Rumor Has It

Part 56

This was pretty good, as far as his weekends went. Bradley had woken up with Stefani's back against his chest and his arm numb from the weight of her head on it, their legs entwined and their breaths tickling each other's skin.The room was barely lit by the bit of sunlight coming in through the window and he could make out the blurry shapes of her body when she stirred. She shifted slightly, her head rolling to the side so she could look at him.

"Hey." she said softly, her voice hoarse with sleep. He smiled down at her and stroked his hand gently across her soft hair, ignoring how her eyes flicked over to where her phone was lying on the nightstand automatically.

"It's Saturday." He reminded her quietly. "And one where we don't have to be anywhere. You don't have a show. The kid is at your mom's until later tonight."

She yawned and snuggled into the pillow next to her, finally releasing his numb arm from his duties. "I know." She sighed but her eyes stayed open and she didn't make an effort to go back to sleep. "How long have you been awake?"

Bradley nudged her shoulder with his nose and pressed a kiss to the warm skin. "Not long. You can go back to sleep."

"Mhm." She murmured. "We've got stuff to do though, there's this song I need to show you, the dogs are going to go ham in a moment, I can hear them already, and..."

"You should be resting." His finger trailed up and down her arm before he sat up. "And I'll go feed the dogs."

"You need the sleep just as much." She insisted and reached for his wrist.

Bradley felt his heart swell with affection, but let the smirk crossing his face win. "Are you saying I didn't get enough of a beauty sleep?"

"You're pretty enough as it is." Stefani laughed and pulled him down towards her for a kiss. Bradley sighed and let himself melt into it, felt her fingers tracing small patterns along the sides of his face while his lips moved over hers. Without even a comment about the stubble he's been letting grow out. He groaned, letting himself fall back onto the mattress, pulling her on top of him.

Her laughter turned into a strangled gasp as he pushed her roughly down into the mattress, pinning her beneath him. Her mouth opened in surprise, her body arching up involuntarily and he couldn't help smiling into the kiss. She let her hands roam up his back and felt the shiver running through his large body on top of hers. "I think I love you."

Bradley paused and studied her without answering. "Yeah?" He teased, watching her face fall a little before pressing another quick kiss to her lips. "Love you more." He finally gave in to the scratching and rustle he heard at the door. "Enough to go let you sleep and to take care of those wild animals you keep. Want me to leave the door open so they can come nap with you when I'm done feeding the beasts?"

"Please. And you can come back too." Stefani muttered while he climbed out of the warm blankets.

"Oh, I'm allowed to come back?"

"You can ask Koji, maybe he's having a good day and is up for sharing."

The dogs shot past his legs as soon as he opened the bedroom door. To Stefani's credit, they often didn't even make it into the bed in the morning if nobody pushed up the little stairs next to it and right now they were more interested in whoever was going towards the kitchen.

It was almost strange to be so comfortable and used to navigating her house. He knew well enough what dog ate what, how the coffee maker worked, who of them would always use which mug. The dogs didn't have much interest in him apart from food and were dashing upstairs right after they ate, surely to crowd Stefani in bed.