“Unless you’re secretly a really hot dude, then no, I’m not gay.”
Her eyes widened a bit and then her mouth fell open in a little O. “That’s, umm,” she said and cleared her throat. Then she giggled. “That’s some pretty large evidence.”
“Damn straight,” I said arrogantly.
“You sure you don’t want to stay in bed?”
I couldn’t believe the words that were about to come out my mouth. “Yes. I’m sure.”
She made a harrumphing sound and rolled over. I got out of bed before I dove myself at her and did what I told myself I wasn’t going to do.
I looked down as I stood. The tent in my pants wasn’t something I could hide. Damn. I was going to be frustrated all damn day now. I went into the bathroom and splashed some ice-cold water on my face, rinsed out my mouth, and used the facilities.
It was chilly this morning so when I came out of the bathroom, I snatched up my shirt and yanked it on. Honor was still in bed.
“My entire body feels like a giant bruise.” She moaned.
“Up you go,” I said and lifted her off the mattress and held her in my arms. On my way to the door, she pointed to a pair of fuzzy looking boots.
“I need my slippers.”
I bent and she grabbed them, and then I carried her out into the kitchen where I deposited her on a chair at the table. “I’ll make you some coffee.”
She put on her slippers as she told me where she kept the coffee, and I got a pot brewing. The apple pie on the counter called out to me, and my stomach grumbled. As the coffee brewed, I spied the bottle of pain meds the doctor gave her at the hospital, and I set them in front of her along with a glass of water.
“Those will help with the soreness.”
Dutifully, she swallowed her pill and then I poured her a cup of coffee and handed it to her with the creamer.
“You’re a pretty handy guy to have around,” she said, stirring her coffee and creamer together.
“I know.”
She laughed and it made me turn my head to look at her. She looked tiny sitting there at the table with her hair all a mess and a steaming mug cradled between her hands. Even with bruises on her face, she was beautiful to me. Without thinking, I strode across the room and swooped in to plant a lingering kiss on her cinnamon- flavored lips.
When I pulled back, her eyes looked a little dazed, and I mentally patted myself on the back.
“You have any ice cream?” I asked, snooping through her freezer.
“No.”
“You know that’s like a crime. Pie with no ice cream.”
“I’m sorry?” she asked.
I sighed heavily. “I’m still eating pie.”
“I’d tell you to make yourself at home, but you already have,” she quipped.
I grinned and rummaged for a bowl and a knife. I did feel at home here, from the second I stepped through the front door. I felt like I was where I belonged, like this wasn’t my first night here. It felt perfectly natural for me to be making coffee and kissing her good morning. This was what I wanted. Not just today. Not just next week…
“Nathan?” Honor said from across the room.
I glanced over. She was giving me a puzzled look. “Where’d you go?”
My thoughts had stilled my movements and I was standing in the center of the room, clutching a knife and a bowl. “Nowhere.” I lied and cut a huge piece of pie. I wondered what she would say if I told her I was already thinking about forever.
“You’re putting pie into a bowl?”
“There’s no ice cream,” I explained.
“Yes, I realize the error of my ways.” I heard the smile in her voice.
I reached into the fridge, pulled out the milk, and poured some into the bowl, over the pie. “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do,” I told her and heated up the bowl in the microwave.
“Apple pie. It’s what’s for breakfast,” Honor said, as I sat down beside her.
“It’s got milk. It’s like cereal.”
She shook her head and drank more coffee.
The first bite exploded onto my tongue. “Oh my God.” I groaned. “This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten.”
She laughed.
“No really,” I said as I shoved another bite into my mouth. “You are a pie genius.”
Honor rolled her eyes. I scooped out another bite and held it to her lips. “Try it.” Her lips parted and I slid the spoon over her tongue and then pulled it back out, watching the way her lips hugged the silver. My body tightened all over again.
“It’s good.” She agreed.
Pie this good deserved some silence, so I didn’t say anything as I shoveled the rest into my mouth.
“Usually by now I would be on my way home from my morning run,” she murmured, looking out the sliding glass doors near the table and at the trail.
“You run every day of the week?”
“Most mornings. Not every day.”
I wondered if she would keep running out there after what happened to her.
“How about you? You must work out a lot.”
“Almost every day.”
“Do you like being a Marine?” she asked.
“It’s okay. I think about getting out sometimes. Living somewhere that I won’t have to move from.”
“Where are you from?”
“I grew up in Jacksonville, NC. It’s a Marine Corps kind of town. I grew up sort of idolizing the Marines. I joined right out of high school and went to Paris Island for boot camp.”
She smiled. “I knew I heard the South in your voice. Is this the first time you’ve lived up North?”
“Yep. It’s cold.”
She grinned. “How long you been enlisted?”
“Six years.”
She nodded and put her mug to her lips. I took advantage and asked a question of my own. “Did you grow up here?”
She nodded. “Yes, never lived anywhere else.”
“You said you’re a writer?”
She looked a little shy as she nodded.
“What do you write?”
“Books.”
“What kind of books?” Geez, it was like pulling teeth.
“Mostly romance novels. I also have some paranormal stuff.”
“You mean like vampires?”
“Werewolves,” she replied.
“You seem embarrassed,” I pointed out, glancing over at the pie and thinking about getting another piece.
She laughed and stood up. “I’m not really. Just sometimes people’s reaction to my career can be a little… harsh.”
I watched as she moved stiffly over to the counter, taking my bowl with her, and cut another huge slice of pie.
“What do you mean?”
