Breathe Me

Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

A SIREN WAILING in the distance awakened me, and I stared into the spinning ceiling fan, feeling the exhaustion set fire to my muscles. Blinking, I wasn't quite sure what time it was, but from the looks of the sun spilling through the slats of the blinds, it was close to noon. The bedside clock confirmed my suspicions. I'd slept in, but it wasn't like I had anywhere special to go.

Drat!

I shoved the blankets off me and sat up, pausing as the room spun in a nauseating tilt. We'd been up all night, having way too much fun. Just thinking about it brought a blush to my cheeks as they warmed up, betraying my thoughts. He'd done so many lovely things to my body all night long, and every sore muscle was thanking me for it dearly. I didn't care—the chapped lips and aching muscles, along with rat's nest hair, had been well worth it.

Speaking of Sam, where was he? I swung my legs over the side and surveyed the room. My clothes were still scattered across the carpet, making me realize how na**d I was. I pulled a tank and undies out of my dresser and slipped on some shorts. Yanking the knots out of my hair, I took a peek at my face in the mirror and groaned. Scrubbing the leftover smears of makeup off, I finally emerged from my room and headed toward the yummy smell of food. He was cooking for me again, which again brought me dangerously close to never letting him go. I could definitely let him continue to cook for me. The sex was an extra, extra, extra plus.

But first, he had a lot of explaining to do. I was tired of being angry, and I promised myself no matter what, I'd listen to what he had to say. It was kind of useless to fight now, especially since I'd handed myself over to him many times the night before. A bit of me didn't want to hear it, and another part wanted to let him have it. He'd caught me off guard, and there had been no time to assess just how angry I was. Now it was probably too late to hash it out. The way he could always disarm me, one way or another, left me puzzled.

Straightening my stance and pulling my shoulders back, chin up and a determined pose to my lips, I strode into my dining room, if you could call it that. It was more of a breakfast nook, really. My lips wavered and dropped open at the feast displayed before me. Two plates stacked high with pancakes, bacon, eggs and potatoes sat steaming. He'd used my good place settings, the ones I brought out for guests, not the old but trusty mismatched plates I usually used. He had a candelabra set up in the middle, where a small flame flickered in the soft breeze of the ceiling fan. He'd even pulled out my tablecloth, which I usually didn't pull out until Thanksgiving.

It wasn't just that, either. A brief scan of the room revealed that he'd been quite busy as I'd lain lazily snoring away in the bedroom. All the old fast food wrappers, soda cups and trash had been picked up and the living room tidied. The stale food smell was gone, as the windows had been thrown wide open, letting the early morning air float in. Turning toward the kitchen, my cheeks burned as I realized he'd washed all my dirty dishes, dried them and put them away.

Okay, I thought, I must still be dreaming.

"Hey, darling." Sam was carrying two juice glasses and a pitcher of orange juice. Had he gone to the store, too? He placed them on the table before approaching me, pulling me into a tight embrace as he slowly kissed my lips. His were so soft and a reminder of what exactly he could do with them flashed into my mind. It made me breathless as his strong, muscular arms held me up. Thank goodness, for I was afraid I was going to melt into the floor.

"Hi," was all I managed to say when he pulled away. A small disappointment tore through me as I watched him step back to finish setting up the table. His arms needed to stay around me, forever if they could.

Grinning, he pulled out a chair and indicated that it was for me. "M'Lady, your breakfast is served."

I laughed, slipping down onto the chair and admiring his shirtless chest. "You didn't go to the store like that, did you? Those ladies there aren't young anymore. You may have given one of them a heart attack. Quite possibly the siren I heard earlier." My eyes were definitely devouring his fit physique, and I didn't hide the longing. The time was over to swallow away my feelings. It was more exhausting than it was worth. Still, even though I wanted to rush over to him and run my lips over every muscle, I restrained myself and peeked down at the delicious food he'd prepared, just for me.