Chapter 24
Clarabella
I lie in the middle of the bed on my stomach as I feel little butterfly kisses starting on my naked shoulder. “Morning,” Luke grumbles from beside me as he kisses the freckle on my back three times before asking me, “Do you want coffee?”
“What time is it?” I ask, sinking deeper into the bed.
“It’s a little after nine.” I feel the covers move, and I know he’s gotten out of the bed. I open one eye to watch his naked ass walk over to the bathroom. “I feel you staring.” He looks over his shoulder and chuckles. “Want me to come back to bed?”
“Yes,” I grumble. “But first, go make coffee.”
He looks around my room now. “Is it safe to go downstairs in just my boxers, or will I come face-to-face with one of your sisters again?” He picks up his boxers from the floor where he tossed them last night.
“It’s a fifty-fifty chance.” I turn over on my back now, holding the sheet to my chest. “But if it makes you feel better, I’ve already seen Ace’s junk.” From the look on his face, this does not make him feel better at all.
He just stares at me. “Why would that make me feel better?” he asks as he puts his boxers on, and I can’t help but look at him. His body is perfectly sculpted, which is due to him lifting weights and running four times a week. Something that came as a shock to me when I woke up one morning and he was gone, only to return a sweaty mess thirty minutes later. I mean, I’m not going to complain about it, especially since he dragged me to the shower and fucked me against the shower wall.
“I don’t know.” I laugh, grabbing one of the throw pillows from the floor and putting it behind my head. “You were a little freaked out a couple of days ago when my sister saw your ass.” I point at him.
“We were having sex on your kitchen table.” He throws his hands up. “And they just came waltzing in. They didn’t even knock, or I don’t know, call.”
“I think there was some screaming and then Presley turned and pushed Shelby down.” I roll my lips, thinking about the scene. “They were also not the only ones yelling.” I wink at him, which just makes his jaw tense as he bites down.
“I was midorgasm.” He glares at me.
“I bet they never do that again.” I can’t help the laugh that escapes my mouth.
“Good to know.” He turns and walks out of the bedroom. I throw the sheet off me and walk into the bathroom to pee and then wash my hands and face. It’s been two weeks since we’ve had the talk at his house. Two weeks since everything has gone down, and besides my sisters, no one knows about us. I can’t even put into words how easy it is with us. We’ve started to alternate where we stay at night. With our schedules, it’s hard to spend that much time together. He usually gets in later in the evening, but I always wait up for him. Then I’m up early in the morning, and he always makes it a point to get up and have coffee with me before going back to bed. I put my toothbrush back in the holder and see his toothbrush next to mine, and I can’t help but smile.
Walking back out of the bathroom, I contemplate putting on a robe and joining him downstairs, but I hear him walking up the stairs. He stops at the doorway, staring at me with a cup of coffee in each hand. His blue eyes light up when he looks at me from head to toe. “Like what you see?”
“No.” He smirks, walking into the room and coming straight for me. “I don’t think like is the proper word for it.” His lips fall on mine, and my whole stomach gets butterflies.
“Thank you,” I say when I grab a cup from his hand and walk back to the bed, placing it on the nightstand. He follows me and is about to get back in bed when I tilt my head. “Are you coming into bed with clothes on? What happened to your rule that one must always be naked in the bed?”
“And the living room,” he adds, and I just laugh as he slides his boxers off and then slips into the bed next to me. He sits up with his head to the headboard. “How was last night?” he asks about the wedding that took place. He got home before me, which was a first, and was waiting for me as soon as I got home.
“It was eventful.” I fill him in on the drama. “But it’s over.” I lean over and kiss his shoulder. “What are your plans for the day?” It’s my first day off in two weeks, and I hope he has nothing planned so we can spend the day together.
“I’m going to hit up the food and drink festival,” he replies, taking a sip of his coffee.
“Oh.” I sit up now. “I want to go. Can I come with?” I ask, and he just smiles.
“I was hoping you would say that.” The smile fills his face, and thirty minutes later, we are both getting out of bed and getting dressed. I slip on blue jeans with a light blue T-shirt, and when I walk out of the closet, he’s sitting on the bed that we made together.
“You look nice,” he compliments, getting up and coming to kiss me.
“Right back at you,” I say, looking at him with his black jeans and a white shirt, I lean in and kiss his neck. There is just something about him that I always want to kiss him. It’s so strange, and I’m not sure if it’s normal since I’ve never been this touchy-feely before.
We get to the festival, and he parks as I look over to where the row of white tents are set up. “Have you been to this festival before?” I ask as we make our way toward the entrance.
“Not this one,” he says. “But I went to one in New York.” My stomach gets tight when he says that. There are questions I want to ask him about New York, especially about the girl he was with, but I never feel like it’s my place. I mean, who am I to say anything? I was engaged, for fuck’s sake. “Have you?” He looks over at me, and I just shake my head.
When we get to the entrance, a person is handing out the map layout. “How do you usually tackle this?” he asks, and I just laugh.
“I usually just put one foot in front of the other and walk.” He shakes his head as we walk past the first tent, grabbing some samples. “So if you had to choose one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?” I ask as I grab a wine sample that someone just handed to me.
“Probably steak and potatoes,” he says. “You can’t go wrong with that.” I nod, and then he takes a sip from the water bottle he just bought. “What about you?”
“Pizza. Hands down, it would be pizza.”
“Really?” He smiles at me. “I was going to say that, but I thought you would laugh at me.”
“Why would I laugh at you?” So many people are bustling around us, but the two of us are in our own world. We walk almost at a snail’s pace, taking our time enjoying being out in the sun.
“Well, I’m a chef, and all I can come up with is pizza,” he says as our fingers graze each other’s, and my belly flips again. It’s really becoming annoying that it happens every single time he touches me. I make a mental note to google how long it lasts when I get home.
“But pizza is a mix of everything,” I observe as our fingers touch again. This time, his pinky comes out and holds mine for a couple of seconds before letting it go. “It’s got carbs, cheese, veggies, and meat. I mean, you can’t go wrong.”
“Exactly,” he agrees and then looks at me. “Can I hold your hand?” he asks, and all I can do is smile at him. Another thing I’ve only done with him is I’m constantly smiling. Or not constantly, but the majority of the time he’s around, I have a smile on my face.
“Why wouldn’t you be able to hold my hand?” I ask as I slip my hand into his, and our fingers fold together.
“I don’t know. We are out in public,” he reminds me, looking down. “And we may see people you know.”
I can’t help but stop the way my heart is beating at the fact that he sleeps with me every single night, yet he’s afraid to hold my hand in public. “I would very much like to hold your hand,” I confirm, and he lifts our joined hands up to his lips as he kisses my fingers.
“So I was thinking,” he starts, and I can tell he’s nervous. “That maybe one of these days we can go out on a date.”
I roll my lips to keep from laughing. “Is that what you were thinking?” I ask, leaning closer to him. His finger unlocks from mine as he gently puts his arm around me, pulling me closer to him. “I don’t know about you.” I slip my own arm around his waist. “But I consider this to be a date.”
“Is that so?” He looks down at me as I look up at him and nod. “If this is a date, should I be able to, I don’t know, say kiss you?”
“I don’t know the rules of Dating 101.” I try not to laugh. “But I think there should definitely be some kissing.”
“I agree with that.” He nods his head, and we aren’t even paying attention to any of the tents we’re passing by.
We’re fixated on each other, our feet moving at the same time. “What else is there on a date?” I ask.
“I mean, if it’s a good date, there should be some making out in the car.” I nod when he says this.
“It’s always a good date when there is some heavy making out in the car.” I look ahead at everyone. “What about groping?”
“Ohh, second base.” He laughs. “That’s a good base to be at.”
“I mean, it is a good base, but third base.” I look up at him. “Now, third base, that is where it’s at.”
“What is third base exactly?” he asks as his eyes meet mine, and we basically stop in the middle of the pathway. He turns to look at me, his hand grabbing one of mine.
“Oh, that base consists of below the belt.” I laugh. “Sometimes, one can slide into the base.”
“With their mouths?” He winks at me.
“I mean, is there any other way to slide into third base?” I ask, and I look down below his belt to see that his cock is starting to get into the action. I step into him. “I mean, I like third base and all but…” I step in a touch more, my head tilted back, waiting for him to kiss me. “But nothing is better than knocking that hit out of the park and getting a home run.”