Page 46 of Deny Me

Nineteen

I hitthe start button on my coffeemaker before reaching in the cupboard above for two mugs. Just as I set them on the counter, two large hands reached under my silk cami and wrapped around my stomach, pulling me back against a solid chest. Lips kissed from my shoulder to my neck sending goose bumps down my spine.

“Good morning, gorgeous.” A nip to my ear. “Are you making me coffee? God, you’re the best girlfriend ever,” Jameson moaned.

It’s amazing how comfortable I’d become with the word “girlfriend” in the past week. “I am, aren’t I?”

He spun me around to face him and I looked up into his smiling eyes. “So humble, too.”

I shrugged and wrapped my arms around his neck, tugging him down into a long kiss.

Pulling back, he asked, “How about I run down to the coffee shop and get some of those pastries you love so much?”

“God, you’re the best boyfriend ever,” I said, returning his words.

He pulled out of my arms and grabbed his keys and wallet from the granite counter. “Hey, do you want to ride together to King’s today for lunch?”

Frozen by his suggestion I just stood there, letting the implications of what us showing up to lunch together would mean. Was I ready to let my relationship with Jameson leave the bubble of my apartment or his?

“I mean … Do you want to let everyone know we’re dating?” I asked, hesitant to voice my concern.

His shoulders stiffened and he turned to me with lowered eyebrows. “Evelyn,” he said slowly. “I thought we talked about this. I thought we were in this. No holding back.”

Wringing my hands together in front of me, I bit my lip and took a deep breath. “I know. And I am in this. I wanted more time of just us.”

“Well, I’m not doing another lunch where I pretend I wasn’t inside you last night,” he responded irritably.

“Technically, it was this morning,” I murmured, ignoring the main point.

“Evelyn,” he growled.

“Okay, okay.” My hands lifted in surrender. “I’m sorry. This is new to me. But I am trying.”

He walked back to me and placed a kiss on my forehead. “I know. And I’m trying to be patient. We’ll figure it out. But we have to tell Lu before she finds out any other way.”

Sighing heavily, I leaned back on the counter. “Yeah. I know. She would murder me if she found out from anyone but me.”

“And I need you alive for all the naughty sex I have planned.”

His words erased the anxiety that was building in my chest and I smiled, imagining all the ways he would take me.

“Now, I’m going to go get the pastries and I’ll be back in ten.” With one last kiss, he walked out.

Once my coffee was done, I filled my cup and left the other waiting for Jameson. Leaning my back against the counter, I let the mug warm my hands and thought on the last week. I had a hard time imagining what my life was like before Jamaica. But I made the jump from one extreme to the other so seamlessly.

Sure, there were moments I still struggled to remember I had another person to consider. There had been a couple times in the week where I would grab my bag and keys and head to the door, forgetting Jameson was even in my apartment, until he popped his head out of the bathroom or kitchen to ask me where I was going. I would look up and need a minute to remind myself that it wasn’t just me and I needed to let someone else know of my whereabouts.

The first time it happened, he looked at me like I was crazy, and I had to admit, he might not have been far off the mark. The second time, he said he was going to tie me to the bed if I tried to walk out on him again. That conversation led to him actually tying me to the bed for sex.

And the sex. Whooo-boy. There was something I never thought would be better in a relationship. I always enjoyed variety and before Jameson, I thought I’d get bored being with only one man. But with being with one person for an extended period of time, you got to know them, and they got to know you; what you liked and what you really liked. Jameson was becoming an expert with my body. I trusted him to try new things that I’d never felt comfortable to do with anyone else.

Like being tied to a bed. You didn’t get tied to a bed with a stranger unless you had a friend in the closet with a baseball bat if things went bad. But I trusted Jameson. He was my family, so it seemed to happen overnight. And it made our sex that much more exciting and passionate.

I was interrupted from my thoughts when there was a knock on the door. Jameson had a set of keys to my apartment, but maybe his hands were full. I walked over and flung the door open, already talking. “Well it’s about damn time….” Time got drug out as my eyes bugged out of my head to find Luella standing on the other side of the door with two coffees in her hands.

She breezed right past me with a smile on her face, making herself at home like she always would. “Hey girl! Thought we could spend the morning together since you have been ignoring my lunch invitations.” I had. I didn’t know how to sit across from her and not tell her I was banging her brother. But I also didn’t want to tell her yet. I was being a pussy and hiding. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too. I’m sorry I hadn’t gotten back to you. I’ve just been busy.” I hedged around the truth.