KOTLC After Stellarlune-A Sokeefe Story

Learning

Sophie awoke the next morning and was almost afraid to open her eyes. What if yesterday, what if last night had just been a dream?

But no. She could tell it was real. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel Keefe lying next to her, feel his chest rising and falling rhythmically as he breathed, still asleep. She could feel his heartbeat against her cheek, since she'd finally fallen asleep with her head on his chest.

His very bare chest. She finally opened her eyes and lifted up enough to look at Keefe. She smiled, mind full of everything they had said and done last night.

Things that had definitely been worth waiting for.

But she was also very glad the waiting was over.

Keefe's eyes fluttered open and an amused smile played on his lips. "Good morning, Foster."

Sophie smiled at him. "Good morning. I'm sorry if I woke you up."

"You didn't, but your emotions did. That's going to take some getting used to."

Sophie realized immediately what emotions he must've woken up to, given what she'd been thinking about. Oops.

Keefe reached out a hand to stop Sophie from tugging out an eyelash, smirking. "Don't be embarrassed," he told her. "I've always told you, I'm irresistible." He propped himself up on his elbows so he could kiss her. "And so are you," he whispered, trailing his fingers up her bare back.

His touch made her feel like she was on fire again. She grinned at him. "Good."

"So...how are you this morning?" Keefe asked her, lying back down.

Sophie rested her head on his chest again and he resumed the light tracing of her back with his hand.

"I'm stuck somewhere between 'feed me or I'll die' and 'don't you dare get out of this bed'," Sophie told him. "With a side of unbelievably happy."

He chuckled. "Me too. We, ah...worked up a bit of an appetite last night." There was a pause. "So, um...now what?"

"Hmmm..." Sophie pretended to think for a moment, sitting up. "I think we should get some breakfast." Keefe nodded and started to get up. But Sophie grinned and pulled him in for a kiss, slowly pulling him back down. "You know...in a few minutes."

Sometime later, Keefe brushed Sophie's hair off her face and kissed her forehead. "I love you," he whispered to her before climbing out of bed. He grabbed some pajama pants, eyes following Sophie as she got up.

She blushed when she caught him looking. This was going to take some getting used to as well. She quickly threw some clothes on and then checked the mirror and groaned, rummaging around for her hairbrush.

"You do have a pretty adorable case of bedhead," Keefe said affectionately while she brushed out her tangles. "So, the gnomes stocked us up with some food. Ready to eat, thankfully. I think your mom helped with that one. Do you think you can make it downstairs without fainting?" He smirked at her.

"Let's hope so," Sophie laughed. She really was ravenous.

As they headed down the stairs, they found themselves having to step over or around their various shoes and articles of clothing from the previous night.

Keefe couldn't have been prouder. "I'm almost tempted to leave them there as a testament to—"

"No, Keefe," Sophie said, laughing. "Just no. But we don't have to pick them up right now, if I try to bend over to pick anything up I might actually black out at this point."

"Keep Foster on a regular food schedule, got it," Keefe said, tapping the side of his head with his finger. "Just working on the mental checklist of new things I'm learning about you already."

Down in the kitchen, they grabbed whatever food their hands reached first. They quickly settled down at the table and began eating.

"So, what things are you learning about me so far?" Sophie asked.

"Hmm. Well, obviously the food thing. Maybe we should keep some snacks and bottles of Youth in our room." He winked at her. "And the way your emotions will wake me up even if I'm dead asleep. I guess that'll come in handy, if you ever have nightmares. How much more peaceful you look while sleeping when you aren't recovering from Fostering it or having one of those nightmares."

"Oh, I guess that's true. You've seen me asleep but only ever after something awful."

"Yup. Let's see, what else?" He leaned in and raised one eyebrow suggestively. "You really seem to like it when I—"

"Keefe!"

"What?" He asked innocently. "Oh, and you love playing with my hair."

"You already knew that."

"Okay, yeah. What I really mean is, you love grabbing my hair very tightly in your fists when you're about to—"

"KEEFE!"

He just smirked at her. "I'm just saying, I'm learning all kinds of new things, and that's the point of this honeymoon time. And we've not even been married a whole 24 hours yet. Just think how much more I'll know about you in a few more days."

As they finished breakfast, they finally went to gather up their clothes off the stairs and put them away.

"Want to go for a walk?" Keefe asked her. "Flori and some of the gnomes started a garden here as soon as I bought the estate. I can show you what they've done."

"That sounds great, it was too dark to see much of the grounds when we got home last night."

Keefe went to go grab a shirt out of the closet, but stopped halfway through putting it on. "Am I feeling...disappointment?" He asked, confused.

"Um...maybe."

Keefe started cracking up once realization hit him. "Are you disappointed that I'm putting a shirt on?"

Sophie shrugged. "Can you blame me?" She took a step closer. "You're standing there looking like some sort of Greek god."

Keefe smirked. "I know, I know, I look good."

Sophie grinned and took another step closer, taking the shirt from Keefe's hands and tossing it aside. "We're just going for a walk on our own grounds. You don't need it."

"I knew you loved my abs," he teased her.

"Maybe I do," Sophie whispered. She reached out and ran her fingers along the well-defined muscles of his abdomen and couldn't help but smile as he became covered in goosebumps and his breathing sped up.

Keefe swiftly leaned down to kiss her. After a moment, though, he pulled away and asked, "Hey, Foster? What's a Greek god?"