Parking the car, I unbuckle my seatbelt as I chuckle. “Surprise!”
For as long as I’ve known Nelly, she’s been ahugeanimal lover. Like, massive. Every road trip we went on, she insisted we found some sort of zoo or wildlife excursion along the way. The summer after we graduated high school, her parents and mine paid for a trip to Africa for the both of us as a grad present so we could go on one of the safari tours. It was a dream come true for her and watching her take in all the animals was incredible.
When I found this place, I knew it was the perfect spot for a pick-me-up. The Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium is a little out of the way for us, but not by much.
Buying our tickets, we get a map of the grounds, which Nelly takes and examines immediately. “They have snow leopards!” she exclaims. “Oh my gosh, and cheetahs!”
There isn’t much else Nelly loves more in this world than large cats. Well, cats in general. She’d own a big cat rescue if she could.
We spend the next several hours exploring every single inch of this place. There’s a train ride that takes us through the safari, we meander our way through the aquarium, feed the giraffes, and even get to hold the sloths. We stay until the place closes at six p.m., and my chest warms, knowing that it did wonders in lifting Nelly’s spirits.
The frown that’s been ever-present on her face since I picked her up and the concerned wrinkles between her brows are nowhere to be seen. I know, without a doubt, I made a good call bringing her here. We grab a bite to eat once we leave the zoo before hitting the road again. It’s just over another five hours until we make it back to my house. Nelly passes out about two hours from home, so the rest of the drive is spent alone with my thoughts and the soft music filtering through the car stereo.
I’m still no less confused about where we go from here but, thankfully, I don’t have to deal with it tonight. By the time we pull into the parking garage at my condo, it’s close to midnight, so we both bring our stuff upstairs and slide into my bed, passing out almost immediately.
Chapter Ten
Wren Carlisle
I’m awake before Nelly the next morning. It’s not surprising; I’m an early bird, and I always have been. Most days, I’m up before the sun. It’s the one time of day when the world is quiet, and I can get everything done before the hustle and bustle begins. Living in California is fast-paced and chaotic, especially in southern California. The early mornings are when I can read without interruption, get a few miles in on the treadmill, drink a cup of coffee on the balcony while watching the sun rise and listening to the bird’s chirp.
There’s something so peaceful and still about the world before it fully wakes up. It’s my favorite time of the day.
At some point in the middle of the night, Nelly and I gravitated toward one another. I woke up with our legs intertwined and her head resting on my chest. It pained me to remove her from me, but my bladder was screaming, so I had no choice. Now, I’m lying beside her with my head propped on my arm, watching her like a creep while she sleeps.
Her blonde hair is long and wavy, sprawled all around her like a halo, and she’s in nothing but a ribbed white tank top and a pair of mint green booty shorts. The sunlight is pouring in through my curtains that I forgot to close before I left for Illinois, splashing her smooth, pale skin in an amber glow. She’s absolutely beautiful. Truly, inside and out, a stunning human.
In my mind, I would push the hair away from her shoulder, lean in and brush my lips against her neck, knowing it would smell faintly like peaches and her natural scent. Her body would shiver beneath my touch, goosebumps blossoming. Her breathing would pick up as her eyelids would flutter open. I would undress her slowly, making sure to show every inch of her body love. Peppering kisses all over, fingers massaging and rubbing. What it would feel like to get to worship her body the way it deserves to be.
Too bad it’ll never happen. Shaking the thoughts from my head, because they have no business being there, I climb out of bed, deciding to get breakfast started. We’ve eaten nothing but convenience store snacks and fast food for the last four days. A home-cooked meal sounds fucking perfect.
About halfway through making the French toast, bacon, and scrambled eggs with cheese, Nelly ambles on out of the bedroom, yawning and running her fingers through her unruly mane. There’s a crease mark from the pillow on the left side of her face and the temperature in the house has her nipples hard through her small white tank. I try not to look, but fail.
“Morning,” I mutter, reaching into the cabinet for a couple of plates.
“Morning.” Her voice is thick with sleep. Slightly raspy, and so fucking sexy. “How long have you been up?”
“A couple hours.”
Jordan Davis’sWhat My World Spins Aroundplays softly around the house, and my hips sway with the beat as I flip the bacon, the smell filling the space, making my stomach grumble. Nelly steps into the kitchen, hoisting herself onto the counter beside the stove, pulling her hair into a bun on the top of her head. She plucks a piece of bacon that’s already done off the plate, breaking off a piece and popping it into her mouth.
“What are we doing today?” she asks once she’s finished chewing.
Glancing over at her, I shrug. “What do you want to do?”
“Get drunk,” she says, laughter bubbling out of her, which in turn makes me chuckle.
“Alright, we can do that.”
“Really? You don’t have anything you have to do today? I don’t want to interrupt your day-to-day by being here.”
“You aren’t interrupting. I told my clients I was out the rest of the week, so we’re good.”
She smiles, lighting up her whole face. “Okay, cool. Let’s do it.”
After breakfast, we crank the music, taking showers before getting ready. We have to run to the store to grab some liquor, but luckily, there’s one not that far from my house, so we can walk. It’s a nice day; the sun is high and warm, and my condo is close enough to the beach, the smell of saltwater strong in the air. I love it.
I moved here almost two years ago, right when they were finished being built. The beach has always been my happy place, and it was a dream of mine to live right on it, or at least within walking distance. My balcony has a beautiful view of the Pacific, and I can’t count how many evenings have been spent sitting out there with a drink in hand, watching the sunset.
