Hannah: Sorry I passed out on you.
Billy: Nothing to be sorry about. Besides, figure you’ll be making it up to me tonight.
Hannah: If you’re meaning a massage and a blow job, I can handle that. If you’re expecting a meal, you might be disappointed.
Billy: Not much of a cook, huh?
Hannah: That’s putting it nicely.
Billy: Good thing I am, then.
Hannah: I knew there would be a good reason to keep you around ;)
Hannah: Ugh…Mrs. Fitzgerald just walked in. I’m being beckoned. See you at home, cowboy.
Home. I liked how that sounded coming from her.
Beaten down from the sun and a long day of work, I climbed the stairs to my second-story apartment. My body ached and my stomach rumbled, but the first thing on my list to do was kiss my woman, then maybe a shower and food before taking her to bed.
I opened the door to the smell of something burning and the sound of profanity flying out of that sweet mouth. I slammed the door closed, rushing to the kitchen, where she was standing in front of the sink.
“Shit,” she huffed, turning on the faucet, smoke and steam billowing up from whatever she was extinguishing.
I rubbed at the scruff along my jaw with a wide smile on my face, taking in the whole scene—her in my kitchen, attempting to make what I assumed was dinner for us.
“You all right there, blondie?” I came up behind her, snaking my arms around her small waist as I kissed her bare shoulder I was peering over. “What’s that?” I wrinkled my nose at the pot filled with a thick, black substance.
“That was dinner.” Her shoulders deflated with defeat as she stared at it too.
“I thought you didn’t cook.”
“I don’t. But obviously, I felt the need to prove my point.”
I chuckled, spinning her around in my arms. I ran a hand up her spine to her neck, tangling my fingers in her thick hair before pulling her mouth to mine, taking the kiss I’d been anxious for all day.
She sighed into my embrace, her arms hugging me close as she pressed the side of her face to my chest. “I just thought maybe I’d give it a shot again. I called my mom to get what was supposed to be an easy recipe.”
This woman…she had no idea how much just the thought she wanted to cook for me was enough. I was a simple man. I didn’t need much, nor expect much. If she only knew coming home, finding her there waiting for me in that short, flowy dress, barefoot and comfortable, was more than I could’ve ever prayed for.
“What was it?”
“Spaghetti sauce. Jarred even.”
I did what I could to hide my laugh, but the silent chuckle shook my whole body that she was pressed flush against. She swatted at my pec, stepping out of my embrace to throw away what appeared to be soggy, overcooked spaghetti noodles.
“Well, now what?” She faced me with her hands on her hips, glancing around the kitchen as if dinner would magically appear.
“I’ll order a pizza before jumping in the shower.”
“No, I’ll do it. It’s the least I can do after nearly burning down your apartment complex. What kind do you want?” She walked to the counter, picking up her phone.
Stepping in front of her, I dropped one more kiss on her lips. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to get my fill of her lips, but I was going to do my best. “Surprise me,” I whispered in her ear before nipping at it with my teeth.
I turned toward the bathroom, stripping my shirt off as I went.
“Tease!” she yelled after me.
“You like it!” I quipped, grinning like a damn fool as I heard her laughter from the other room.
I sat on the couch, Hannah’s pink toes pulled into my lap as she laid back on the other end, the half-empty pizza box opened on the coffee table in front of us.
“Okay, my turn,” she said, taking another bite of supreme pizza. We’d spent the last hour learning what we could about each other, all the little details, while eating our dinner.
“All right, shoot. What do ya wanna know now?”
“Hmm…okay. Who was your first kiss?”
I laughed. My head fell back to rest on the back of the couch as I rubbed small circles on her ankles with my thumbs, thinking about being an awkward teen boy trying to score his first kiss, among other things. “Sarah Hamilton.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“How old were you? How did you do it? Was she your first girlfriend? Was it good?”
“Geez, you really want to know?”
“Yeah. I want all the details.”
I raised my brow skeptically as I rotated my head to look at her. “All right. She wasn’t my girlfriend, but I wanted her to be. I was fifteen and she was fourteen. She was an early bloomer and had these boobs—”
“Yep. Nope. Never mind.” She tossed her half-eaten slice back into the box.
I chuckled, gliding my hand up her leg, giving it a light squeeze above her knee. I shifted my weight, crawling between her legs as she spread them open for me. Hovering over her body, I stared down into those rich eyes. “You jealous, blondie?”
“Of a fourteen-year-old girl who got the awkward fifteen-year-old version of you?”
I nodded.
“Not a chance. I prefer the man you are now.” She linked her fingers at the back of my neck. “It’s your turn, aren’t you going to ask me about mine?”
“Hell no. The last thing I want to do is think about another guy touching you, awkward teen boy or not.”
“You expected me to stay an innocent virgin all these years?”
“No. But doesn’t mean I have to think about what you did with other men before me.”
Or what she’d be doing with men after me. The truth of that thought was a sharp stab to my chest. I wasn’t going to be her first or her last and that whole thing was a punch in the gut.
“Hey? Where’d you go?”
I blinked away the dark tunnel I was starting to fall into and looked back at the lightness in her eyes.
“Nowhere. I’m right here, baby.” And I would be for as long as she let me.
I kissed her lips, then sat back on my knees, pulling her up with me. I stood from the couch and slipped my arms under and around her body, cradling her into my chest.
She lifted an eyebrow, and I smirked as I walked her down the hall to the bedroom. “You owe me. I’m collecting.”
With one hand still holding my neck, she used the other to cover her mouth as she exaggerated a fake yawn through her smile. “I’m feeling kind of sleepy.”
I laid her down on the bed, beaming like a lovesick fool as I crawled over her. “No worries. I’ve got just the thing to wake you up.” I thrusted my hips between her legs.
She laughed. “Well, hello there, cowboy. It’s about time you showed up.”
She slid her hands down my torso, her fingers easily working open the button to my jeans as I kissed down her neck. She dipped her hand inside my briefs, wrapping it around the stiff wood I’d been sporting for days. As she began to stroke her hand up and down, I thought I was going to blow my load right then. No fucking way was I letting that happen.
I lifted my head, snatching her wrist to a stop. I yanked it from my pants, pinning it to the pillow next to her head. Her eyes shot to mine, a knowing grin on her face.