Page 83 of Coerced
Laughter spilled out of me. After pressing a kiss to her lips, I said, “That’s the plan.”
At that, Aria and I got ourselves out of bed and cleaned up. After we showed Sasha a bit of love, I left to run to my house and take care of my animals while Aria got to work on breakfast.
I hadn’t wanted to take too long at my place—I didn’t like the idea of Aria having to make breakfast all on her own—but I didn’t manage it nearly as quickly as I would have liked. I’d been gone for hours, and my crew wasn’t particularly happy with me.
It was all just more confirmation that Aria and I were wise to have a discussion about how this would go between us moving forward, because I didn’t think it was fair to my animals to leave them alone all the time, and I didn’t want to have to sleep every night without Aria in my arms.
When I returned to Aria’s place, she was nearly finished with breakfast. I chipped in to help with the last bit of it, and she asked, “How’s the gang?”
“Not exactly pleased with me, but I think they’ll get over it,” I answered.
“Oh, boy. Maybe we do need to do this meeting of the pets sooner rather than later. I don’t want your animals hating me.”
I laughed, moved toward her, and wrapped my arms around her before pressing a kiss to her lips. “They won’t hate you. Brutus might get a little lippy, but he’s harmless.”
She smiled against my mouth and gave me a deeper kiss.
It was a relief to know she couldn’t get enough of me, the same as I felt for her. But since breakfast was hot and ready, and Aria had to work, we had to separate ourselves from one another.
After we sat down and enjoyed the first few bites of our breakfast, I asked, “When’s your next full day off from work?”
“Uh… I think it’s not for a while. Maybe a week and a half from now. Why do you ask?”
“Find out for sure, and let me know as soon as you’re sure of the day. I’ll take the day off if it’s a day I’m normally scheduled to work, and the two of us can spend it together,” I told her.
Her face lit up. “Really?”
“Yes. Why does that surprise you?”
Still smiling, she hesitated a moment. Then she said, “I guess it doesn’t. I think I’m more excited about it than anything else.”
“Good. I am, too.”
“What are we going to do on this day of fun?” she pressed.
“Once I know the day, I’ll figure that out. And I might keep it a secret, but I promise I won’t disappoint you.”
Her smile turned shy as she leaned toward me. “I don’t think that would ever be possible. You’re so good at everything, Paxton. I don’t think there’s anything you could ever do to disappoint me.”
It was nice to hear she felt that way. She made it seem like I had no faults. I did. And I was sure she’d see themone day. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to go out of my way to do whatever I could to keep her happy.
“Finish your breakfast, Aria. I’m going to take you to work today, and I’ll pick you up when you’re done.”
“What?”
“Eat up. You’ve got work soon, and I think I might need another taste of you before we leave.”
“You’re taking me to work?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“And you’re picking me up?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Why?”
My brows pulled together as I studied her, trying to discern if she was being serious. When I noted the confusion on her face, I offered an explanation. “On Friday night, I told you how much space you had been taking up in my head. That has not lessened since then, especially not after what we had last night and this morning. Someone came into the pub and followed you home. I was prepared to do this for you before we even had what we did last night. Now that we are what we are to each other, I’m compelled to take things up a notch to keep you safe.” She parted her lips to argue, but I quickly cut her off. “I know I don’t need to do this for you, Aria. At least, I know that’s how you see it. I see it differently. And being the man that I am, you aren’t going to change my mind. So, eat up. We’ve got things to do before you leave.”