Chapter Five
The scentof brewing coffee wafted over me, and I shook off the last clouds of sleep. I reached across the bed, waiting for the feel of warm woman under my hand, but I only found rumpled linens. That wasn't what—orwho—I wanted. Still boneless and sated from last night, I was unwilling to open my eyes. I didn't want this to be over. Instead, I pressed my face into the pillows and growled.
The mattress dipped and April's hand coasted over my shoulders. "Always this grouchy in the morning?"
"Only when I expect a naked woman in bed with me and can't find one," I grumbled.
"Some of us have to work," she said. "I have three hundred fondant roses to make this morning, and some in-home Reiki appointments this afternoon."
She was sitting beside me, her legs crossed. Her hair was damp and loose, and the strands were brushing over my bicep. She was dressed, too, and I didn't care for that. I knew it was late, much later than my usual five a.m. wake-up, and I'd probably long overstayed my welcome. I didn't care for that either. I wanted more. More of this, more of her, even more dick jokes.
I curled around her hips and pushed up her shirt to expose the small of her back. "I work," I replied, my lips ghosting over her skin. "I work all the fucking time. I just got back from eleven days of international travel and shoveling one pile of bullshit after another. This is the first time I've taken a few days off since visiting my mother for Christmas. I took her to Disney World."
"Disney World?" April glanced over her shoulder at me, shaking her head like she couldn't imagine me at an amusement park.
"And Universal Studios," I said. "I angled for a trip to the Goldeneye resort in Jamaica, where Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond novels, but she was set on Orlando. She'd never been."
April ran her fingers through my hair. "You're not supposed to be such a good guy."
"I can be good," I said. I reached up, beneath her shirt and bra, and circled her nipple with my thumb. She released a small pant as her skin tightened under my touch. Then I pinched, and was rewarded with a sharp gasp. "I can be bad, too. There's no reason to choose sides."
She murmured in response and dropped her hand to my bare thigh. I was expecting her to stroke my cock and make this morning a little sunnier, but she slapped my ass instead.
"I'm choosing the side of staying employed," she said, disentangling herself from my hold and pushing away from the bed. My shorts and underwear sailed over her shoulder and landed on the pillow beside me. Nothing subtle about that.
Once I was dressed, I worked on making the bed. It was equal parts Navy-born habit and a ploy to steal a few extra minutes in April's company. When I was satisfied that the sheets were tight, the quilt was straight, and my erection wasn't too obvious, I joined her in the small kitchen area.
"I'm taking you out tonight," I said while she poured some cream into her coffee. "Be ready. How does eight sound?"
She offered me a crooked smile and sipped her coffee. "I'm not really an out-to-dinner girl," she said.
"Then what kind of girl are you?" I asked.
Coffee set aside, she pursed her lips as she reached back and started braiding her hair. "I'm the 'walks on the beach, toss all the leftovers into a salad, fall asleep reading' kind of girl."
I spread my hands out in front of me as if our answer was as plain as day. "We'll walk on the beach and eat salads and read until you let me fuck you again, and then we'll fall asleep. Be ready."
She cast her gaze to the floor, her lips folding into a grim line as she continued braiding. I'd said too much. Pushed too hard. Coming on too strong wasn't something I'd ever been accused of, but I'd never met a woman like April before. She was quiet and capable, but also funny and sensual. She didn't want anything from me either. She wasn't grabbing for money or contacts or status. I didn't even know what to do with all that, other than talk to her for hours and claim her body as my home away from home.
"Look, that didn't come out right," I said. "Maybe it came out exactly as it should've, but it made you back away and I don't like that. I want to hang out with you, and my current state of affairs would be greatly improved if you wanted to hang out with me, too. Salads, books, whatever you want."
April pinched her hair with one hand and used the other to wave at my leg. "I want to get some pins in you," she replied. "I think it would help."
I gestured to my torso. "Are you suggesting there were issues with my performance? I'll bend you over that couch right now and show you how muchhelpI need."
She rolled her eyes. "And you'd do it without putting any weight on your right leg," she said. "That's why I spent so much time on your left hip and shoulder last night. You need to address the core problem, and treat the ancillary problems you're creating."
I threw my hands up in surrender. "You got it," I conceded. "Give me the full treatment, and then we'll have a salad and read some books. Later, I'll see to your aches."
April resumed braiding her hair, but she couldn't repress a grin. "I have appointments after I finish up at the bakery, and then I'm teaching a class," she said, twisting a rubber band off her wrist and around her dark strands. "I'll be free around eight again."
I nodded, matching her smile now. Her gaze settled on my bare chest, and her teeth raked over her lower lip.
You can't hide much from me, beautiful.
"What can I bring?" I asked. "If I can't take you out, there's no way in hell I'm showing up empty-handed. My mother would sooner tan my hide than allow such a thing."
She slipped on a pair of athletic shoes and knelt to tie the laces. "She'd whip your six-foot-four, two-hundred-and-fifty-odd-pound hide?"
