Her small hands run up my chest until they lock behind my neck.
“It’s okay,” she soothes. “You don’t have to tell me. Pasts can be… painful, I get that better than most.”
Dark shadows fill her eyes, and I’m taken back to the night she had a nightmare.
“One day, Tiny. One day, I’ll tell you everything.”
She smiles. “Me too.”
She lifts up on her toes and brushes her lips against mine.
“Have you finished eating?”
“Yeah, you?”
She nods, lifting higher so her lips are next to my ear. “Take me back to bed, Spike.”
When I wake the next morning, it’s to a cold and empty bed. I sit up, thinking that she’s done a runner in the night, but the second I hear a noise coming from the living room I relax, feeling stupid that she might have gone anywhere.
“Hey,” she says when I join her. “I thought it was my turn to treat you to breakfast.”
Walking up behind where she’s standing at the stove, I wrap my arms around her waist. The pull I constantly feel toward her is stronger than ever after last night.
“Morning,” I whisper, dropping my lips to her neck.
“Morning,” she giggles. “You’re in a good mood.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I’ve got you standing in only my shirt,” I say guessing as to what’s missing beneath it, “and you’re cooking. You know that’s the way to a man’s heart, right?” I still the moment the words are out of my mouth.
She doesn’t miss it. Flipping the pancake she’s cooking from the pan, she turns in my arms.
“Funny, because I thought it was blowjobs.”
I bark out a laugh and immediately feel the weight of my past, my fears, leave me.
“Yeah, those always help too.”
“Did you sleep well?” she asks, looking up into my eyes as if the answers will be within them.
“I did, although my bed mate is a wriggler.”
She shrugs. “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t slept with anyone before.”
“You’ve never slept in the same bed as someone else?” I ask in shock.
“Well, Mum, yeah. But she was usually too strung out to notice she was even in a bed let alone that I was with her. Don’t,” she warns. “Don’t give me those sad puppy eyes.”
“Well, I’m glad I was your first.” I bite down on my tongue to stop from telling her that I’d like to be her last too. I fear I already said too much last night about where my head is.
“Me too.” She spins back around to make another pancake, successfully rubbing her arse against my already semi-hard cock in the process.
“Tiny,” I warn, my hands holding onto her hips to keep her in place.
“Yes?” she asks with an innocent look over her shoulder. “I’m just making you pancakes.”
“Sure you are.”
“Go sit down, they’re nearly ready.”
Reluctantly, I do as I’m told. But I soon realise that being able to watch her do her thing in only my shirt is totally worth it.
“What are your plans for the day?” she asks as she plates up.
“Well, I usually go to the gym on a Sunday morning. But I’m sure I can find us a much more fulfilling means of exercise.”
“I need to meet a friend,” she says, ignoring my comment as she walks over, although the heat in her eyes tells me that she heard it loud and clear.
“Okay, where?”
“I’m not sure. I’m waiting for her to wake up and reply.”
“Invite her here.” The words roll off my tongue faster than I can control. Kas’ eyes meet mine and they look as shocked as I feel.
“H-here?”
“Sure. I mean, if you want to. This is your place now, too. I want you to treat it as such.”
“You really want me here?”
“Of course I do.”
“Because you get regular access to my pussy?” she accuses.
“I mean, that’s definitely an added benefit.”
She pauses with a piece of pancake halfway to her lips. “Spike, what are we doing here?”
“No, no, please. Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what? I’d just like to know where I stand here. Am I your housemate or your live-in bed partner until you get a better offer and kick me to the curb?” she asks, successfully proving that her comment about us just being convenient yesterday was utter bullshit.
My chin drops that she thinks I could possibly see her that way. Reaching across the table, I take her spare hand in mine.
“I’d never kick you to the curb, Kas.”
She shrugs, sadness washing over her. “Why not? Everyone else in my life has. I’ve started to wonder if that’s where I belong.”
Lifting her from her seat, I place her on my lap and brush her hair from her face.
“No. Everything about that statement. Just… no. I want you here, with or without the pussy,” I wink.
She drops her head to my shoulder, thinking for a moment.
“I need…” She sighs. “I need to rebuild my life, Spike. I need to start over, and I need to take it seriously. That means I need to be somewhere that is going to be permanent for a while at least. I need to find my footing, discover who I am, because I’m not that girl. I know you don’t want to talk about tomorrows or that kind of stuff, and honestly, nor do I. I’ve been here a week and already it feels like so much longer. I don’t want to pressure you or for either of us to make decisions that are too hasty in whatever this is. But I need to know if this is my home or if I need to find another.”
I know the sensible thing to say would probably be to suggest she finds her own place, just like Zach has, but the thought of letting her go, of having to find someone else to live here with me, fills me with dread.
I make a snap decision, one I hope I’m not going to regret down the line.
“This is your home, Kas.” I cup her cheek
