush through.
“Are you ready to admit that?”
He kept brushing, hesitating.
“Yeah, I am. Are you?”
She nodded as he set the brush down. He ran his hands over the long locks before starting to French braid it. June watched him in the mirror, intent on his work.
“I didn’t know you knew how to braid,” she said it softly, not wanting to stop the soft glide of his fingers, the gentle pull of pieces being put into place.
“While my mom made breakfast, I would help with my siblings. Alice really loved braids, and she threw temper tantrums if they weren’t right.” He smiled. “I learned pretty quickly.”
He put his hand out, and June placed a clear band in his palm. He tied off the braid, and planted another kiss, on the other side of her neck.
“I’ll text you, okay?”
June nodded at him in the mirror, holding onto his hand as long as she could before he walked through the door. She shut it behind him, throwing on a quick layer of foundation and a swipe of mascara before getting dressed quickly. The muffled voices of him and one of her grandparents — she thought maybe her grandma — were barely audible before the front door opened and closed.
Her slacks were old, but she had few occasions to wear them so they were in decent shape. June threw on an emerald green button down with a 70’s pointed collar, one of her favorite thrift store finds. Hunting for her lacy pointed-toe flats, she found them stuck under her bookcase and managed to pull them out with half of a small animal of dust attached.
She couldn’t do anything about the cat hair from Krantz, or the dust from her room she never had time to clean, but she could at least be on time. Grabbing her black leather work tote and her laptop, she steeled herself for the inquisition.
In the kitchen, her grandma sat at the round dining table, reading a newspaper and drinking her coffee, a plate of half-eaten eggs next to her. She looked up as June came in, doing an awful job of hiding the knowing twinkle in her eye.
“Good morning, Juney. Good night last night?”
June blushed, filling a thermos with coffee. “Yep. You?”
“Oh, you know. Same old, same old.” Excitement laced her voice, and June tried not to smile at how something so small could make her grandma so happy.
“Glad to hear it. I have a meeting today. I don’t know when I’ll be back but definitely this afternoon.”
Missy shrugged and went back to her newspaper, her lips still twitching into a smile she was trying to hide. “Okay, sounds good. And, you know, if you have plans that’s totally fine.”
