I can see him behind me reflected in the window glass.He’s adorably rumpled from sleep with his brown hair sticking up.
“You okay?”he asks.
Turning from the window, I nod.“Yeah, I’m fine.Did I wake you?I’m sorry.”I heft my mug.“Thank you for saving my cocoa for me.”
“You’re welcome.And you didn’t wake me up.I noticed you were gone and wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
He took such wonderful care of me last night, but I don’t know what to think.Was it my friend Ollie taking care of friend Phoebe like he would for anyone because he’s a kind man, or was it my fiancé Ollie caring for his fiancée Phoebe because he’s falling in love?He was really into our kiss last night, but then he said he was sorry.I wasn’t as drunk as I had been earlier, but I was still feeling the berry lemonade, so I’m not completely certain if he was sorry we kissed because I was drunk and he was being chivalrous, or if he was sorry we kissed period.Did my being drunk disgust him?I feel so stupid that I didn’t realize there was alcohol in the lemonade.It tasted different than what I usually get at the casual restaurants I go to for happy hour with Andie, but I figured that was because we were in a fancy restaurant and they were using better fruit.
“I’m okay.I had to use the bathroom and came out here so I wouldn’t wake you.I realized I wasn’t going to fall back asleep, so I was watching the sunrise.”
“Beautiful,” he says.But he’s looking at me, not out the window.This is all so confusing.Maybe I’m still drunk?
“You should try to sleep some more.I’m used to getting up early for work,” I say.“Normally I’d have already been up for a few hours and at work—this is a sleeping-in day.”
That makes his brow furrow as he steps forward to join me at the window.He turns to face me and leans his shoulder against the window.The way he crosses his legs is sexy.I love the dusting of dark hair across them.It turns me on.I guess if I’m going to develop a body-hair fetish, it’s convenient I’m in love with a Bigfoot shifter.
“Really?Why do you get up so early?”
I grin.People don’t understand bakery hours.
“To get everything baked and ready for the day.Some things we can prep ahead, but it still needs to be baked that morning.Things like cookies, we can mix and put on baking sheets and roll into the walk-in fridge so they get put in the oven in the morning and bake while we’re mixing other things.It’s a system.”
He nods.“So, you work from 5 a.m.until 2 p.m.?How early do you go to bed?”
“Ideally, I’m in bed by 10 p.m.Sometimes I nap for an hour or two when I get home from work.”
A flash of sadness crosses his face.“So you won’t be able to come to my home games when you start working again?”
I reach out to rest my hand on his arm.
“I’m going to your games.I’ll take a nap in the afternoon if necessary or get less sleep.”
“You know,” he says with a flirty smile, “I take naps before games too.We could nap together.”
I don’t trust myself not to say something inappropriate, so I give a noncommittal, “Hmm,” and pat his arm lightly.
Yeah, we’d nap.Sure.Now that I know how this man kisses, I don’t think I can go back to being platonic cuddle buddies.
The sun is up now, so I turn away from the window.“If we’re not going back to bed, what do you want to do?We can finish up the dessert leftovers and then go check on Marsha and then head to the condo.What time do you have to leave?”
I don’t know if we should talk about what happened with the kiss or leave it be since things seem okay now.I guess leave it because I don’t want Ollie to be upset before his first road trip with the team.If he still says he’s sorry we kissed, my heart’s going to be broken, and I’m not sure I can keep up the facade of our engagement.If he’s happy with our kiss and wants to do it more, it’s going to be so hard to be apart.Frustrating.I’d rather not know either way until we’re together again.
“Alvarez is picking me up at noon.So, yeah, let’s finish dessert and then head out.I’m pretty sorted to be able to pack quickly, so we don’t have to rush.”
It’s real.He’s going to be gone.It’s only been a few days, but being with him 24/7 feels so right.I’m going to miss him.At the risk of being a horrible friend, Andie will probably be in the same boat, missing Colby, even though Andie swears they aren’t dating.We should have stuff for the show to keep us busy.
We share the leftover cake slices and chocolate-covered strawberries but unfortunately, no more strawberry-sweetened kisses.
“Can we stop at the grocery store on the way home?I want to pick up fresh milk, bread, and eggs.I was thinking of making us French toast for breakfast?”I scrunch my nose.“If that’s okay?”
“Of course,” Ollie says.“That’s no problem.”
We check out of the room and load up my car.I direct Ollie to my favorite grocery store and can’t believe my luck when I see they have a key-making machine.
“Let me give you a copy of the keys to the condo.Do you have a special design you want or a plain key?”I ask, looking at the rack of colored keys, some of them with logos of sports teams or cartoon characters on them.
“This one,” Ollie says, reaching over my shoulder to grab a green key with Scooby Doo on it.
