That said, as I drifted off to sleep with Colson's arms around me, his chest rising and falling beneath me, I went ahead and let myself dream just a little bit.FOURTEENColsonWe woke up in a tangle of limbs.
It was something I honestly didn't ever recall waking up to before.
Sex had never been an overnight kind of thing for me in the past.
Sure, I'd woken up with Eva several times at this point, but this time was different.
Honestly, I never understood the hype about sex before. Yeah, in the moment, it was great. Everyone got off. But afterward, it always just felt hollow.
I guess because, in the past, the experience had always been empty, soulless.
That was not the case with Eva.
Being with her wasn't just about both of us getting off—though we did, and hard—but it was almost as though it was an extension of feelings we'd already been building.
Cheesy? Maybe. But also true.
Waking up with her like this was unexpectedly nice. I could get used to it. I wanted to get used to it.
"Nope, not yet," Eva grumbled, feeling me start to shift. "You're warm. And we only got a couple hours. Besides," she went on, turning her head to look up at me, "my thighs don't seem to be hurting as much this morning," she said, smile devilish.
"No? Well, we should do something about that then," I said, hands starting to slide down her back, heading for her ass. What can I say? I was fond of that particular feature of hers.
"Hey, are you guys done screwing yet?" a voice called through the door. "Because the boy-child is waking up. And the girl-child is on her way to be dropped off. We don't want them to be scarred for life by hearing their parents bumping uglies."
"Who the hell is that?" Eva asked, eyes going round.
"That would be Gus," I told her, smiling. "That's West's spitfire. And also Huck's pain in the ass baby sister."
"Oh, right. Ashley said she would be coming."
"We'll be right out, Gus," I called, patting Eva's ass before she climbed up off of me, eyes regretful.
"There'll be time for that later," I promised her as I climbed off the bed, fetching my boxers and tee.
"You're heading over to your place." It wasn't a question.
"To grab some clothes, definitely."
"Jelly will want to be home."
"That depends."
"On?"
"If you happen to have syrup in the house," I told her as she pulled a sweatshirt on, reaching in her dresser drawer for panties." She will want to be here if we are making French toast. I have the bread, but am out of syrup."
"What kind of self-respecting pantry runs out of syrup?" she asked, giving me a judgmental shake of her head. "That would be like running out of potato chips."
"Or Cosmic Brownies?" I added, watching as she turned back, clutching her chest.
"Don't even joke about that. The heavens would weep. I would weep!" she said dramatically, breaking off to a girlish giggle. "I make some mean French toast," she told me. "And I can raise you some killer homemade hash browns to go with it."
"It's a deal," I told her reaching for her chin only to have her twist away.
"You're hot and all, but not hot enough to make me forget about having morning breath," she told me, eyes dancing as she moved into her bathroom.
"Alright. I will be back. Fresh breath and all," I told her.
"Oh yeah, that's right, talk dirty to me," she said, fanning herself with her hand.
"I might even floss," I quipped.
"Oh, you filthy beast. Get out of here before I rip those clothes back off again," she teased, giving me another of those giggles before closing the bathroom door.
I stood there for a long moment, smiling goofily at the closed door.
That right there was one hell of a woman. To handle all the shit she did in her life, and still be able to smile and laugh and joke around, that was really fucking incredible.
I had the strange urge to protect it at all costs.
On that very new thought, I turned and made my way out to find Gus standing in the hall, leaning against the wall as Jacob came walking out of his room, eyes bleary.
"Who are you?" he grumbled, rubbing his eyes.
"Ah, the tooth fairy?" Gus said.
"He's a teenager, Gus," I told her, smiling.
"Oh, how am I supposed to know when they stop believing in made-up shit? Does he still believe in trickle-down economics?" she asked.
"You're Huck's sister," Jacob surmised.
"Ew," she said, wrinkling her nose at him. "I thought I got away from everyone knowing who I was by my relation to Huck by moving out of Florida."
"Who are you kidding, Gus? Everyone knows Huck because of your wild-ass reputation," I told her, getting a smirk.
"Well, when you're right, you're right. Alright. I have to do Maeve's makeup," she said, turning to go into Eva's mother's room.