“Wow,” I said, shaking my head.
“A.C. feels good, doesn’t it?” he asked, shooting me a teasing smile.
I had to admit that it did. Especially after such a rough day.
“Oh, is that a dog?” I asked, feeling my heart squeeze as we walked past a round, fluffy bed where a dog was curled up in a ball.
“That’s Sal. Jude and Delaney’s dog. I was kind of surprised you didn’t have more animals at your homestead,” he told me as he carried me through the common area.
“Pets mean vets and licenses and all the stuff I couldn’t do,” I told him.
“Don’t,” Crow said, voice tense when I reached my good hand out toward a cat that was standing on the back of the couch. “That’s Devil Cat. He’s nasty.”
“Gee, with such a sweet, loving name?” I teased.
“He actually just hates women. He’s a ham around the guys.”
“You guys need anything?” the guy named Coach asked as he tucked a book under his arm, looking like he was ready to go read in bed before crashing.
“Nah, man. I got this. Good job cleaning up,” Crow said, leading me down a small hall where he kind of balanced me on his leg so he could pull up the wooden gate to an elevator.
“Freight?” I asked, shaking my head. “I feel like I should be insulted.”
“It’s the only elevator we’ve got,” he told me, smile warm as we rode up. “Right here is the bathroom,” he told me, kind of waving my whole body at the open door. “Right across from my room,” he added. “When you’re feeling up to it, there’s a soaking tub in there,” he said. “And running water. With pressure.”
“Stop talking dirty to me,” I said, getting a chuckle out of him as he nudged his bedroom door open.
It was very, well, him.
I don’t know what I was expecting.
From my limited experience being in men’s bedrooms in my life, I always found them oddly impersonal, despite the person sometimes living there years. Random beer cans scattered, a too-big TV, a bed without a frame, and tacky posters taped to the wall.
But Crow’s space was very mature and representative of him, it seemed.
First, thankfully, the man realized how important a bed frame was. And even had nice bedding too. The man even had a rug under his bed. A big one that took up a nice chunk of the space in a bold red, black, blue, and white pattern. The walls were white but there was some mixed artwork that looked to be original canvases, not prints. He even had a shelf full of different trinkets. Maybe from places he’d visited.
“This suits you,” I decided, looking around the space and he walked me over to the bed, again balancing me on his knee as he pulled the blankets down, then set me into them.
“Wouldn’t object to you sleeping naked like usual,” he said, giving me a warm smile.
“Are you kidding? It’s freezing in here. I’m excited to be under the blankets.”
“Well, you could be under the blankets naked,” he said. “Doctor said you had to take it easy, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the feel of you against me,” he added.
“That’s going to be hard. Taking it easy,” I told him.
“You that addicted to my cock already, huh?” he asked, getting a laugh out of me.
“I actually meant that I’m used to being up and active. But, yes, yes I am,” I admitted. There was no reason to deny it. I was insatiable with him. He damn well knew that.
“Fuck, it’s gonna be a long week.”
“Dr. Price said three days.”
“Well, we are going to be extra careful.”
I didn’t tell him that that actually kind of worked out for me, cycle-wise. The tell-tale ache in my core was a day or two ahead of time warning, making me realize I needed to make friends with Delaney quickly to get her to bring me some girlie supplies.
Did I think your man should be mature enough to get those for you? Yes, yes, I did. But things with Crow were new. I didn’t think we were necessarily at the ‘Do you mind going to grab me a menstrual cup at the store’ place yet.
“Alright. So. Water?” he asked. “We might have tea. Think Dell drinks it sometimes.”
“Both?” I asked.
“Honey in your tea?”
“If you have sugar…”
“Got it,” he said, leaning down to press a kiss to my forehead before moving out.
I listened as he made his way down in the freight elevator. So when I heard more footsteps in the hall that stopped outside of the door, I felt myself tense up.
There was a light knock. A feminine one, even.
“Yeah?” I called, watching as the door tentatively opened to a pretty blonde girl with a familiar dog at her feet.
“Hey, sorry. I know you probably don’t want any company. But the thing is, Sal smelled a stranger. And if he doesn’t come to say hi, he will cry nonstop. If you don’t like dogs—“