Reasonable Doubt ✔ | Open Novella Contest 2020 | Complete

Twenty-Nine - Alex

Sunlight fights the shade of my eyelids. Groaning, I roll onto my side, wince a bit. Dios mio, I'm sore.

I remember Colt's eyes, curling against his chest, talking deep into the night. Fuck, now many times did we have sex? I feel like I got hit by a Mack truck.

Reaching out beside me yields no warm body. Glancing up at the empty sheets, I try and sort events. Then a delectable smell has me glancing to the kitchen.

Oh, I could get used to this.

Colt stands in his flannel PJ pants, tattoos dancing as he works over the stove. He's scruffy and unshaven. The short beard makes his scars more prominent, more heart wrenchingly beautiful.

He's worth all the sore muscles.

"Buenos dias, querido." We're trying nicknames. So far that's my favorite.

Colt makes a solid effort at Spanish. "Buenos dias cariño."

"You're getting better." I don't bother to dress, approach him naked from the bed.

He stops and stares, tracking my movements. I slide my arms around his waist where he faces the stove. The reality that this gorgeous human being had sex with me still hasn't quite set in. Though my body attests to it, my mind is still reeling, waiting to wake up from this fever dream.

"I love how your skin feels on mine," I purr into the hard cleft of his spine, hopeful to get him back under the covers with me. "The way you smell, the way you moan."

A shudder, focus still maddeningly on the frying pain. "Shame we can't stay in bed all day."

"Why not?" I languidly undo the drawstring of his tented trousers.

"Your mom and –" a hiss as I map his ribs and treasure-trail with my fingers. " – family are visiting."

"They have a key."

I'm a little miffed he manages to plate the food with such grace. "You should spend time with them. I know how important they are to you."

I releases him and takes a stool at the eat-in bar. My stomach snarls. Breakfast, then more sex. I need the protein for stamina.

Colt sits beside me, chuckling at my fascination. A piece of toast with a hard-fried egg in the center?

"Toad in the hole," he offers. "Mom used to make it on days Max wasn't home. Couldn't eat what the briar-hoppers did."

I add that to my dictionary. Right along with 'kerfuffle', 'usedtocould', and 'y'onto'. Never thought I'd find redneck jargon sexy.

Tucking in, I moan at the immensely satisfying flavor. "If I ask nicely, will you make this for breakfast every day?"

Colt's eyes twinkle. "You going to sleep over every day?"

Both of us stare, chew, and consider. We lived together before in more intense parameters with much less space. Neither of us own much, not exactly like combining two households. We spend mornings, lunches, and evenings together already. I'm more than prepared for that leap.

Colt isn't. There's still that cloying guilt. After everything, he's still scared of us. Like I'll disappear if he looks away for too long.

Rather than answering, I smile. "Meet my family."

"Alex..."

"We've been dating for almost two months. Mama won't take 'no' for an answer much longer." Seriously, she's been harassing me since the picture declaring my relationship status.