In Need of You

Chapter Twelve

The smell of fresh-cut citrus and eggs tickled Sabrina's nose as she stirred. She slid her hands across the smoothness of the grey bed sheets. Sitting up, she saw her and Elisha's clothes strewn all over the floor. A smile curled her lips. Last night was un-fucking-believable. 

Seeing his t-shirt on the bed, she grabbed it and pulled it on. As she stretched, Sabrina looked at the clock, seeing clear as day that it read ten o'clock. She rubbed her eyes, making sure she wasn't seeing the time wrong. It was really ten o'clock. 

"Shit!" Sabrina sat on the bad and panned the room. The destruction they left behind had to be cleaned up before Madeline came skipping in and asking why there was a sticky looking white spot on her red panties. 

As the door creaked opened, Sabrina sprang from the bed and onto the floor, hoping that she could clean up the mess before small prying eyes got to them.

"What are you doing, beautiful," Elisha asked. He scratched his head and laughed. 

Sabrina's cheeks grew red. "I was trying to clean up this mess before babycakes came in here."

"No worries. She's upfront eating breakfast." He helped her from the floor, then pulled her into a kiss. The sweet yet tangy remnants of oranges invaded her mouth as he invited his tongue inside it. Feeling his hand caress the small of her back, Sabrina moaned, not wanting to end this little session they were about to start. 

"We should probably stop before she really does come in here," Sabrina said against his lips. 

Elisha placed a kiss on her neck, then lost himself in her eyes. "You're right. But I'm hoping we can pick up where we began later."

Sabrina wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his chest, hearing the strong rhythm of his heartbeat. "I look forward to that."

"Mommy! Elisha! Are you two hiding in there?" A young voice said outside the door accompanied by the growls of a restless dog. "Where did you all go?"

Sabrina covered her mouth as she giggled. If that wasn't the cutest thing she heard from Madeline in all of her five years of living, then that was it. Elisha eased toward the door and listened to Madeline and Daisy's footsteps. Hearing the child yell Marco and the dog bark in response sent him to the floor in laughter. 

"Hey," Madeline said, "I hear laughing. Is that you, mommy?" Daisy barked and pawed the door. 

Opening the door, Sabrina saw a foot-tapping, hands on her hips child. Her twisted lips and furrowed eyebrows reminded her of how Edward used to get mad with grandma when he couldn't get that extra ten minutes of tv time when they were kids.  

"There you both are," Madeline said, taking Sabrina and Elisha by the hand and leading them down the hallway. "Your breakfast is getting cold, mommy. Elisha and I worked really hard on it."

"Okay, babycakes. Mommy is sorry for letting it get cold," Sabrina said. She followed the child into the breakfast nook and sat and the table next to her. 

"How about I rewarm Mommy's plate and give you some more toast and fruit," Elisha said, planting a kiss on the child's forehead. He opened the French door for Daisy to run out of and watched her leap into the field of grass

"Yes, please," Madeline said with a smile. "Thank you, daddy." 

The child covered her mouth. She slowly turned her attention in Sabrina's direction. "Sorry, mommy." 

Sabrina looked at Elisha, then turned her attention back to Madeline and sighed. She couldn't deny the glow in her daughter's eyes every time she saw Elisha. Whether she tried to stop her from calling him her father, he was, in fact, her father. He'd done more than Tariq ever had. That was something she was grateful for. Whenever she fell, whenever she was sick, whenever she cried, Elisha was there to console her, nurse her back to health, and soothe her. This man took on the role of being this child's father because he was in love with her. Yet she didn't want to look like the desperate mother who saught after a man who was willing to play daddy.