Years in the Making

Chapter 12

It must have been a dream. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Becky was certain she couldn't have had sex with Seth last night. There was her nightstand drawer still on the floor, its contents still strewn all over. Amidst the rumpled sheets on her bed were remnants of condom wrappers, glinting in the sunlight like little stars. Her jaw ached from so much kissing and sucking and biting, and her hips protested when she tried to turn onto her side. There wasn't a more logical explanation for her current state, but that didn't make it any more believable for one simple reason.

Seth wasn't there.

Not in her bed, not in her en suite. When she felt the mattress on either side of her, it was cool to the touch; there was no light creeping under her door. Maybe he left, she thought. The notion conjured an ache that lacked the sweetness of her sore hips and tender thighs. What's the sex equivalent of 'dine and dash'? Fuck and flee?

She couldn't blame him if he had second thoughts. When she had first kissed him way back at the Royal Rumble, part of her had regretted it immediately. She was sure Seth had been enthusiastic yesterday, but maybe the light of day had changed his mind. With a sigh, she flopped back against the pillows. Well. At least now I know. The sex had been amazing, but that wasn't enough to make a relationship work. Maybe now that she knew that in no uncertain terms, she would finally be able to shake the last tatters of her fixation and move on....

A tinny clatter made Becky tense up, and she had to wait a moment for her muscles to unclench before she could push the covers back and start to look for her shirt. "Nothing broke!" The voice was sleepy but cheery—and undeniably Seth's.

The double reassurance—Seth was still there and, apparently, nothing broke—helped Becky's heartbeat settle down a bit and she flopped back against the pillows. Now there was just a whole new set of worries to entertain. Sure, Seth was still there, but had he been trying to make a stealthy getaway and ran into something? There was enough sunlight that he wouldn't be able to blame the darkness.

Becky was still deciding whether she was brave enough to get out of bed and see what was going on when the bedroom door opened, revealing Seth carrying a tray; the steam rising from the cup caught the light from the hallway. I have a tray? Becky thought as she struggled to sit up. She vaguely remembered Natalya giving her a housewarming present when she and Luke were getting serious, but Becky thought she had given that away years ago. Apparently not.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Seth handed her two flowers. "Before they fall off again," he said sheepishly. "I was trying to get everything ready before you woke up, but the delivery got here earlier than I expected and then a pan fell when I was getting the tray and—"

Grabbing a handful of his sleep-mussed hair, Becky pulled Seth closer and kissed him. So much for moving on, she chided herself. It was the tray that did it. The flowers were a nice touch, and years down the road, she would probably still remember the type and colour. Coffee was always appreciated and though she barely recognized the mug—Is that a flamingo? she thought hazily as Seth broke the kiss briefly to set the tray safely on the bedside table—she appreciated that he had transferred the coffee into a cup that would keep it warmer. But the tray meant he wanted to surprise her—that he was coming back, that there was more to come. You don't deliver coffee on a tray to a one-time fuck, do you? "Thank you," she murmured when they both sat back.

Seth reached down and handed over her shirt. "You thought I left, didn't you?" His tone wasn't mocking or cruel; there was a thread of disappointment in it that Becky wanted to pull on until it unravelled.

"Maybe." She quickly shrugged into her shirt. If this was going to lead to an awkward goodbye, she wanted to be at least partially clothed. "I mean, back at the Rumble, you were pretty adamant...."

"I don't want to fuck things up again," he said simply. "Especially not with you. We're good friends—great friends." Then he leaned in to kiss her again, letting a hand drift up her thigh. "And we're definitely good at... this. Who's to say we won't be good at the stuff in between?"

Becky's cheeks were on fire, but it was hardly the only part of her that was heating up. "I think most people do the first-date thing before the all-night-long sex thing."

Seth merely shrugged. "Most people don't know each other for over six years before they have a first date, do they? We're just doing things a bit out of order, that's all." He pulled Becky onto his lap and started kissing her again.

"I thought we were doing breakfast," Becky replied, taking a sharp breath when Seth slid a hand up her shirt. "There's that coffee waiting for me and some... toast?" She tried to look back at the nightstand, but Seth tilted her face back to his.

"I'll order another breakfast," he murmured, tugging her shirt over her head and tossing it to the side. "With all the toast you want."

"Order?" Becky echoed, wrapping her arms around his neck. "We could go out. It could be our first date." When Seth pulled her closer, she gave his hair a gentle tug. "Unless you don't want to be seen in public with me...."

Seth squeezed her ass hard enough to make her yelp. "Maybe I just don't feel like sharing you today. Did you consider that?" After a long kiss, he added, "Plus we should talk about what we're going to tell people. And I'd rather do that on a full stomach." Then he laughed. "And it was dark last night, so...."

Becky chuckled. "I don't think you had any problems seeing." As she kissed him again, she freed one hand and started feeling the sheets around them, hoping to happen upon an unopened condom wrapper. "Did we use them all?"

Seth glanced down and laughed. "I didn't have that many with me. I was... hopeful, but I didn't want to be presumptuous." Wrapping an arm around Becky's waist, he leaned to the side and looked at the mess strewn across the carpet. "I think I see one down there." With a rueful chuckle, he added, "I think I stepped on something and broke it. A pen, maybe? It sounded plastic."

"Don't worry about it." Becky reluctantly slid off his lap and went to the foot of the bed, trying to circle around the mess so she didn't step on anything. After gently nudging her vibrator under the bed, she knelt and swept her hands through the mess until she found some unopened condoms. She quickly checked the expiry date and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was good before tossing a condom to Seth. "Not your brand, but...."

Seth was already unwrapping it when Becky stood up. "Don't care." Then he chuckled softly. "Unless you really want that breakfast...."

Becky glanced at the still-steaming coffee and the plate of toast, the carved tray she had forgotten about completely. "I've seen better toast. There's a place a few blocks over that bakes their bread in-house and they have amazing coffee too—"

"Do they deliver?" Seth reached across the bed and tried to grab her wrist.

Our first agreement, Becky thought with a laugh as she picked up the tray and set it on her dresser—safe from any sudden movements on the bed. "They do." She tiptoed around the mess on the floor and hopped up on the bed.

"Perfect. You'll order, I'll pay." Seth pulled her back onto his lap. "Although we have to make it lunch."

Becky grinned as she started to push down his shorts. "A late lunch."