“Are we okay?” Jett asks.
“Huh?” I blink. “Have I missed something?”
“You seem a bit—”
“Away with the fairies?”
He chuckles. “Yes.”
“Yeah, sorry. I’m tired, and my brain’s in overdrive.” I put my bowl of cereal down and hook my index fingers through his belt loops. “But we are totally fine.” I manage to kiss him without knocking the bowl of cereal out of his hands. “And I can’t wait to see you at lunchtime. Who knows? I might have made a decision about my research project by then. Or maybe I won’t have, and then you can help me narrow down my choices.”
A muscle in his neck twitches.
“You don’t like that idea?”
“I don’t want to influence your decision.”
“I’d like your input.” I mean it. “Oh, shit, you probably have to go, don’t you? I’ll stop dragging my feet over eating breakfast.” I spin away from him, scoop up my bowl, and wolf the soggy cereal down.
Jett stares at me slack-jawed.
“What? You’re giving me that look again that makes me paranoid I’ve grown a second head or something.”
“I’ve never seen you eat so fast.”
“Eh, it’s a talent.” I grin and finish my cereal. I wash both bowls, dry my hands, and then do jazz hands as I face him. “I’m ready and raring to go.”
“You’re crazy.”
“I know. And that’s one of the reasons you like me.”
“It really is.” Jett chuckles, pulls me to him, and kisses the hell out of me. “But I do have to go.”
“I bet a little part of you doesn’t want to,” I tease.
“A big part, actually. But I have to.”
I gasp. “Really? Is Jett Harris entertaining the idea of pulling a sickie?”
“No.” He whines the word out. “I can’t.”
“But you want to.”
“Yes.”
“To have wild, passionate sex?”
He whimpers and hums an affirmative response.
“Well, lucky for you, I’m a good influence and won’t let you. I’d have been up for a quickie instead of breakfast, but we don’t have enough time for that anymore. So come on, or you’re going to be late.”
* * *
“Burrito?” I hold one out to Jett. “It’s still hot.”
“Thanks.” He takes it from me and sits beside me on a seat covered in fake grass overlooking the canal.
As it’s a nice day, office workers on their lunch breaks take up most of the seating. I bet a few of the twenty or thirty people out here work with Jett. That doesn’t seem to faze him as he leans across and kisses me on the lips. It takes me a little by surprise. More fool me for underestimating him. I press into the kiss, parting my lips so our tongues touch. Afterwards, Jett tears the foil wrapper off one end of the burrito.
