Chapter 40
“Not. Yet.”
-Cam
I wake up when a heavy weight bends the mattress next to me and nearly rolls me right off the bed. My eyes flutter open in the blinding morning light to see a delicious Aaron staring down at me.
“Good morning, Camellia,” Aaron kisses my forehead. “You were so tired. I let you sleep in.”
“Good morning, Sparky,” I reach for my phone and look at the screen. “Ten o’clock? Why’d you let me sleep so late!”
I hop out of bed and immediately become dizzy. Damn it. This getting over radiation shit is for the birds.
Aaron gently pushes me back to the bed. “That’s why my love. You’re still fighting the effects of the bombing, radiation exposure, and car crash.”
“The only way I’m getting better is to get back out in the fresh air, maybe go for a run,” I try to get out of bed again, but Aaron is being the ultimate run-blocker.
It’s like a cockblocker for my running plans.
But thinking of cocks, maybe that’s the activity I need to be doing.
Aaron sees the filthy thoughts flicker in my eyes and pokes my shoulder. “Nope. No way. Doctor said to take it easy. No matter how hungry you look for my lovin’, you’re never going to get it until you get better.”
“You sound like a 90s pop song with a real buzzkill ending,” I pout.
Aaron chuckles. “Do you want to pout? Or would you like me to bring you breakfast in bed?”
I pretend to think about it like there’s even a choice. Then, I smile. “Breakfast, please.”
“Good choice,” he kisses my forehead, then hustles out to the hallway and immediately returns with a tray.
I didn’t even smell the food out there. Damn. I’m losing my touch.
The tray contains two plates. One is piled high with waffles, my favorite breakfast carb, complete with butter in every nook and cranny, and doused with so much syrup. It will likely make the waffles soggy if I don’t devour them immediately. On the other plate are the fluffiest scrambled eggs I’ve ever seen, a pile of crispy bacon, and a healthy portion of home fries.
I laugh. “How many people did you invite into bed to eat breakfast with us?”
Aaron takes the tray and moves around to the other side of the bed. He gingerly scoots close to me, placing the tray on the comforter between us. The tray also has a glass of orange juice and two cups of coffee.
And a bud vase with nothing in it.
I point to the vase. “Not that I’m complaining, Mr. Fire CHEF, but it looks like you forgot your flourish.”
He smirks at me. “No. I didn’t.”
I roll my eyes. “Well, yes, you did. There’s a bud vase with nothing in it. You probably can’t see it with all this other food in the way.”
“Are you sure it’s empty?”
I frown. Maybe this is a by-product of all the shit that’s happened to me since I returned to Flamingo Cove. I shake my head, then grab the bud vase and flip it over.
The vase is metal and has a wide mouth, so I’m surprised when something clinks down the sides and plops right into my waffle.
“Oh, shit,” Aaron hops up and runs to the bathroom.
It feels like I’m moving in slow-motion as I glance down at the waffles on the tray. There, nestled in the middle of not-so-heart-healthy syrup, is a diamond attached to a ring.
I grab a fork, thread one of the tines through the ring, and hold it up. A drop of syrup slowly drips from the ring and plops onto the plate. The ring is covered with syrup, and I wonder if it will ever be clean. I’m also wondering if my waffles are still good to eat or if the ring tainted them. I decide I could always cut out the part that touched the ring, and the waffles would be okay to eat.
