The Next Best Thing: Part II

Forty-Three

Warm, shallow breathes escaping from his mouth tickled the hairs on the back of my neck, his arms clutching my waist still as he lay asleep next to me, beautiful and vulnerable in his slumber. I was falling in love with this man, this amazing man that made me feel so much again. Feel love, crazy, stupid love again.

He stirred a little, edging closer to me and never letting go of me. I positioned my body so that I was facing him, and I parted swathes of his hair from his face with a tender delicacy, making sure not to wake him. I took advantage of his temporary incapacitation to study his face - that scar still bothered me. I ran a finger over the crescent shaped discoloration over his eyebrow, trying to decipher where it came from and the story behind it, the story he kept mum about.

Maybe it was from a bar fight? But Eoin wasn't the fighting in a bar type: too dignified and polite to even engage in a heated argument.

Motorcycle accident? Did he even own a motorcycle? There were still many things I didn't know about him, so anything was possible.

"Boarding school," he answered sleepily. "A few years in, I was attacked by two senior boys, one of them Imogen's boyfriend. He wanted to sleep with my fifteen year old sister, I intervened, and they beat me into a coma."

I imagined him in a hospital room,  his face bruised and swollen, his arm in a sling and his head wrapped like a turban, only in a multitude of bandages. It was a scary thought.

"It was worth it though. I saved her from making the biggest mistake of her life, and coincidentally she met Ronan only a few months later. They've been inseparable ever since." I sat up and stroked his face, silently admiring his bravery and just how much he valued family. Each waking day, I fell a little bit more in love with him.

"My hero," I whispered sheepishly, lightly kissing his soft lips. 

"For how long were you staring at me, Zoe?" he asked, curious and intrigued.

"Long enough to know that you smile in your sleep. So adorable, I must say."

"Only when I share the bed of a beautiful woman such as yourself," he grinned with a smart comeback.

"Oh, do you say that to all the girls?"

"Maybe," he smirked, leaning over to bless me with a full blown kiss. "Good morning, beautiful. I hope you feel better today?"

I felt a million times better immediately after he passionately kissed me. I wished to wake up to him and his enchanting gaze, making me feel like the only girl in the world. When I was with him,  I was the only girl in the world. And because we had not yet consummated our relationship, everything was all so special and I was getting to know him as a person first. The sex could definitely wait for now.

"I'm glad we decided to wait," I said,  breaking the comfortable silence that had settled around us. "I've enjoyed getting to know you, with all our clothes on. Thank you, Eoin."

"I have too, but it's not easy being so close to you and having to restrain myself. You're so sexy, and I want to make you feel appreciated," he replied in a whisper.

But he did, all the time. And I made sure he understood that.

"Is it bad that I'm just really curious?"

"Not at all."

He moved onto me and cradled my body, the way he had when he asked me if we could take it slow. Smattering kisses down my neck and across my bare chest, not hidden by the towel acting as our protection from each other, he talked me through it.

"This is how I would feel on top of you. As you can probably tell, my body already wants to explore yours."

He lifted my unhurt leg and kissed the inside of my thigh, snaking down my leg to my calf. 

"I'd torture you with mind numbing foreplay and make your head spin around before even taking off my clothes."

Then he removed his shirt, and my hands subconsciously moved to feel his torso.

Perfection.

"The rest will depend on how easily and quickly you fall apart," he finished, coming back up to face me.  "Did that satisfy your curiosity?"

...

We were kissing, still in bed, our bodies a fraction of a hair apart but spiritually so much closer than ever. His hand gripped my jaw, my hands gripping his matted hair. He mistakenly bit my lip and I giggled, a wide smile opening up my mouth further for him.

He grinned back, and I held on to the warm, fuzzy, happy feeling making me blush like a giddy teenage girl. I was full of elation and excitement, unable to fathom how beautiful and natural everything was and would be for us.

Soon after, he descended downstairs to get some coffee going for the two of us, and I took this opportunity to slink into the shower. It was difficult on my hurt ankle, and I had to lean against the tiled walls for the most part. He returned as I was dressing up,  covering his eyes when he took in my underwear clad person attempting to put on a pair of jeans. "I didn't see anything I shouldn't have," he began immediately, giving me some privacy by turning his back to me. 

I walked over to him and stood before him,  still in my bra and panties peaking out of my pants.  He'd seen this, me, before and I didn't mind if he saw anything, everything. "It wouldn't be the first time, Eoin. I'm hoping it's not the last?" I asked, seeing as I was heeding to his suggestion of being celibate.

"I wouldn't want it to be."

His hand moved impulsively to my waist, and I didn't resist the urge to fall into his arms. Gazing longingly at him, I pecked his forehead with a long, sweet kiss and broke away to put on a shirt. 

"I was thinking we should go somewhere for breakfast," he began. "How does that sound?"

"Sounds good."

We descended into a corner street cafe a few blocks away from the brownstone, strolling carefully down the pavement hand-in-hand and very much a couple. He offered to carry me on his back but I objected, what with strolling being so much more romantic. Our waitress was a perky middle-aged Bostonian who was immediately enamoured with Eoin in the most polite way possible.

Eoin, poster boy for impeccable manners, reciprocated with pretty smiles, genuine giggles and nice compliments. I was enjoying their back and forth, which under normal circumstances I would be annoyed by - Eoin was Eoin,  and I had gotten used to the attention that always seemed to follow him.

Breakfast was typical delicious all-American food: pancakes, maple syrup, bacon, scrambled eggs with a side of extra bacon and loads of coffee. I loved it, and so did he. 
We sat by the windows overlooking the busy NYC tree-lined streets, watching the cars disappear and reappear in the haze of green, before finally being swallowed up into the typical city traffic. We talked about nothing and everything, we laughed heartily and kissed timidly, and we lost ourselves in the beauty of the wintry morning.

Then I had to head back home and he had to return to his hectic schedule. He dropped me off at the door, delivering me to an expectant Min surprised by my early arrival. Again he kissed me, but for the first time in front of someone we both knew, and again I kissed him back, hard and long.

"Goodbye, baby."

"Bye,  Eoin."