“But there’s kid stuff everywhere,” he protested.
“I’ll help you pick up and organize,” I offered, nuzzling his temple. My parents did have rather high cleaning standards, but I’d spent enough time with other families to know that clutter was a byproduct of happy living. And an organizational opportunity waiting to happen. “You might need more bins and hooks.”
“I’m totally ending up at the home improvement store with you tomorrow, aren’t I?” He flopped his head onto my shoulder, so I squeezed him all the tighter, let him lean on me.
“Yup. How else are you going to keep me from getting bored?”
“Oh, I have some good ideas.” He twisted so he could kiss my jaw.
“I bet you do.” I found his mouth for a kiss because I had all sorts of ideas myself. “But we can do that and get your place in order. It’ll be fun, and if you get a work call, I’ll have a project to occupy me.”
Felix had warned me that him being on call meant he’d probably have to answer a few medication-related questions or urgent patient needs, and I was actually kind of looking forward to getting to hear him do his doctor thing.
“Well, I guess it’s that or make you play solitaire.” Laughing, he kissed my neck, making my recently shaved skin glow, along with the rest of me. I simply liked being around him so much.
“Exactly. I did bring a deck too, though, in case we run out of things to talk about.”
“Somehow I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.” His gaze was hot enough to fry a steak.
“Nope,” I agreed happily before I kissed him again. These little hello kisses were so much fun. I liked the hot and heavy stuff too, but simply getting to touch him and be affectionate was a novel pleasure. “Getting enough sleep, now that might be an issue.”
“Promises, promises.” Felix stroked my forearm. Even on the phone we had a hard time saying good night, and we’d had more than one instance of being totally shocked at the time after talking for over an hour at the end of the day.
“You could show me the bedroom now.” I was absolutely on a mission to see exactly how many orgasms I could give Felix before Sunday, and I didn’t mind starting right then.
“Or I could feed you first.” Felix glided out of my embrace and bent to retrieve a bottle from a small gourmet wine-cooling fridge near the actual monster sized refrigerator. “Gabrielle had this amazing pinot noir last weekend, and I picked up a bottle for us.”
“Fancy.” I moved so that he could retrieve two wineglasses from an upper cabinet. “I’m usually more of a beer drinker, but if you like something, I’ll happily try it.”
“Good. And I’m looking forward to cooking something other than nuggets and endless cheesy pasta dishes. Neither girl will eat fish or mushrooms, so I’m doing a glazed salmon, mushroom risotto, and a salad.”
“Sounds delicious.” I followed him on his trek back to the fridge after pouring the wine. “Tell me how I can help.”
As always, cooking together was fun, lining up ingredients and taking directions about what needed rinsing and chopping.
“Can you get me the arborio rice from the top shelf in the pantry?” he asked as he grabbed a saucepan.
“Sure thing.” I opened the door on the other side of the fridge to reveal a small walk-in space that looked like it had been hit by both an earthquake and a cyclone. Dry goods haphazardly stacked on the shelves, kid-friendly snacks everywhere including escaping bins on the floor, and no order to anything, boxes of pasta intermingled with cereal selections. “Oh, this pantry is going to be a project.”
“Sorry.” Felix cringed as I emerged with the rice.
“Don’t be.” I kissed the top of his head. I was legit excited. “This is going to be fun. We’re totally taking before and after pics.”
“You do have some unique ideas of fun.”
“Like this one?” I turned him so I could kiss his mouth. The rice could wait a minute. “And I’m serious. I’m gonna need to make a sketch of the space, maybe take inventory of what’s already in there...”
“Oh, baby, talk organization to me.” Chuckling, Felix returned my kiss. He tasted like red wine and happiness and I wanted to stay in that moment forever.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Felix
“I’m not sure inventory is something most people do on two glasses of wine,” I complained, but only mildly, to Calder while holding a pen and a clipboard from some pharmacy company giveaway. He’d enjoyed my drawer of random promotional giveaways almost as much as my cluttered pantry.
“If I know what you already have, then it will be easier to see what you need,” he said all reasonably while counting single-serve chip packets. “Oops. Another for the out-of-date pile.”
“Sorry.” I accepted the bag and added it to the trash bag at my feet. We’d found more than a few items that needed pitching. My skin flushed from more than overindulgence in the wine that had tasted far better with Calder. Dinner had been truly lovely. Nice piece of wild-caught Pacific salmon, risotto that no one had interrupted me while making, and wonderful company. Calder was by far the most fun person I’d cooked with in a long time, helpful without being in the way, and delightfully appreciative of the results. We’d lingered over the wine and a cherry tart I’d nabbed at the bakery.
But now, somehow we were doing inventory rather than canoodling on my couch.
“Felix.” Calder looked up from his sorting, voice gentler. “Quit saying sorry. You’re an overworked guardian without a ton of help. So your pantry got a little scary. You keep the kids happy and fed. That’s what matters. And now we get to fix it.”
“I guess that’s one way to look at it. Glad we have mess to keep you from boredom.” I wished I could be as stoked as him about attacking all the clutter that was threatening to overtake the house.
“Hey, come here.” Backing out of the pantry, Calder started to straighten but hit his head on a low shelf. “Ouch.”
“Are you okay?” I pulled him the rest of the way out of the pantry so I could see him better in the kitchen light. “Bleeding?”
“It’s just a bump.” He twisted his mouth in what might have been frustration, I couldn’t tell. “I’m okay.”
“Let me feel.” I reached for his head but he dodged my fingers. “Dizzy at all?”
“No, Doc, no concussion.” Stepping farther away, he made a dismissive gesture. “I got a clean bill of brain health last week. I’m good.”