“Get up, doll.” A hand grabbed my foot, shaking it until I started to stir in bed. I peeked my eye open and reached for the phone that lay beside me. Eight in the morning. Too early.
“Fifteen more minutes.” I groaned, closed my eyes, and rolled away from the hand that had grabbed me.
“Oh, no, you don’t.” Greg’s voice filled my ears again. Two hands grabbed for me this time, one wrapped around each ankle, and then I was yanked. I was dragged to the end of the bed and flew into Greg’s arms, as he grabbed and lifted me in one swift move. I was fully awake now, with my arms wrapped around Greg’s neck, his hands on my naked thighs, his shirt riding up my waist, and my core in full contact with his abs. We were both frozen in time, relishing in the feel, not caring that at any moment someone could come up the stairs and see us.
Every time he touched me a little bit of my armored heart started to break down. I could tell my heart all I wanted that this was a bad idea, but the way it sped up each time I caught Greg looking at me did me in. The way he had been with me yesterday and right now dissolved any coherent thoughts I had as to why this shouldn’t happen.
Greg’s hands kneaded my thighs and I couldn’t help the small moan that escaped my lips. It didn’t get very far before Greg swallowed it, crushing his lips to mine. My hands moved to the back of his head and pulled him closer, not allowing our lips to slip away from each other.
I heard a foot land on the first step of the stairs, then a creak from the second step. I pulled away from Greg, our wide eyes locking. We were frozen now not from the moment, but from the fear of who could be coming up the stairs. They were pretty steep, so no one would be able to see us until they were almost to the top. The footsteps stopped.
“You two up?” I slumped into Greg’s arms when I heard Delilah’s voice.
“Yeah, give us a moment.” Greg pulled me closer and we waited to hear Delilah’s footsteps disappear into the house and further away from us. I looked down at him to find another smirk and slapped his chest. “Good morning.”
He went in for another kiss, but I dodged it and tried to wiggle out of his grasp.
“Let me down Greg.”
“Nope.”
“Greg.” I pushed against his chest, but his grip on my thighs tightened.
“Last time I let you go, you ran.”
“And I should have run sooner.” I was looking him straight in the eyes. I meant it.If I had run sooner, I wouldn’t have these feelings, I wouldn’t be so scared of losing him, losing this family, or of getting hurt beyond repair.“We should go grab some breakfast before we head out for the day.”
Greg’s face fell at my words and I expected him to set me on the floor, but instead the little sneak surprised me with an enormous grin and threw me on the bed. He ran like the wind in just his pajama bottoms down the stairs. I almost followed him when I realized I was just in one of Greg’s shirts still. I quickly changed and made my way down the stairs, in the direction of the smell of bacon and eggs. My mouth watered instantly.
I caught Greg stuffing his face with the last waffle as I came into the kitchen. He tried to stand there and look so innocent, but had cheeks like a chipmunk, stuffed and full of deceit.
“I’m making more, munchkin, don’t worry.” David held up a spoon and almost sent batter slinging across the kitchen.
“I’m going to get dressed,” Greg tried to say with a straight face, with his mouth still stuffed full. You could barely make out what he was saying, and it caused the whole kitchen to be sent into a frenzy of laughs. David had to set the spatula down on the counter to hold his stomach in laughter. Margaret was trying to hold in a laugh with one hand over her mouth and a mug of hot coffee in the other hand. And Delilah was doubled over the counter, unable to contain it any longer.
As Greg passed me, he planted a kiss on my cheek. I pretended not to notice that the kitchen became quiet. I didn’t look anyone in the eyes, but grabbed a stool from the bar and moved it over to the island where David was making the waffles. I snatched a piece of bacon off the nearest plate.
“Two, please.” I tore off a bite of bacon and pointed to the morning chef. He jumped into gear while getting through the first waffle and making me a second. I covered them in butter and enough syrup to fill every little hole.
I was in the middle of cutting into the second waffle and began a deep conversation with Delilah. A book had been turned into a TV show, and we both just couldn’t get into all of the changes they had made. But then Greg walked back into the kitchen with my purse in one hand and keys in the other, and I knew this was the end to a perfect getaway I didn’t know I needed.
“I’m ready whenever you are.” Greg jingled the keys at me.
“Let me finish, at least. Who knows when I’ll get to eat waffles like these again?” I held up my fork and pointed towards Greg.
“You’ll get to have some next week. We’ll do breakfast for dinner for family night on Wednesday.” David’s words almost broke my heart because I didn’t know if I was going to be coming back next week, and I didn’t want to make a promise and then break it. I looked back down at the plate and shoveled in the last few bites.
“We’ll see what we can do, Dad.” Greg was now beside me, with his arm wrapped around the back of my chair. Guilt consumed me as David’s face dropped, and he didn’t speak another word as he reached for my empty plate and grabbed the fork out of my hand. My shoulders dropped, but Greg pushed me out of the chair and to the front of the house.
We walked out the front door without another word to his family, and it felt like I wasn’t leaving on my own accord but was being kicked out. I hadn’t said a formal goodbye to anyone and had no idea when the next time I would next step foot into this house.
Greg jumped in the car and waited for me to get in, so we could go into town. Granted it was still early, but he knew me all too well and knew that my going into town to shop wouldn’t be something quick. We drove out of the driveway and down the winding road into town in comfortable silence, which was a first for the week. It almost felt like everything was normal.
“Where did you want to stop first?” Greg asked, and the comfortable silence was gone.
“Doesn’t matter.” I could feel myself retreating back into the shy girl whom Greg had first met, and that just wasn’t me anymore. But this man did things to me that I didn’t like to admit. He made my heart race and my hands sweat with worry over what was going to happen, because with him, I never knew.
“Adale has a couple new pieces in the glass shop I thought we could look at.” I just nodded my head at his suggestion and stared out the window. Fall had finally arrived, with the browning of the trees and leaves all over the ground.
