Comfortable was an understatement here.
Warmth. Safety. Comfort. She was experiencing all of it and didn’t want to move. Like, ever. At the same time, she felt Nugget get up and pick his steps carefully until he was standing near her chest and touched his nose to hers.
“Oh, hey,” she whispered to him, and he bumped her chin with his head. He meowed once to let her know it was time for breakfast, and she didn’t want him to wake Cherry up, so she carefully slipped out from under her arm and then from under the sheets and stood, surprised and proud of herself for having managed such a feat.
Still naked, she grabbed a pair of joggers and an Old Navy T-shirt, dressed quickly, grabbed her phone, and herded Nugget out of the bedroom, closing the door behind them.
Spring in Upstate New York could be hit or miss, especially in the beginning. But it was already shaping up to be a beautiful day. Themorning sky was a bright blue, white wisps the only signs of clouds. Out the living room window, she could see where Mrs. Carver, the woman who lived below her, had recently filled up her bird feeder. Chickadees sang happily as they ate, and a gang of sparrows were on the ground, cleaning up the leftovers, along with a pair of hefty gray squirrels. She lifted the window and watched for a moment, enjoying their cheer, and wondered if Nugget would want to sit on the windowsill later to stare at them. Or would that just be mean?
With a shrug, she headed into the kitchen to get him his food.
She set his bowl on the floor, filled the Keurig with water, and gave her phone a quick check, scanning the overnight report Hearts and Hands texted each morning. As usual, Michaela’s night had been uneventful. Even though that had been the case every morning since settling her sister in, Ellis always had a brief moment of worry when she clicked open the text. It was a little silly, but it was regular.
“Morning,” came a very sleepy voice from the bedroom doorway. Cherry stood there in a pair of Ellis’s gym shorts and a white Nike T-shirt that was worn so thin, it left zero to the imagination, Cherry’s nipples clearly visible. And giving her their own good morning greeting.
“Well, hello there. Coffee?” She tried unsuccessfully to keep her eyes off Cherry’s breasts and got caught.
“Are you ogling me, ma’am?”
“I’m afraid I am, yes.” Ellis grinned as she pulled two mugs from the cabinet.
“Maybe if you had shirts that were made of something more than tissue paper…”
“Maybe I very strategically placed that shirt where I knew you’d grab it. You don’t know.”
Cherry laughed and crossed the room—which only took a few steps, honestly—and came up behind Ellis as she popped a K-Cup in and hit the button. Wrapping her arms around Ellis’s body, she pressed a kiss into her neck and squeezed her gently. “Good morning again.”
Something about being hugged from behind, something about feeling Cherry’s entire body up against hers, it did things to her. Sexy things. She turned in Cherry’s arms and kissed her soundly on the mouth, which, of course, called up many, many happy details from the night before, and in less than a second or two, they were kissing deeply,Ellis pushing Cherry up against the counter and bracing her hands on either side of her.
The coffee maker beeped its conclusion, and they pulled apart slowly, staying close enough that the tips of their noses brushed. “Last night was amazing,” Cherry whispered.
“I wholeheartedly agree with that,” Ellis said back and kissed her once more before reaching to switch out the coffee cups. She handed the full one to Cherry. “You have some time today? What should we do? Brunch?”
“Oh my God, I love brunch. Yes, please. Except…” Cherry looked down at herself. “I’ll have to go home and change. Can we meet there?”
“Where?”
“Wherever brunch is?”
They took their coffee to the couch, and Ellis tried not to think about how completely normal, how utterly natural it felt to spend the morning drinking coffee and listening to the birds with Cherry. It was like they did it all the time. Like they’d already done it a hundred mornings.
Nugget sat on the windowsill chittering at the birds down below. “He doesn’t seem agitated,” Cherry said, tipping her head and watching the cat. “It’s more like he’s just…talking to them.”
“Right? I was wondering if he’d, I don’t know, claw the screen or shriek at them or something.”
“Shriek at them? You haven’t had many cats, have you?” Cherry’s grin was teasing.
“Just the one,” Ellis said, smiling back.
Cherry’s phone pinged, and she picked it up from the coffee table and read the text. Her eyebrows knit into a V above her nose. She typed back quickly, then set the phone down.
“Everything okay?”
“Mm-hmm.” Cherry nodded once. “Just Shea.”
“Ah.” She was lying. Ellis knew it. She wasn’t sure how she knew it, but she did. She gave it five seconds to bug her, then decided she’d let it go. Cherry didn’t owe her explanations for anything.
“How about we go to Carlson’s for brunch?” Cherry’s face lit up as she spoke. “They have bottomless mimosas.”
