“Good morning,” I said.
“You already said that.”
“Oh, well, in that case…”
I rolled her over in bed, and her giggles filled the room. I pressed kiss after kiss upon her cheek, down her neck, into her bosom and around her belly button. She spread her legs for me, and I caught a whiff of her womanhood. That beautiful morning scent that smelled a little too much like my own. I rested my chin on her stomach and looked up at her flushed skin, watching her breasts move with her laughter. She slid her hands through my hair, working out the knots she had left behind in her own wake from the night before.
“Good morning,” she said.
“You already said that.”
“Well, in that case…”
She tugged at my hair, pulling me up her body for a kiss. Our lips collided and she wrapped herself around me, her legs locking and her arms pulling tightly around my neck. I drew in a deep breath, surrounding myself with her. My forehead fell against hers and our lips fell apart, nothing but our breaths intermingling while she clung to my body.
“I could wake up like this every day,” she whispered.
“Then maybe you should.”
Her eyes widened at my words, and I slowly sat us up. I scooted to the edge of the bed, then planted my feet on the floor. I held her closely to me. Her cheek fell to my shoulder as I held her in my arms. The sunlight streaming through my bedroom window shimmered her olive skin, and I kissed the top of her head before I readied myself to speak.
“Look, I know it’s a little fast, but if you want to, you can move in with me,” I said.
She pressed a kiss into my shoulder before she stood. She held her hands out for me, and my eyes raked over her naked form, over the red marks I had left on her breasts and the welts that still appeared upon her shoulders. I swept over her curvy thighs and her thick breasts, her long, dark hair and her sparkling blue eyes. I took in the dip of her waist and the small lines of her toned stomach, which boasted of a strength underneath her soft, sun-kissed skin. I reached out and took her hands, allowing her to pull me to my feet. She reached down and picked up my shirt, then pulled it over her head and made her way to the bedroom door.
“Coffee, then ask again,” she said.
I shook my head before I pulled on a pair of flannel pajama pants and made my way into the kitchen. I found Ava fighting with the coffee maker and grabbed her shoulders. I maneuvered her over to the kitchen table and sat her down, then prepared each of us a cup of coffee to have during this conversation. While I knew it was too soon, I also knew it was something I wanted. And whenever Ava was ready to accept it, so was I.
“Okay. Run that by me again,” Ava said.
“I know it’s pretty soon, but if you want to move in with me, you can. We could wake up like this every morning, if that’s what you really want,” I said.
“Most guys would have chuckled and brushed it off.”
“I’m not most guys.”
“No. No, you’re not,” she said, smiling.
I took another sip of my coffee and watched as she contemplated my words.
“I do want to be with you, Logan.”
“I want to be with you as well.”
“And I miss you way too much whenever you’re not around.”
“I feel the same way. You know, I tried to go out and ‘be single,’ but all I thought about was you.”
“Oh really? I take it Hunter got you out for a drink or two?” she asked.
“He did. He even brought some girls over. But she didn’t even introduce herself before the urge to leave and go find you filled my gut.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself. Technically, we still haven’t defined what we are.”
“Do you want me to define it for you now?”
Her eyes met mine as I took another sip of my coffee, and I found she had completely abandoned hers to pay attention to the conversation.
“Okay,” Ava said.
“Here’s how I define us: You’re my woman, my confidant, my counterpart, my equal. You’re the one I want to call when I want to talk about my day. You’re the one I want to talk to whenever I have news. You’re the one I want to have my lunches with, in our little café in the middle of where we both work. You’re the one I want to dance with in the clubs and you’re the one I want at my side when Hunter calls my ass up to get a drink.”
She giggled and shook her head as she brought her coffee to her lips.