Borrowed Time

Chapter 158

Cooking with Esme was now a thousand times funnier than it used to be, especially when she was watching them prep things for her...She'd watched them prep the vegetables for the soup that she was making, and she couldn't help thinking the entire time that all that they were doing was pretending to not know after they did indeed learn how to do it.

She chuckled, shaking her head as she continued to stir the perfectly cut vegetables around in the pot, thinking about how to bring that up... She wanted to make a joke about it, it seemed lie the right thing to do.

Just say it.

"I still can't believe you pretended not to know how to cut vegetables for so long after me teaching you just so that I would continue to try to show you." Juliette said with a snort, stirring the pot on the stove as Esme wrapped their arms around her waist, warm and safe as they pressed kisses to the side of her neck, making her let out a sigh as she tipped her head to the side.

Distracting me while I'm using the stove is not safe at all.

"Could you blame me? I just wanted to feel your arms around me." They murmured, and Juliette shivered, a grin spreading across her face as she shook her head... They didn't need to trick her for that.

"You do realize that all you have to do is ask, right?" She responded, leaning back into them as she set the wooden spoon she was stirring with down, bringing a hand up to cup their cheek, relishing in their touch. "I am always happy to touch you and to love you... Sometimes I just gotta know that you want that." She said and Esme let out a gentle chuckle, making her heart skip in her chest.

You're perfect. You're so perfect. I'm gonna marry you someday because you're so fucking perfect.

"I'll keep it in mind." They stood quietly for a moment, just humming contently as they watched Juliette work, making her feel very aware of her hands and her movements. God, I hope I don't do something stupid while you're watching... I know you won't care, but sometimes I still want you to think I'm cool. "How much longer we got on that?" They asked, and Juliette blinked. RIght. Dinner. Cooking.

Juliette paused for a moment, thinking about the timing... Everything would come together in about fifteen minutes, right? That sounded right...

"Well, it's just gotta simmer for about fifteen minutes, and then we're done." Juliette said, and Esme nodded, pulling her a little closer. Yes. Hold me. I love being held by you, you make me feel whole in a way that no one else does.

A bit too deep of a thought for a simple night of making dinner, but who was she to control her own thoughts, right? Sometimes things just begged to be said.

"I'm glad we got this done before my mom got home. I know that she said that she wanted to help, but she deserves to relax after working." Esme explained, and Juliette nodded, turning her face to the side to press a few kisses to their cheek before they rested their chin against her shoulder.

This is my favorite thing... She loved when Esme was casually intimate with her, it was something that just made her feel whole, she fucking loved that shit.

"I completely agree." She said, and Esme fell silent, like they were suddenly hit by a wave of introspection, but Juliette wasn't sure why... She didn't know what could've made Esme introspective right now.

They were just cooking.

"Do you think she'll like this?" Esme asked, and Juliette shrugged, tasting the food with a nod. It tasted good, not oversalted, well seasoned... Either way it was good, but there was no real way to know if someone was gonna like it, right?