Chapter Eight
Ireachedinto the refrigerator and collected everything that looked good. All of it.
"What are you looking for?"
After a bit of exceptional Regency-era role-playing and a well-earned nap, we'd shared a meal of wine, crusty bread, andeverything goes in the bowl and somehow it makes sensesalad. It had been great, but my body interpreted lettuce as the precursor to real food.
"I'm making…" I stared at a bouquet of fresh herbs arranged in a mason jar, carton of eggs, and wedge of wax-paper-wrapped cheese. "Scrambled eggs? Do you like that?"
The curtains fluttered as a late night breeze moved through the windows. April leaned back against the headboard, the bed sheets tucked under her arms. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and a light flush pinked her cheeks.
"Umm," she started, "I didn't process anything you just said because you're naked in my kitchen."
I looked down at myself and shrugged. "You want me to put something on?" I asked.
"No, no," she said, waving away my question. "You make those eggs. I'll just be over here. Watching. I've never had a naked guy in my kitchen before. This is a moment I'd like to appreciate."
"You never answered my question."
"Mmhmm," she murmured as she studied me. My cock was growing heavy under her gaze. "Which question was that?"
Laughing, I reached atop the refrigerator for the cast iron skillet. "Do you like scrambled eggs?"
April continued watching me, her eyes shining with a glimmer of unabashed appreciation that had me questioning whether I needed eggs when I could have her. And she was all that I wanted. It was irrelevant whether it had been two days or two years. There was a weight in my chest, a gravity associated with finding someone who brought levity to my spirit and fire to my soul. It was all in there, gathering volume and intensity, and I didn't know how I'd lived thirty-nine years without experiencing this.
Maybe that was part of the weight. The realization that all of these years had passed, and I'd never tasted an inkling ofthis. I'd dated women for months and even years without wanting to upend my life for them, wanting to promise them everything, wanting so much more with them. The realization that certain thingswereblack and white.
"April, honey," I said, my voice thick. "Is that what you want?"
Her gaze moved up my torso to meet my eyes, and a smirk was playing on her lips when she got there. "I love scrambled eggs," she said, and it was as though she knew we were talking about more than a midnight snack. "If that's what you want."
I didn't need to name it or examine it. I just had to let it happen.
"Okay," I said, nodding. We stared at each other for a moment, smiling over this unspoken agreement. "Are you good with cheesy eggs? My mom makes the best cheesy eggs. I don't cook too much, but this is the one thing I can pull off."
April rested her head on her knees when I started cracking eggs into a bowl. "Now that's the third or fourth time you've mentioned your mother," she said. "I take it you're close."
I grabbed a fork from the drawer and whisked milk into the eggs. "She was seventeen when I was born, and she raised me by herself," I said. "We grew up together."
"Does she live around here?"
"No," I said, distracted. Gauging at the stovetop's proximity to my crotch, I decided nude cooking wasn't the wisest idea I'd ever had. I mean, there were risks and then there were grease burns on your penis. I collected an apron from beside the abandoned massage table and pulled it over my head. Once the jewels were relatively safe, I heated butter in the pan. The eggs were quick to follow. "She lives in Mississippi. Near Gulfport."
"Is that where you're from?" she asked.
"Mississippi, yeah." I dug through the drawers and cupboards for a grater, and took the cheese to it once found. "The northwestern part," I added. "The Delta is a lot different than the Gulf Coast, though." I looked back at April once I'd added enough cheese. "Where are you from?"
She rolled her head from side to side before answering. "A little bit of everywhere," she said. "My sister lives near Chicago, and even though I didn't grow up there, I consider it home. I know I can always go there. No matter what happens, I can pack up and spend as much time as I need with Tali. I've sorted out my life and started over in her guest bedroom more than once." She brushed her hair behind her ears and smiled back at me. "Any siblings?"
I angled the pan to chase the remaining liquid toward the heat. "Nope, it's just me," I said. "But there are some guys from my unit who are like brothers. Everyone says it, that the military is another branch of your family tree, but it's true."
"Yeah," she murmured. "I've heard that."
"I'd give my buddy Gus a kidney if he asked," I said, laughing. "I wouldn't care how much he sold it for either." I pulled a plate from the cupboard and spooned the eggs onto it. "Then there's Will. He's a pain in my fucking ass, but I keep him around in spite of it."
"Men are amazing," she said. "If I suggested that my best friends were organ dealers or pains in my ass, people would call me a catty bitch."
"Do it anyway," I said. I settled beside April on the bed and handed her a fork. "Don't worry about that shit."
