“I’ll do the same. I’ve already got the report started, so if we can get these done by Wednesday, we should have it all finalized and ready to turn in by the end of the week.”
“Works for me,” Will agreed. He finally dug into the bag Camille had sent with me and his eyes lit up as he pulled a massive frosted brownie out. “So. Much. Sugar.”
This was going to be a very long day.
***
Alex’s house sat dark and quiet when I pulled into the driveway that evening. It was a little after 7:00 pm and the sun had set, so the lack of lights was definitely unusual. I’d made a stop at my rental house, making sure everything was still okay and taking the time to do a load of laundry. Alex had a washer and dryer, but at this point, I felt like I should at least get something for my rent money after Will’s comments.
Since Christmas, I really had spent nearly every night at Alex’s. My first excuse had been that he needed someone to take care of him after the shooting. He’d been in a sling for a month and with fresh stitches in his side, he’d been mostly stuck in bed. Then the nightmares started and there was no way I was leaving him like that.
Now, I had to admit that I just didn’t want to leave. Alex and I had a routine and it worked for both of us. Maybe we’d gone from ‘casually dating’ to ‘basically living together’ a little fast, but it just felt right.
Sunday and Monday nights were usually a sort of casual date night for us, since I was usually off Sundays and he worked shorter hours. Alex closed the shop on Mondays, making it his one full day off. He’d started attempting to make dinner, with wildly varying results. We kept a few frozen pizzas in the freezer, just in case. Since he’d planned to use the day focusing on what he’d learned, I assumed it was going to be a pizza night.
Leaving my clothes in the car for now, I let myself in using the key Alex had made for me after he’d gotten out of the hospital. Light from the streetlights outside filtered through the open curtains, enough for me to make out a lump on the sofa. Upon investigation, I found Alex crashed out, a book on the floor beside him and Louis laying on his chest, glaring at me like he knew I was going to wake up his bed.
“I won’t bother him yet,” I promised the cat, who seemed unconvinced. I turned the oven on to preheat, then retrieved my clothes hamper from the car. My button-ups for work shared space in Alex’s closet, while everything else went into the second drawer of his dresser.
He hadn’t woken up by the time I changed and came back to the living room, nor did he budge when I put a pizza in to bake.
“Sorry, buddy,” I murmured to Louis, then flipped on the overhead lights in the living room. Alex didn’t budge, which I’d expected. Careful not to piss off the cat anymore than I was already about to, I knelt beside the couch and pressed a soft kiss to Alex’s forehead. “Rise and shine, beautiful.”
He groaned, twisting to roll onto his side and dislodging his passenger in the process. Thoroughly done with both of us, Louis thumped to the floor and wandered away.
“Alex, time to get up,” I singsonged, brushing his hair out of his eyes. Another little kiss, this time to the tip of his nose, finally got a flutter of his eyelids. When I kissed his cheek and his lips twitched in an aborted smile, I knew he was finally awake.
“What time is it?” he mumbled, his voice rough with sleep.
“About 7:30. I see the meditation went well?” I tried to hold back my laugh, but he heard it in my voice and finally peeled one eye open.
“You think you’re funny, but you’re really not.”
“I’m hilarious and you know it.” I pushed myself to my feet and held out a hand. “Come on, time to get up. I’ve got a pizza in the oven. I bet you didn’t eat lunch today, did you?”
“I thought about it,” Alex said, slipping his hand into mine and letting me pull him to his feet. He didn’t stop the momentum, stumbling forward until he rested against my chest. I wrapped him up in my arms and felt him sigh contentedly. “I sat down on the couch to read and I guess I crashed.”
“Any luck with your project?”
He snorted, burying his face against my shoulder. “No, no luck with myproject,” he teased. “Seriously, though, I may have to go back to Ori for some ideas. It’s getting better, but I still can’t stay focused for more than a few minutes at a time.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
“Not unless you know a way to make my brain shut up so I can concentrate.”
I had quite a few ideas about how to make his mind shut down, actually, each of them more enticing than the last. “Well…”
Alex turned his head just enough to glare at me. “I know what you’re thinking and no. With my luck, I’ll somehow Pavlov myself into seeing ghosts every time you make me come. Absolutely not.”
I tried not to laugh, I really did, but once that image lodged in my brain, I was a goner. Alex huffed his annoyance, but he just poked me in the side and let me ride it out instead of pulling away.
“It wasn’tthatfunny,” he grumbled when I finally caught my breath, which just threatened to set me off all over again.
“Except it kind of was.” I freed a hand and tilted his face toward mine, kissing the pout right off his lips. “I’m sorry I laughed.”
“You’re forgiven, this time.” He nuzzled closer and the feeling of his body pressed against mine sent heat pulsing through me. I loved every part of Alex, but something about having him in my arms when he was like this, all soft and warm and sleepy, made me want to hold him and never let go.
“How about we get dinner ready, watch a movie, and you can take a break from all of that and just relax for tonight?” I suggested. “You don’t have to master this in a day.”
