Prologue
Ciara stirred, waking to the sun warming
her face and naked bod-…naked? She jerked fully awake
and looked to the typically empty side of her bed. Blonde, naked, sprawled out,
half under the sheets, half out, Nick. He was still here. It was morning. Their
nights together had never ended up as mornings together before. It was just an
agreement they’d made a few years before. But here he was. Here she was.
She
sat up and ran a hand through her tangled hair, sighing at the memory of the
night. Now that she was more awake, her memory was more clear, more vivid,
more…man, was it hot in here? They had fallen asleep once, awoken once and
enjoyed a repeat performance of their initial love making. Love making. Hell
yes, it had been love making. To Nick. With Nick. Unbelievable.
Her
partner stirred slightly and she mindlessly started running her fingers through
his hair. He slept hot. His head was slightly damp and she let her hand trail
down his neck to the small beads of sweat laying there. “My sweet Nicky. What
have we done?”
His
eyes fluttered open at her voice and he turned over to face her, wordlessly
pulling her back down to snuggle in close. “’Morning, babe. I like your bed.”
“I
like you in my bed. Did you sleep good?” Oh yeah, she could get real used to
this.
“When
I slept, yeah.” He smoothed his hand over her hair and kissed her forehead
softly. “I like waking up with you, too.”
“Yeah.”
That was all she could say. She pulled him in close just wanting to feel his
body against hers. No sex, no love making, no funny games. Just warmth. Touch.
Him. Her.
He
felt it too. Not now. Not sex. Although morning sex was sometimes the best,
somehow it just might ruin the magic that still lingered in the air, clear the
cloudiness of the dream from which they had yet to awaken. Not now.
The
couple laid in one another’s arms listening to their breathing, running through
the previous night in their mind, wondering what to say, if anything. Then they
listened again, wondered again, smiled again.
Neither
knew how long they had been laying there. Neither cared. No work today. His
schedule was totally clear for a few weeks. It was her weekend off from the
hospital. But finally, the gurgle in her stomach started a giggling fit that
neither could stop. It actually sounded like the word, “food”.
“Fooooooooooooooooooddddddd!!!!!!!!”
He
didn’t say a word until it’s third announcement, afraid maybe he was hearing
things. She was grateful. He couldn’t stop the giggle though.
“Fooooooooooooooodddddddddddd!!!!!!!!!”
Maybe
he hadn’t heard it at all? Maybe he just liked to giggle in the morning.
Finally, he had to ask. “Um, Ciara…what the-??”
No
such luck. “Heh-heh. Me and my pet stomach.” She sat up flush-cheeked and
obviously hungry. “You hungry?”
“Not
THAT hungry. When did you acquire that little trick?” He peeked under the
covers to see if she had something hiding down there making the noise. It
surely couldn’t be HER!
She
smacked the sheet down and giggled. “Stop it! Since I was a kid. You’ve uh….”
She looked down at his beautiful face, suddenly silent again. It truly was
amazing that she’d never seen it in the light of the morning. Their trysts had
always been at night. Safe, one-night stands. Flirt. Fuck. Flee. Everything
else was friendship. It worked. Now someone, somehow had changed the rules.
Here he was with bed head, sex head, eye boogers, and one little sheet wrinkle
on his left cheek. He was gorgeous. “…you’ve never been here in the morning
before.”
“No,
I guess I haven’t. Well, do we feed that thing or just let it talk to us?”
“My
vote is to feed it. Where we goin’? I don’t cook before
“Um,
Ci…it’s
“Well,
hell. That explains a lot. Okay, off to the showers. We need to get moving.”
She
slid to the edge of the bed, suddenly embarrassed at her nakedness. She turned
back to her lover and smiled. “Nick?”
“Mmmmm?
You’re beautiful in the morning, you know that?”
“Stop.
Thank you. I’m trying to be serious. Don’t flirt with me now.”
“Oh.
Sorry.” He sat up and ran his finger under the sheet she had tightly wrapped
around her waist.
“Foooooooooooooooooddddddddddddddddd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Finally,
he laughed out loud, falling back on the bed. “My God, woman, let’s get in the
shower and go feed it. I’m afraid it’s gonna jump out and hurt me.” He hopped
out of bed, totally mindless of his own nakedness and grabbed her by the hand.
“Come on. Wash me.”
***
