She leaned down, close to my mouth. “Mm-hmm.”
I grinned, letting my hands rest on her hips. “Then I’m guessing this is amnesia-induced straddling?”
She kissed the corner of my mouth. “Must be.”
She leaned back and started tapping on the datapad.
Seated on top of me like it was the most natural thing in the world. Her fingers swiped through the menu while her free hand trailed faint patterns on my chest, distracting enough that I had no idea what she was even selecting.
“Okay,” she murmured. “Do I want pancakes or the muffins?”
“Both,” I traced her sides, trying not to stare at her breasts the whole time. “You’re eating in my bed. No rules here.”
She smirked without looking up. “So I can spill maple syrup on your chest and it’s still fine?”
I slid my hand up her thigh. “You spill anything on me, you’re licking me clean.”
“Noted.” Her breath hitched, but she kept scrolling. She kept tapping through the order. “Is family a no-go area?”
The question landed harder than expected.
She glanced at me. “I mean, when I ask things. I know I’m nosy. I push. But I don’t want to keep hitting things you’ve decided are off-limits.”
My jaw tightened. I didn’t answer immediately. It wasn’t family. It was parents. But I didn’t want to draw a line with her.
She set the datapad aside on the sheets, no longer pretending to scroll. “You’re good at asking questions without answering any. You never talk about what happened to your dad. Or your uncles. Or your mom. You deflect.”
“I don’t deflect,” I muttered.
She gave me a look. “Vince.”
I exhaled. “I compartmentalize.”
She smiled faintly. “Nice word for it.”
I let my hand rest against her back, anchoring myself with the contact. “There’s not a list. There’s no official ‘don’t ask me this’ rule. It’s more like… some things are easier to bleed for than speak.”
Her expression softened. “That’s fair.”
“I’m not trying to keep you out,” I added. “Some shit is just buried deep. Not because I don’t trust you, but because I don’t trust what it might do to us if I let it out.”
She nodded slowly, her fingers running up and down my chest. “So when I ask, and you go quiet… it’s not because I shouldn’t have asked?”
“It’s because I don’t have the words yet.”
She leaned down then, resting her forehead against mine. “Okay. That’s enough for me.”
I let my eyes close for a second, letting that sink in. “I’ll try. To give you more.”
“I know. Just maybe not before breakfast. You’ll need energy.”
I groaned. “Jesus, Madeline.”
“Okay. Let’s make parents an official off-limits topic. Mine’s… complicated.” She kissed my jaw, she stayed curled against me for a while after that.
I nodded once. “Deal.”
She shifted, her eyes dropping to my forearm. Her fingernail traced the black ink there, the smallest of my tattoos. That now blended into the rest.
