Her fingers curl around mine. “Promise me you’ll sleep.” She’s asking, but she’s also telling me like she used to. For a second, I see a flicker of my old Gi in the way she wants to take care of me.
I press my forehead to hers, steam wrapping around us. “I promise, sweet girl,” I tell her. I hope I’m not lying. I want to make her happy, but closing my eyes means I’m no longer watching her.
Moving slowly, respectfully, I brush my thumb over her collarbone, wiping the suds away. She sighs and closes her eyes, placing her hand over mine, moving along with me. When I start to pull away, she presses my hand down on her chest and opens her eyes slowly, looking up at me.
Her breathing changes, her chest starting to rise and fall more rapidly beneath my hand. She bites the inside of her lip and pushes my hand below the water line. Fuck. I know that look, but it’s tinged with something I don’t recognize. Does she think this is what I want? Because she looks unsure.
I pull my hand out from under hers and tip her chin up. Pausing to let my gaze roam over her beautiful face, her full mouth, her beautiful eyes, I lean down to kiss her softly. She throws her arms around my neck and kisses me deeply. But when I open my eyes, she’s watching me. I don’t know what this is, but it feels dangerous for both of us.
I loosen her arms and give her another little kiss before standing. “I was going to make some eggs and bacon. Matti sentover groceries this morning, and he only eats breakfast food, so I hope that’s good.”
She doesn’t smile. “That’s fine. Is there stuff for an omelette?”
“I’ll check. Though with me cooking, it will probably turn out more like a veggie scramble.”
“With bacon.”
“Veggie scramble with bacon.” I smile at her, but she doesn’t smile back. I wish I knew what she was thinking, but asking doesn’t feel like something I should do.
My phone buzzes again. It’s Vin. I ignore it until I’m out of the bathroom, then open the thread on my way to the kitchen.
You sure you wanna wait?
I can pull a team together
for tonight for you and
for us if you say go.
Not tonight. She’s not
ready. Give me a couple
of days.
He doesn’t respond, and I know that’s as close to an agreement as I’m going to get.
I pull out a bell pepper, tomato, spinach, onion, cheese and eggs and begin to chop everything I need. When I break the eggs and whisk them into a frothy yellow mass, I hear Gi let the water out of the tub.
“Everything okay?” I call out. I almost run back there when she doesn’t respond right away, but as soon as I drop the whisk in the bowl, she comes out of the hallway with a towel wrapped around her.
I blow out a sigh of relief as she surveys the counter.
“Where’s the bacon?” She opens the refrigerator. “Most important part of the meal, Tommaso,” she says, mock chastising me as she pulls it out and tosses it on the counter.
She opens cabinets looking for a frying pan, and when she finds one she puts it on the stove, turning on the burner. I frown when she pours oil in the pan.
“Gi, let me do this, please. I don’t want you to get burned by bacon grease.”
She doesn’t look at me as she waits for the oil to heat. “You have to stop coddling me, Tommy. I can do things.”
I mix the chopped vegetables in with the egg and stir, then put another frying pan on the stove. We stand next to each other for a moment without speaking.
“I’m sorry. I just want to—”
“I know.” She leans her head against my shoulder. “But I’d rather you didn’t.”
I nod and pour the egg mixture into the pan. “Okay.” This isn’t going to be easy.
