Chapter 36
SPENCER
Waking up with a warm, soft woman tucked against my body made waking up early on a Saturday morning just easier to deal with. Okay, it made some things harder, but in general everything was just better. Zoe snored softly and she had the most adorable wrinkles on her forehead that I wanted to reach over and kiss. I didn’t want to wake her. I couldn’t. She was just too damn adorable. As soon as the thought crossed my mind I knew I should be cashing in my man card. Girls were fuckable, not adorable.
Wriggling my arm out from under her, I slipped from the bed and made my way into the bathroom. A cold shower was needed. Desperately.
Almost two hours and a couple of coffees later, Zoe shuffled out into the lounge room. Her hair was the most intriguing mess I’d ever seen. It was curly and sticking out in every direction while her eyes were barely slits as she rubbed at them roughly.
“Morning, sunshine,” I called out.
“Ugh. Hi,” she moaned as she slid into the seat beside me.
“Want coffee?”
“No.Need.Need coffee,” she exaggerated dramatically.
I filled her mug and slid it across the bench into her outstretched fingers. Clasping the mug like it was her lifeline, I watched as Zoe sipped the steaming liquid. With each mouthful, her eyes seemed to open just a fraction wider.
After a while, I couldn’t help but taunt her. It was one of my favourite past times and one I didn’t realise I’d missed as much as I did over the years until that moment. “Better?”
“Much,” Zoe replied, looking up at me from under those long, dark lashes.
I knew I was in trouble. Hell, I’d known it from the moment I’d first seen her weeks ago, but now I knew I was completely fucked. There was no turning away from her. Not now. Not ever. Just looking at those perfect, pouty lips, I knew they’d be my ultimate undoing.
“So, what’s the plan for today?” she asked with a wide, friendly smile.
“You mean this afternoon, sleepy head?” I couldn’t resist.
“Hey! It’s not afternoon. Yet,” she pouted.
“Close enough. By the time you shower and do whatever else it is you women do to get ready, it will be.”
“And you wouldn’t have ‘us women’ any other way.”
I wanted to argue. I really did. I couldn’t. The girl was right. I wouldn’t change a thing about her. “Fine.”
“Fine?”
“Yeah, fine. Happy now?”
“Ecstatic!”
Shaking my head, I couldn’t believe how easy, how natural this felt. I’d thought it would be odd having Zoe here like this, but it just felt right. Awesomely right. “Well, we have the B & F tonight, so before that why don’t we just get out of here for a while? Maybe go for a drive?”
“Sounds perfect,” she conceded without argument and part of me wondered if my Zoe was still in there. She’d never agreed with me without argument before. It was more than a little rattling.
Not wanting to ruin such an easy victory, I said, “Go have your shower then. We’ll leave here in half an hour. Will that give you enough time, Princess?”
“Plenty!” she retorted, poking her tongue out as she leapt from the chair. I couldn’t help it. It was like my hand had a mind of its own as I reached out and swatted her butt playfully. “Ow!” she squealed and I laughed. Hard.
“You’ll regret that, Spencer Robert McLaren.”
“Promises, promises.”
I should have been worried about her threats, but I couldn’t. I was filled with intrigue as my overactive and downright dirty imagination ran away with me.
When I heard the shower wheeze to life, it was only a moment before Zoe’s high pitched singing start up. I stepped outside, needing the cool fresh air to calm me down. “Fuck me! She’s going to kill me,” I grumbled to myself.
