As quietly as possible, I slide out from under the comforter. I glance around the area; I know the sweatpants I borrowed are here somewhere. I’m not sure I’m at the comfort level to be walking around her apartment in my birthday suit. What if someone comes by, or can see in the windows?
Finally, I see them lying by the dresser on the opposite side of the room, and hurry toward them. How they ended up over here, I have no idea. Well, I do, but that’s beside the point. I slip them on, and tiptoe out of the room.
I’ve never been in her kitchen, but I know she lives off coffee at the shop. I search through the cabinets until I finally find one with all her coffee making stuff. It’s weird it’s not on the counter, but to each their own. Filling the reservoir with water, I place the pod into the coffee maker. Crap. What if she doesn’t have any creamer? Oh well, I guess we’ll find out in a bit.
I search for the coffee mugs, and place it under the coffee maker. Pressing the button, I turn toward the fridge. Maybe she has something to cook for breakfast. As soon as I open the door, I stand in shock. The only contents are creamer, a tub of butter and a tray of fruit that looks like it’s about to grow something. At least I know she has the stuff she needs for the coffee. But seriously, what does she eat? There’s literally nothing here.
The freezer may hold better options. I open the door and there’s a least a little bit of food in here. Most notable are the waffles shoved into a corner. That will work. Pulling the box out, I set it on the counter next to the toaster. We’ll make do with what she has. All I see are signs that she works way too much. Or, she doesn’t regularly shop for groceries. Her food situation looks like mine and my roommates in college. For us, it was because we were broke. There’s a huge different.
“Please tell me that’s coffee and I’m not dreaming.” Kate trudges into the kitchen with her robe wrapped tight around her.
“You aren’t dreaming,” I laugh. “I figured you could use a few more minutes of sleep. So, I put your coffee on and looked for food. By the way, when was the last time you went to the store?”
She looks around the room as if that’s going to give her all the answers she’s looking for. “I actually don’t know. We’ve been so busy at the shop I’ve been living off takeout.”
“Clearly,” I mumble, “maybe you should do that on Sunday since the shop is closed.”
“Probably.” She agrees. She moves next to me and pulls the mug toward her. “It’s not my favorite thing to do. It takes up so much time, and the last thing I want to do on my day off is spend it doing adult things.”
“You can always schedule a pick up or have it delivered.” Both of these options have saved me more times than I can count. Well, my mom anyway. She doesn’t like running errands on the weekend either.
“Good point.” She moves around the kitchen getting things together for her coffee. “Wow, you actually found food in there?” She points to the box of waffles.
“Yeah, I found food.” One set of waffles pops out of the toaster. “Here you go.” I set them on a paper towel. I don’t know where the plates are, and I have no idea if she even has the stuff to top them. From the contents of her fridge, I doubt it.
“Thanks for letting me sleep.” She takes a sip of her coffee now that it’s to her taste. Honestly, it’s best described as creamer with a splash of coffee. “I don’t remember the last time I’ve done that. Also, a good thing we are opening late today.”
“That was a smart move. Everyone needs a little rest after yesterday.” I glance down at my borrowed pants. “It also gives me time to go home and get ready before I head back to the shop.”
Kate takes another sip of her coffee, glancing at me over the rim of her mug. “About that.”
Nothing good ever comes from those two words. “Yeah?”
“I want to see what is building between us, but I don’t necessarily want to flaunt it in front of the rest of the team.”
“So, you want to keep this,” I point between me and her, “a secret?”
She rubs a hand over her face. “That came out wrong. Not really a secret, more like not showing any sort of PDA at work. My best friends and brother can of course know what the deal is. But everybody else, I don’t think it would be a good idea.”
“Um, okay.” I’m not exactly sure what I’m supposed to say to that. I don’t really understand the need to keep things a secret from anyone. As she said, we’re both adults. If other people have a problem with it, that’s something they need to deal with. “I just don’t understand what the big deal is.”
“It’s not. Or, it shouldn’t be. But just for a little bit.” She runs a hand through her hair. “It’s not for a long time, just long enough to make sure we’re going to work, and it won’t affect everyone at the shop.”
“You realize that pretty much leaves four people that can’t know, right? It’s pointless to do that.”
“Then we keep it a secret from everyone.” She’s dead set on doing this.
“For how long?” Before I even think about agreeing to this, I need to know the parameters she’s wanting to set up. It’s not exactly fair for me to be her dirty little secret.
“I don’t know,” she shrugs and takes a sip of her coffee, “just until we can figure out how everyone will react to us.”
It’s a copout, and can be see a mile away. But I also know she doesn’t typically do relationships. If I really want to see where things could go with us, I need to meet her halfway. This is new territory for her. Not only with the relationship, but with opening up to someone for more than one night. A million reasons why I shouldn’t agree to this fly through my head, but I push them aside. Kate is worth this minor inconvenience to get to know on a deeper level.
“Okay.” I begin cleaning up the small mess I made while making her waffles. “As long as it’s not forever, I think I can handle that.”
“Really?” The shock in her voice forces me to turn in her direction. “Most guys would have run miles away.”
“There’s one thing you should know about me, Kate,” I move toward her and slide my finger under her chin, “I’m not most guys.”
