“You didn’t really seem all that comfortable to me.” She folds her arms over her chest self-consciously.
“What’s that mean?” I scoot up so I’m sitting fully upright.
“Nothing. I just think it’d be better if I went home.” She rises from her seat, clearly intending to leave. I stand up, blocking her path.
“Don’t do that.” My voice is calm, but she must sense my annoyance because her eyes go wide. “We’re not going to play games, CJ. So tell me what’s really bothering you.”
“You choked when Nick suggested things were serious between us.” She says it quickly and quietly.
I shut down my emotions, trying to just hear her and not react in any way that would upset her while I process that.
Finally, I take a deep breath, then look up at the ceiling before looking back down at her. “I wasn’t expecting him to say that. And I’d be lying if I said this,” I gesture between us, “didn’t freak me out a little.”
CJ looks down, blinking back tears, then looks back up at me. “You’re right. We’ve gotten more serious than I expected, more quickly than I expected. It freaks me out too. Just another reason I should go home. Maybe we just need to back things off a little.”
I stare at her long and hard. “Did you not hear anything I’ve said? Fate, girlfriend, missing you before I knew you and all that?” A smile tugs at my lips. “It freaks me out. But only because … fuck, this is hard. Because this has never happened to me before.”
“You’ve never fallen in love before?” she asks incredulously.
“I have,” I reply with a shrug. “Just not like this. Not this fast.” Not this hard. But I don’t say that last part. Just in case that’s too much for her right now. Because I’m not lying, it’s almost too much for me.
She opens her mouth, then closes it again. I chuckle at the obvious bewilderment on her face.
“Don’t go,” I reiterate, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her to me. “Stay. And we’ll do something that will take our minds off of this for a while.”
She nods shyly, and I can’t help but grin. I take her hand and lead her to the bedroom. And I make damn sure that she forgets everything but the feel of our bare skin touching, our bodies moving together, and the intense release that comes with it.
Chapter Thirteen
CJ
Our lovemaking persisted so far into the night that I slept through Drew’s alarm and his getting ready for work. So when he wakes me mere minutes before he has to leave, needless to say, I’m a little disappointed.
“You’re insatiable,” Drew says with a grin as he sits on the edge of the bed, putting on socks. “And I’ll see you again tonight. Don’t worry. I left you some breakfast in the kitchen too. I know you’ve said you don’t care about Halloween, but they are pumpkin pancakes.”
“Well, that does sound delicious, but still, I think I’d rather have you for breakfast,” I tease, skimming my hand down his chest. I get a brief flash of a vision. Drew, in the kitchen, tensions running high, and bins upon bins of … cranberries?
“Siren,” he accuses me. “If I didn’t have to be on time today to talk holiday planning, I’d definitely give in to that request.” Well, that explains the cranberries. He must really be concerned if he’s thinking about it outside of work, as I’ve never gotten anything like that off of him before.
I tilt my head. “Holiday planning? Isn’t it a little early for that?”
Drew gives me a patient smile. “CJ. Like it or not, it is Halloween. Which means that tomorrow is November first. We are already more than half booked for Thanksgiving. We’ve got to do tastings with the owner and finalize the menus so we can order everything. And to do all that, I need to go in …” he checks his phone, “nine minutes.”
“Hmmm. There’s a lot I could do to you in nine minutes,” I reply seductively.
He chuckles. “You’re killing me.”
“Mmm. Sorry. Can’t help myself.”
“Don’t be sorry. It’s one of the things I like best about you.” He winks. “And maybe I’ll even bring you some pumpkin pie later too.”
“Ooooh, now that’s my favorite,” I say, clapping my hands. I may be apathetic toward the commercial candy holiday that is Halloween, but I’ll never say no to pie.
“See? Works out for everyone.”
As he searches for a pair of sneakers, I start pulling on my clothing and mulling over how quickly the year is coming to a close. “Are you a holidays kind of person?” I ask.
Drew looks up. “What, do you mean am I one of those people who starts drinking pumpkin spice lattes in August and putting up my Christmas lights on November first?”
I scrunch my face up and stick my tongue out at him.
“Oh god, you’re one of those people, aren’t you?” he asks in mock horror.
I pick up one of the pillows and chuck it at him. “I’m not that bad,” I clarify. “But I do love the holidays. They’re just … magical. Especially Christmas.”
Drew smiles and heads out the bedroom door, so I follow him into the kitchen.
“My parents never made it into a huge thing,” he admits, getting a travel coffee cup out and filling it. “Our Christmases were always pretty low-key. So I guess, while I enjoy them, I’m not, like, a totally crazy-for-the-holidays kind of guy.” He shrugs and takes a sip of coffee.
I slip onto one of the bar stools at the counter and tuck into the plate of bacon and eggs he’d thoughtfully covered to keep warm.
“Well, get ready to be, because the Roberts household doesn’t do lukewarm Christmases,” I inform him. Then I freeze, realizing the implications of what I just said, the morning after we’d just agreed that things were going scary fast.
Drew pushes up from where he’d leaned against the counter across from me and comes around.
“I look forward to it,” he says huskily, his eyes dropping to my lips. He turns my stool so I’m facing him, and his hands skim through my hair and over my back before settling on my backside. A shiver of anticipation rolls through me as his face drops to mine.
I get one moment of bliss as his warm lips push mine open, and his tongue meets mine as he fervently locks me in his embrace, before I get my second vision of the day. One that renders me blank.
Yes, blank. Completely void and black, like the world has disappeared. As I start to feel what’s in the emptiness, an eerie sense of foreboding creeps through my veins. And I remember the only other time I’ve experienced this. The Christmas I had an eerily similar vision from Auntie Betty. Right before she died. The blood in my veins turns to ice.
I’m pulled from the vision, if you can call it that, by Drew nipping gently with his teeth at my lip as he breaks off our kiss.
I look up at him, panting and half crazed. Realizing that I Saw him at Thanksgiving earlier, but this vision was while he was thinking about Christmas. Drew has somewhere between four and eight weeks left to live.
He must not see the terror behind my expression, because he gives me a satisfied smile, clearly thinking he’s blown me away with his kiss. And he has, just not the way he thinks.