Once inside, I kissed him again. "Is this good night?"
Even in the dim light, his blush was evident. “I don’t want to sleep alone, if that’s what you’re asking.”
I grinned, the butterflies exploding in my stomach underscoring my nervousness. “Are you sure?”
“I am.”
I exhaled in a relieved rush. "In that case, I guess we should get some sleep. That roof isn’t going to repair itself."
Soon, we were in bed, Emery curled against me, one arm slung across my chest. I found myself listening to his soft breathing, enjoying the solid press of his body and his warmth, and it pulled me under in just minutes. I woke with Emery still in my arms. He stirred soon after, groaning as he shifted around.
"Morning," I murmured.
He froze for a moment before relaxing back into my touch. "Morning."
"Everything okay?"
When he looked at me, his eyes were soft, matching the little smile on his face. "Yeah. I just forgot where we were for a second."
I nodded. “Understood."
He snuggled in and hummed softly. "We could just stay like this all day."
I chuckled. “Nice try, but I have a roof to repair."
He shrugged. "It’s tarped up. That’s good enough, right?"
“I don’t think that would fly for long.”
A deep sigh escaped him as he pulled away. Instantly, I ached for him. "Fine," he said. "Have it your way."
We got up and ready for the day and as I was downing a third bowl of cereal, Emery cleared his throat.
"So, do you think you’ll need my help today?"
I frowned, brows dipping. "You have something better to do?"
"I thought I’d get some things done inside. I need to do a lot of laundry to get the other bedrooms back online. I thought I might be more useful doing that than…" He pointed to the ceiling.
"Fair. Do you want to come to the hardware store to pick up supplies, or stay here and live out your domestic dreams?"
He laughed. "Fuck you. I’ll come along."
By late morning, I was on the roof, ripping up damaged shingles while Emery was inside doing whatever it was he needed to do. It was a good opportunity to breathe, to think without him around, without the temptation of his body to distract me. As I pried up shingles, I let my mind wander, replaying the last few days. I’dkissed Emery. I’d liked it a lot more than I ever imagined I could. And I was curious about taking things further. I couldn’t help but wonder if it would be weird… Touching, tasting, maybe eventakinganother man’s cock. I wasn’t sure I was ready for any of it.
The more I thought about it, the surer I was that I at least wanted totry. I wanted to explore, to push past what I knew. I’d kissed him because I’d felt an undeniable pull between us, something I’d never felt with him before. I wanted to learn more about that pull. Worst-case scenario, one of us didn’t like it and we’d go back to being friends. It would be fine. Probably.
I tried to stay focused on the roof, working mostly on muscle memory as I let my mind wander, thinking about Emery and his body.
***
Emery
While Mason worked on the roof, I cranked the music and grabbed a broom. It didn’t take long for me to get into a groove and soon, I was sweeping the kitchen and rocking out, singing and dancing along to a high-energy tune blasting from my phone, safely in my pocket. It was nice to be making progress on the house, and the satisfaction I got from seeing the floors getcleaner and cleaner was worth the effort. Once I’d finished in the kitchen, I moved on to the living room before heading into the bathrooms and bedrooms to do the same.
Sweeping complete, I put the broom aside and moved on to scrubbing the kitchen thoroughly, using a bowl of warm, soapy water and a sponge to scrub the surfaces of the counters and table, clean off cabinets, anywhere I thought would benefit from at least a wipe down. I bopped around, putting things where they belonged as much as possible without getting sidetracked. The cabin had been left somewhat tidy in the fall when we’d packed up and headed home for the last time, but there was always room for improvement, especially post-tree.
I stood back and took a deep breath, proud of my work. Mason had to be making progress of his own, based on the clatter I heard from above as he worked on ripping shingles from the roof. I took a few minutes to strip the beds—the ones we’d put in the living room for safekeeping—and then I made my way to the laundry room, throwing the bed linens in the wash and putting a load of towels into the dryer. Once the machine was running, I rummaged around in a cabinet until I found a bucket and a mop.
