Yes. It sounded like a most excellent plan.
“Is that for me?” Aly asked.
I shook my head. “Absolutely not. I brought it in here to eat in front of you while mocking your hunger.”
Her eyes narrowed. “After what you just did to me, I’m inclined to take you at your word.”
I reached her in three strides and tugged her to me, holding the plate out to keep from spilling anything. I could tell she wasn’t really mad by how she melted into the embrace, both arms snaking around my middle, her cheek pressed between my pecks as she nuzzled in close.
“You were perfect,” I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and squeezing tight.
She shuddered. “I was a gross, sweaty mess. I half expected you to be gone when I got out of the shower.”
I tried to drop a kiss on top of her head and nearly cursed when the voice modulator I’d glued to the inside of the mouthpiece clicked against my teeth. I needed to figure out a better setup, or this would get old real fast.
“You were beautiful,” I told her. “And in the end, wasn’t it worth it?”
She stepped backward out of my embrace, a brow arching. “I honestly don’t know yet. I’m still trying to decide whether to beg you to never do that to me again or do it right the hell now.” Her gaze slid down, landing on my crotch.
Aaand there went my cock again, right on cue. “Let me know when you figure it out,” I said, ignoring the lust roaring through me, demanding I push her onto the bed, bury my dick into her hot, tight pussy, and fuck her until she forgot everyone else she’d ever been with. I wanted my name and my name only on her tongue, wanted to drink down every future cry of pleasure this woman ever made.
Fuck, I had it bad. And from the unfocused way Aly was still staring at my obvious arousal, I wasn’t the only one on the brink of making another move.
I shoved her food between us. “Breakfast?”
It took her a beat to process the word and pull her gaze up to the plate. “Oh. Yeah. Thank you.”
She took it from me and sat cross-legged on her rumpled bed. The bed I’d so recently pinned her to. The bed I needed to stop staring at if I had any hope of leaving this house and letting her get the sleep she so desperately needed.
I turned on my heel and went to get her bacon and chamomile tea.
Only two pieces of bacon were on the plate when I returned to the kitchen. Hadn’t I made three? What the hell? Where did the missing one go? I started looking around, wondering if it slid off the plate or if I forgot to take it out of the pan. I was positive I’d made three.
The sound of crunching drew my gaze to the dining room, where Fred was holed up beneath the table with a squirrely look in his eyes while he choked down the missing piece of bacon as fast as he could.
“You sneaky little beast,” I said, ducking down to pluck it away from him. I might not know much about animals, but that amount of grease in such a small body could only end in digestive gymnastics, and I didn’t think his mommy would be too happy with Daddy if she woke up to her house covered in explosive cat diarrhea.
I chucked the wayward bacon in the trash and grabbed the rest of Aly’s breakfast.
“What did Fred do?” she asked when I re-entered her bedroom.
“Our angel baby did absolutely nothing wrong, and I resent the insinuation that he ever could,” I said, setting the small plate of bacon beside her and handing her the tea.
She shook her head at me, but I knew she was fighting a smile from how tightly her lips pressed together.
I let out a relieved breath, glad to return to safer, more antagonistic ground. Not that I didn’t want to fuck Aly – standing up, sitting down, sideways, backward, against a wall – but something was holding me back besides her need for sleep and recovery. It felt almost wrong to have sex with her before she knew the whole truth about me. Not just who I was but where I came from.
I hadn’t told any romantic partners after my high school girlfriend about my dad. Hell, all my hookups and situationships ended when it felt like we were getting too close to that information. That was because I’d gone into them thinking they were short-term, but that wasn’t the case with Aly. This wasn’t just a kinky hookup anymore. Sometime in the past week or so, I’d begun to develop feelings for her, and though it had been a while since I’d had a real relationship, I knew that starting one on of a foundation of lies was a great way to set yourself up for failure.
That didn’t mean I was ready to stop toying with her yet. Our game had just gotten started, and as much as I wanted to stay here and watch her fall asleep, I was excited to make the next move and see how she reacted.
“Hey,” I said, tilting her chin up to see her eyes.
Her expression softened, turning into something my traitorous mind tried to tell me was longing. “Yeah?”
“I’m gonna go so you can eat and then sleep in peace.”
Her face fell, and I probably shouldn’t have felt so triumphant at seeing her open disappointment, but I couldn’t help it. Aly didn’t want me to leave. Good. It might not have been a declaration of her undying love, but it felt like the first step toward getting there.
I leaned down and bumped my masked forehead against hers. “I meant what I said earlier. You were perfect. The hottest thing I’ve seen in my fucking life, and the next time I get the chance, I’m going to find some way to make you come even harder.”
Her eyes flashed wide. “Is that safe?”
I chuckled. “Only one way to find out. You in?”
She let out a shaky breath and grinned up at me. “Fuck it. Yeah, I’m in.”
“Good. I’ll see you later, baby.”
I turned to leave, but she surprised me by grabbing my hand. “Wait a second. I want to make sure it’s healing okay.”
“I was joking about the infection,” I said.
She shot me A Look. “I know that, but I would never forgive myself if I didn’t check and something went wrong.”
I flinched as she tugged up the bandage and then poked and prodded the area around my wound, testing the skin and then leaning in close to inspect the stitches. “It looks okay. Have you been following the instructions I gave you?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said.
She released my hand and shook her head at me. “Then I guess you’re free to go.”
I snagged my backpack from her chair but paused before her on the way out to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear, unable to stop myself. It was impossible to have her so close and not touch her. “Take care of our son while I’m gone,” I said, forcing myself away. “And don’t give him any more bacon. He’s had enough.”
Her laughter followed me out of the room. “You are so presumptuous!”
I paused and leaned back through the doorway to have an excuse to look at her one last time, perched on her bed in her prim pajamas, balancing the food I made her in her lap, dark hair tumbling around her, sunlight streaming through the cracks in her blinds.
“Presumptuous?” I said. “Nah. I noticed how you look at me and decided not to fight your inevitable claiming.”
She chucked a pillow at my head.
I laughed and ducked out of the way, pausing to say goodbye to Fred before turning off her front door camera and leaving.
I tugged my mask off as soon as I stepped outside, sucking in my first unincumbered breath in over an hour. God, it felt good to be out of that thing. I was going to scrub my face raw when I got home because, otherwise, I’d probably end up breaking out.
I pulled the hood of my jacket up to hide from Aly’s view if she decided to peek out her window, then turned my back to her house and strode down the front walk, pausing to wave at her next-door neighbor, Wendy, who was out getting her mail.