Sunny Side Up - JJ Maybank

17

I told my friends something had come up and quickly hurried away from the Chateau, JJ following me at first put I heard Pope stop him.

I picked Flora up from Rafe's and waited all night for JJ to come home, but he never did. I realised what a difficult situation I'd put him in by not making us 'official' but also doing 'couple-y' things so I decided that when he came home I was going to bite the bullet and date him for real – if he still wanted me.

He came home a few nights later and I didn't ask where he'd been. I couldn't get a word out because he'd walked in so purposefully I'd been backed into the kitchen to hear what he had to say.

"I-I wanna take you on dates and kiss you in front of our friends and make you feel loved but I also wanna fuck the shit out of you until you're screaming my name and I don't know how to feel about it. I don't know what we are," he confessed; and any doubts I had about having a relationship with him disappeared when I realised how much he truly cared about me.

"JJ – I've been thinking, and I've decided I'm ready. I want to have a relationship with you and I trust you enough that even if we don't work out, you'll still be there for Flora," I started, wondering how he'd take it. What if he didn't even want a relationship with me and he just wanted to kiss me for the sake of it, in the heat of the moment?

"Nothing could get in the way of my love for Flora and we're adult enough to put her first if we breakup. But you've just made me the happiest guy I the world. I promise I will never break your heart."

"I-I haven't been with anyone in years. I'm new to all this. I've never even dated anyone before."

"Sunny you've known me forever. This is like a walk in the park for you. We can go slowly yeah, we've been practically dating for a while already; sleeping at your house, looking after Flora. Nothing has to change."

I knew what he was saying was true, I didn't trust anyone in the world more than JJ and I was ready to be in a relationship with him. Rafe and I were never dating and I'd been too scared to let a man get too close to me because I didn't want Flora to be confused; most of them were put off by me having a kid anyway.

"So uh, am I stuck on the sofa again or do I have bed privileges tonight?" he joked.

That night I fell asleep in his arms and realised that nothing much had to change between us.

JJ stayed true to his word about taking things slow, and even though I guess we were kind of officially dating now, we hadn't kissed since the night when he was drunk. We'd been sharing the same bed though and were practically wrapped around each other but I didn't know when would be a good time to kiss him again.

The perfect moment came when JJ was cooking dinner for us all and I was watching him; perched on the kitchen counter admiring his muscles while Flora was playing in her bedroom. He came over and stood between my legs, scooting my hips forward so my legs were trapping him against me.

"It's rude to stare," he teased, his lips dangerously close to me already. I leant in slowly with my eyes closed and felt him do the same, his hand cupping my cheek gently as our lips touched. It was cautious at first, but I pulled him closer and it got more passionate.

"God you don't know how many times I've wanted to kiss you and it to mean something," he confessed with a small smile.

"Me too," I admitted sheepishly.

He pulled me against his chest and I breathed in his familiar scent as he pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

"I'm gonna take good care of you and Flora, I promise."