I felt my eyes twitch as sunlight cascaded into the room. I let out a breath and turned my head. It felt like I had just fallen to sleep and yet my body felt more rested than I expected.

When I finally opened my eyes, I came in contact with Drew’s back. It was lean but muscled and I could see it twitch even in his sleep. I felt my cheeks turn pink at the sight of my nail marks up and down his back. I hadn’t kept my desire to myself. He seemed to enjoy it, if I remembered correctly. A dull numbness reminded me we had done it more than once last night as well, which was perfectly acceptable to me, especially considering I wanted to do it again.

I watched Drew shift so he was now facing me and his eyes cracked open slightly. The beautiful honey-brown hue was enough for my insides to melt. My heart swelled at the sight of him and I knew this was more than just the physical.

“Morning.” His voice was scratchy and sexy. It gave me heart palpitations and my core get wetter. How could he be sweet and sexy at the same time?

“Morning,” I murmured.

“So,” he said. “Last night.”

I nodded. I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I decided it would be best if I didn’t say anything at all. I didn’t think he was going to deny what happened or that there was something between us. At the same time, I didn’t want to make assumptions. I didn’t want to think we were more than what we actually were.

“Was amazing,” he said, his voice still low.

“It was amazing,” I agreed. 

We stared at each other for a moment, not quite sure what to say. I wished I had the same confidence I had shown last night.

“This is stupid,” he said with a laugh.

I felt myself ease at the sound of his laughter. “I know,” I said. I cleared my throat. I might not have that same confidence, but I still planned to tell him how I felt. Simba was doing great, which meant he didn’t need to come in as often if he didn’t feel the same way. We could avoid each other with skill this way. “I like you, Drew.”

His lips curled up but his eyes were inquisitive, curious.

“I want to date you.” I closed my eyes and shook my head. This wasn’t coming out as smoothly as I had hoped it would. I gave up. I wasn’t going to be perfect at telling him how I felt, especially this early in the morning. “I like being around you. I want to -“

Drew stopped me by placing his lips on mine. The kiss was gentle, almost chaste. It reminded me that I needed to brush my teeth before we progressed to anything more passionate.

When we broke apart, he looked at me for a long moment. I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to say anything right away. I didn’t want to interrupt him if he had more to say.

“I like you too,” he finally said.

“Listen,” I told him. “I know you might want to take it slow, given that you just broke up with someone. I respect that. I can wait -“

He gave me another long kiss. This time, I felt his tongue glide along my bottom lip and I was tempted to open my mouth and let him slip past me, but I really wanted to brush my teeth first.

Instead, I distracted him by flipping him onto his back and sitting on his waist. Immediately, his honey eyes turned dark brown and they raked up and down my naked body like I was some kind of goddess. Nobody had ever looked at me the way Drew was looking at me now.

“You want more?” he asked, his brows raised in surprise. “We did it three times last night.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, grabbing his hands and placing them on my breasts. “But not like this.”

—

After another round of hot, passionate love making, we took a shower together and scrubbed each other thoroughly. It felt good to be completely focused on, to be desired the way I felt Drew desired me. 

I knew he had morning skate in an hour, which meant he would have to leave soon. Before he did, he cooked us a quick breakfast of eggs and bacon. We shared a few more kisses before we took the dogs for a walk. Drew couldn’t even go back to the house. He was already running late and apparently, Cherney was a stickler for promptness. He gave me a long kiss before he went to his car. As I watched him drive away, I couldn’t help hoping that the future would hold many more nights like last night.

I walked back into the house and made sure the dogs had their food. Neither seemed inclined to get out of the bed they were sharing and I couldn’t blame them.

Part of me felt that maybe I needed to throw on more than just his t-shirt. I might actually want to go home and change, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave just yet. Drew said he wanted to hang out when he finished with morning skate, and since I was pretty sure he would be hungry, I figured I would make him a big plate of spaghetti.

I turned on my phone and let it play some music as I started boiling water. I had never been terribly domestic. My mom was a single mother who worked a full-time job just to put food on the table. She didn’t have much time to cook and I never pressured her to teach me. I was just glad she would make an effort to be with me when she was home.

About halfway through cooking the meal, a knock on the door interrupted me. I stopped, tilting my head to the side. Drew wouldn’t knock on his own door and he didn’t tell me he was expecting anyone.

I padded over to the door, taking note that neither Simba nor Sherlock were barking, which had to mean that someone familiar was at the door.

When I looked through the peephole, I saw that my guess was correct.

It was Rose.