“I smell.”
“I probably do too. Oh-fucking-well. Now, gimme a kiss,” I demand, moving her hand away from her mouth so I can slam my lips onto hers.
My mind warns me to take this slow, not wanting to repeat last night, but my dick has other plans. So I stop the kissing altogether, preventing a war between both heads.
“How did you sleep?” I grind out, hoping my arousal isn’t too apparent in my tone.
She calms down her breathing by inhaling deeply, blinking rapidly as she exhales. “I, uh. I slept well. How about you?”
“Fucking perfect with you pressed against me.”
Her blush burns through her olive skin, glowing crimson red as she stares everywhere but at my face.
Amira’s bashful tendencies have always created a stirring in my pants and somersaults beneath my ribcage. The way she crinkles her nose because she doesn’t know how to take my desire makes me so fucking ravenous.
I have to simmer down the beast waking inside me, needing him to stay put until Amira gives me the green light to move farther.
I’ll be patient as long as she wishes me to, but the need I have for her grows inside me more each day, making it increasingly difficult to silence my desires.
“What do you want to do today?” I ask, grabbing a lock of wild, curly hair as it falls over her face and tucking it behind her ear. Leaving my palm to cup over her ear, she snuggles into my touch, eyes fluttering closed before speaking again.
“We have no food because Ash eats everything, and Shadow ran out of those treats that were in the pantry, so we have to get some more.”
There’s a hitch in her voice as she goes over everything we have to do. I know she doesn’t feel comfortable leaving the house. Quite fucking honestly, I don’t want to leave either. If I could stay locked up inside this room, holding her in my arms, for the rest of my life, then I fucking would.
There’s nothing for me out there. Everything I could ever need is right here.
But that’s not the reality of the world, and unfortunately, we need to venture out sometime.
“Want to go now to get it out of the way? Or do you want to try again later when it isn’t so busy?”
Amira’s face scrunches in concentration, mulling over my suggestions when Shadow’s excited bark breaks through the quiet.
A smile takes over Amira’s expression completely. Flipping onto her back, she opens her arms wide and braces for Shadow’s paws to dance on her chest.
If you don’t count the fish I killed in fifth grade, neither of us has ever had a pet before. Over these past couple of months, Shadow has been a huge fucking adjustment for us.
Initially, I thought for dogs, all you had to do was feed, wash, and walk them, but Shadow demanded I change that mentality real fucking quick. She requires the same amount of love you would give anyone else; long moments of affection to show how much we care about her.
Amira’s laughter is a siren’s call to my heart. Her bright giggle uplifts my spirits as Shadow attempts to lick the entirety of her face.
Sitting up in bed, Amira grabs Shadow from under her belly and brings her up to her chest, kissing her little head until Shadow is satisfied enough to curl into a ball on Amira’s lap and go back to sleep.
Still on my side, hand tangled in the strands of my hair, I gaze at Amira’s content smile. The peace that radiates on her face at this moment is something I wish she would feel at all times.
Amira catches my staring and holds my eyes. “You’re staring.”
Because I like what I see.
“You’re just so damn pretty, angel.”
She smiles down softly at the sleeping French bulldog on her lap, a blush working its way up her neck and onto the apples of her cheeks.
“You know, I used to beg mom and da-Gabriel, for this exact dog when I was in elementary school, but he said no… that I wasn’t old enough to care for an animal.”
“I remember. I was there the night you made an entire presentation about the benefits of having a dog.”
She was so cute with her poster board and facts. Gabriel sat through her whole speech before clapping and sharing an amused glance with Adrianna. For a moment, we all thought he’d finally agree, but when the no slipped from his lips, a collective sigh of disappointment echoed around the room.
