Julian
Tuesday morning sunshinepoured in the window of my apartment, and somewhere out on Weaver Street, someone was ringing bells for Christmas donations, but here in my apartment, the only signs of life were my racing heart and the rasp of Daniel’s breath in myear.
“You know… silly me… when you said you wanted to take me out for coffee,” I paused for air and lolled my head against the refrigerator door, shivering when my naked back met chilly metal. “I sort of expected actualcoffee.”
“Did you?” Daniel licked at the side of my neck and splayed his big hands against the small of my back, pulling our messy stomachs more firmly together. “I thought this would be a more effective pick-me-up. Caffeine’ll kill ya, youknow?”
I shivered again, feeling my scrub pants slip another notch further down my thighs. “I definitely feelperkier.”
“Me too.” He sighed, a content sort of sound. “I’ve gotten used to starting the day thisway.”
“Three days and it’s a habit?” I said lightly, trailing my hands down his back and ignoring the way my quieting pulse wanted to kick back up at his words. Iwantedit to be a habit. I wanted him to get so addicted to me he’d never want to stop. “I would’ve come over last night, butsomeonesaid he wasbusy.”
That was the wrong thing to say, apparently, no matter how teasingly I’d tried to say it. Daniel pulled away without looking at me and reached for the jeans and underwear bunched around hisankles.
“Can I use your bathroom?” heasked.
A snarky retort was on the tip of my tongue.No way,I wanted to tell him,You can rush me up the stairs, push me against the refrigerator, and rub me off, but using my restroom is a hard no.But for the first time ever with Daniel, I held back. I had no idea how he’drespond.
“Yes. Sure. Of course,” I saidinstead.
“Great.Thanks.”
Weren’t wepolite?
When I heard my bathroom door close, I leaned back against the refrigerator and rubbed my hands over my face. I was standing in my kitchen with drying cum stuck to my stomach. I still had my sneakerson.
What the hell had been wrong with what Isaid?
I grabbed a paper towel and dampened it in the sink to clean myself off, then straightened my clothes, grabbing my shirts off the floor where one of us had thrown them. I picked up Daniel’s sweatshirt, too, and folded it neatly on the counter. Then I made tea for both ofus.
“So what’s on the agenda for the rest of your day?” Daniel said, coming back into the room wearing a smile so bright I had to blink to clear my vision. His chest was still naked, and the sunlight made the hair on his chest glow like he was some kind of Thor fantasy come tolife.
I cleared my throat and picked up my mug, blowing on the hotliquid.
“Oh, so much excitement. I’m booked solid for the rest of the day,actually.”
“Because of theholiday?”
“Partly,” I agreed. “Partly because people want to stare at me like an animal in the zoo. Partly because they’re hoping you’ll show up and we’ll start kissing in the waiting area.” The looky-loos were starting to piss me off, and it showed in myvoice.
Daniel grabbed his sweatshirt from the counter and threw it on. When his head emerged, he quirked an eyebrow at me. “You think they’re ready to seethat?”
I snorted. “Wanna go downstairs and findout?”
“Nope. Not even a little,” he said. And while there was nothing particularly insulting about that—I mean, he was joking, right? And I was, too. I wasn’t fourteen. I had no need to get all PDA-happy in front of the town—it stung anyway. Much like the stilted phone conversation I’d had with my mother over the weekend, where she’d apologized for her behavior at Thanksgiving, but claimed she’d only been looking out for me. Making sure I wasn’t making amistake.
I’d assured her I wasn’t. But I wasn’t sure of anything anymore. Daniel and I were physically closer than ever, but I couldn’t help feeling like he was pullingaway.
“Well,” I said, turning away and dumping my tea down the drain untouched, “sadlyIdo have to get backdownstairs.”
“Yeah, of course.” Daniel nodded. “See youtonight?”
I turned on the water to wash out my cup and hesitated. “There’s a planning meeting tonight. For the LightParade.”
“The LightParade.”
“You might have seen the fliers up around town.” Unless you were blind, you couldn’t miss them. “The name’s a little misleading, though. The lights don’t parade, the people parade to see the lights. All the shops in O’Leary set up displays. A bunch of businesses that don’t have storefronts on Weaver Street set up booths in the church parking lot.” I shrugged. “My mother’s on the committee, so I usually run the booth for the landscaping business while she runs around handling minor catastrophes.” I darted a glance behindme.
