Chapter Twenty-One
Terrance
Saturday
I paced up and down my apartment, thoughts tearing through my mind. I really wanted to be around Morgan – it was all I could really think about – but I couldn’t stop panicking that her coming here was a terrible idea. After all, I had people watching me, wanting to harm me, and it was safe to assume that they knew exactly where I lived.
What we should’ve done is gone to her place, at least there we both could’ve been safe.
I grabbed hold of my phone, wondering whether or not I should call her to cancel, but it felt a bit too late now. She could be here at any moment, and I didn’t want to be a dick. At least, I knew that Braxton was downstairs with Emily; with him so close, we couldn’t get into too much trouble.
It’ll be fine, I tried my best to convince my brain that everything would be okay. Morgan and I will simply have a nice night, and that will be it. Nothing to worry about, at all. The only problem was the more I tried to convince myself, the more I got all tied up in knots.
Knock, knock.
I glanced at the clock, chewing on my fingernails with utter anxiety as I realized she was here. I wanted to enjoy the excitement of the moment, to just be able to enjoy her here, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t stop thinking about that horrible man’s face and the implicated threat within his gaze.
“Coming,” I called out, trying to shake all negative those thoughts from my mind.
I swung the door open and was momentarily blindsided by the beauty standing before me. Morgan had on figure-hugging jeans and a flowing red top with no make up on and her hair hanging down her back. The look of Morgan so natural and casual literally took my breath away. I wasn’t sure how she managed to look even more beautiful every time I saw her.
“Are you okay?” It took me a little too long to recognize that she had a worried expression on her face. I felt like there was something behind it, and I wanted to know what. “You look a little...” Upset didn’t quite seem right, nor did stressed.
“No, no, I’m okay,” she shook her head a bit too hard. “Just...a little off.”
“Did you want to cancel tonight?” Maybe, as awful as it was, this would be the solution to my problems. If I could get Morgan out of here, then at least she’d be safe. “Do it again when you’re feeling a little better?”
She sucked in a deep breath of air and smiled brightly. “No, I’m good. I’ve been looking forward to this since your text.”
That was enough to have my heart melting. There was something so different about this woman. How could I resist now that she’d said this? Surely it would be okay, I was just being paranoid. I stepped to one side, and indicated for her to come inside. “Would you like a glass of wine?”
There was no hiding the way her face screwed up at the idea of alcohol. “No, a soda or juice would be lovely, thank you.”
I stepped into the kitchen and poured some juice into a glass before stirring the pot of whatever Braxton had started cooking for me. I wasn’t totally sure what it was, cooking definitely wasn’t my strong point, but it smelled absolutely delicious.
“What are you making?” Morgan asked curiously as she was lured in by the smell. “It smells absolutely lovely.”
“Oh, thanks.” I could feel my face heating up as I was about to exposed for the non-chef that I was. “Erm, it’s chicken and... Erm...” Morgan tinkled laughter through the room, which I found utterly infectious. “Okay, I’ll admit it, I don’t know. I got help, and now I’m very embarrassed because you’re looking at me like I’m very foolish.”
She tutted loudly and took the wooden spoon from me. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you to cook?”
My heart sunk and my stomach went topsy turvy. I wasn’t really ready to talk about my family, but if I didn’t say anything then I’d be very aloof and it’d potentially put Morgan off. For the first time in my entire life, I didn’t want to push the woman I was with away from me. I wanted to keep her close. “I don’t know my mom.” I announced flatly. “She left when I was a child. I was raised by my dad.”
Instead of giving me that awful sympathetic look that I was so used to, Morgan nodded in an understanding way. “I get that, I grew up without a father.”
We shared a look, and in that moment, I felt really close to her. I felt like we had an affinity, a connection that ran even deeper than we first realized. Something about that look compelled me to continue into the depths of my life story that I never liked to share with anyone.
“Actually, I don’t have my dad anymore, either.” I spoke in a monotone, a little robotic. It was hard enough to just get this out to someone who didn’t know, I couldn’t make that worse by adding emotion into the mix. “He had a heart attack five years ago.”
She touched my hand and looked up at me under her eyelashes, and the word vomit just continued. “Then three years ago, my brother died, too.” I wasn’t sure why, but felt inclined to leave out the finer details of that.
“Oh wow, that’s terrible.” She pulled me in for a hug, and I fell happily into her embrace. She felt so warm and her body was so comforting, that I wanted to lose myself in her forever. Explaining my story to her didn’t feel like a burden, more like a lifting of the weight off my shoulders. I felt lighter, freer, which weirdly made me smile after sharing the most tragic thing that had ever happened to me.
Eventually, Morgan pulled away, but that was only because the food was bubbling over. “You’re a good cook,” I chuckled at her. “Your mom must have taught you well.”
She didn’t answer, in fact her expression darkened for a second, but she ignored the comment about her mom. “I love to cook, but with my nursing job, it’s hard to find the time. Usually, I’m so exhausted at the end of the day that I just don’t have the energy. Plus, you know what it’s like cooking for one... It’s barely worth the effort.”
I stood behind her and wrapped my arms around her back as she continued to fiddle about with the food, doing magical things to bring it alive. It was lucky that she could cook, really, or this night might’ve been a disaster.
“Maybe that’s why I never bothered to learn,” I muttered without paying much attention to myself. “I’m always by myself.”
“Okay, take a seat.” Morgan spun around and placed one light kiss onto my lips. “I will plate this up, then the dinner that you’re cooking for me will be served.”
I loved the way she teased me; it made me laugh more than anyone else did. I was used to being built up, people kissing my ass, doing what they could to make me feel special, especially when it came to women. Actually, taking the piss out of me made me feel more special than anything else.
I fixed my gaze on Morgan’s rounded, incredible butt as she set about sorting out the food, my heart hammering in my chest. She had a wonderful body to go with her personality, and I got the impression that she didn’t even know how gorgeous she was. She wasn’t even aware that she had the sort of look that most women would die for, and that made her even more attractive.
“Here.” She placed the dinner down in front of me with a triumphant grin. “Let me know what you think.”
I slide my eyes shut as she brought the fork to my mouth, really embracing all the sensations that I assumed would be inflicted on me. As she slid the fork between my lips, I felt an explosion of flavors in my mouth: sweet, slightly spicy, fruity... It was delicious.
“Oh, wow.” I opened my eyes and grinned at her. “Now that tastes wonderful.”
Morgan sat down opposite me with sheer happiness on her expression. “Good, I’m glad you like it.”
“You’re a woman of many talents.” She might not have started the meal, but she had definitely finished it, and she did a damn fine job.
As we ate, we kept sharing intense looks. Nothing needed to be said for us both to understand what was going on here – that passionate desire was flowing between us, we both wanted one another, and it had my whole body stirring. My brain became thick with lust, making it challenging to even think straight. I hadn’t drunk any wine because Morgan wasn’t drinking, but I felt drunk regardless.
“I’m glad you came,” I managed to say to her through the thick lust once we’d both finished eating. “But I’m afraid dessert isn’t much. I didn’t really think about it until just now.”
“Oh, it’s okay...” she started to reply, but I wasn’t going to leave it there.
“No, hold on, let me see what I have in my fridge.”
As I stood up and moved across the kitchen, I could feel the heat of Morgan’s body following me. Her deliciously naughty side was coming out, sparking that electrical feeling all over my body. Desire spiked, my heart raced, and a hot pool of desire formed in my stomach. I felt more turned on than I’d ever done in my life.
I played along with the game, assuming that this was part of the flirting, and I swung the fridge door open. As I did I felt Morgan’s breath tickling along my neck, which made me smirk and stir inside. “Oh, hungry, are we?”
Her hand reached around me and she grabbed onto the tin can of whipped cream I had sitting within there. As she pulled it out, I spun back to face her to see that wicked twinkle in her gaze. “I think this will be suitable for dessert, don’t you?”
My pulse was thundering now like a steam train, distracting me from any rational thought, but the one thing that kept creeping through was the possibility that we were in danger. I wasn’t totally sure that the door was locked, and I kept having horrible images that someone might break through at any given moment.
“Shall we go back to yours?” I gasped loudly. “Get more comfortable there. After all, I wouldn’t want you to have to rush off to work again in the morning.”
In my lust-addled mind that sounded like the perfect excuse, but I was about to be proven very wrong. “Why would we want to go anywhere when we have everything we could possibly want right here?” she purred at me. “Plus, I don’t have work tomorrow, so we’re totally in the clear.”
As she crashed her lips back against mine, I realized that there were no other arguments and that it was utterly pointless to try and find one. I’d been safe inside my own home since all of this had happened anyway, there was no reason to assume that tonight would be different.
Plus, with those incredible plump lips pressed up against mine and the cold can of whipped cream pressed up against my back, filling my mind with possibilities, it was difficult to think about anything else.
Instead, I stopped fighting it and wrapped my fingers up into Morgan’s hair, totally succumbing myself to the moment. It was hard not to, she was so incredible. As we kissed hard and fast, an involuntary moan escaped past my lips, leaving me a totally helpless mess.