The walk takes longer than usual because we keep stopping to touch and kiss each other. By the time we make it back, my watch shows we've done fifty minutes instead of thirty, but I don't care. My heart rate is elevated for the best possible reason.
We make breakfast together, shakshuka, eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce. Jennifer found the recipe and insisted we try it. I'm in charge of the sauce while she prepares the eggs.
“Little more cumin,” she instructs, tasting from the wooden spoon.
“You're very bossy in the kitchen,” I tease.
She sticks her tongue out at me. “You like it.”
I do. I like her confidence here, the way she knows exactly what she wants and isn't afraid to ask for it. It makes me wonder what else she'd be confident about if I gave her the chance.
The thought sends heat through me, and I have to focus on stirring the sauce before I burn it.
We eat on the deck, the sun rising higher in the blue, cloudless sky. She makes these little sounds of pleasure as she eats that are completely going to destroy what little restraint I still possess.
“This is so good,” she moans around a bite of bread dipped in sauce.
“Jennifer.”
She pauses mid-bite. “What?”
“You're making sounds.”
“Sorry?” She looks confused.
I lean closer and lower my voice. “Don't apologize. Just... be aware that those sounds are doing things to me.”
Her eyes darken with understanding, and she very deliberately takes another bite, moaning just a little louder.
Minx.
I'm around the table in an instant, burying my heated face in her neck. She squeals and laughs even as her arms go around my waist.
“You're killing me,” I growl against her skin.
“Good.” But her voice is breathless now, her laughter fading into something else as I kiss along her throat.
My phone buzzes on the table. We both ignore it.
It buzzes again. And again.
Jennifer pulls back slightly. “Should you check that?”
“No.” I'm kissing along her collarbone now, pulling her sweatshirt to the side to bare more of her skin to eager lips. “It's not an emergency.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the only emergency I care about is how badly I want you right now.”
She laughs, but it's shaky. “Seth...”
My phone starts ringing. Not buzzing. Actually ringing.
I groan, pressing my forehead against her shoulder. “I hate my life.”
With a little shimmy, she gently pushes me away. “Go ahead and check it. It might be important.”
I grab the phone, ready to snap at whoever's interrupting, and see my COO's name.
