Broken Pieces

12

12

     I stirred as I felt my body being lifted from where I lay. I took a deep breath and snuggled closer into Elliot’s arms. My arms snaked around his neck. I wanted to wake up and be with Elliot, but my body refused to rise above a groggy, half-asleep state. He placed me down on a soft feeling bed and pulled a blanket up over me, but my arms didn’t release his shoulders.

     “Don’t go,” I murmured sleepily.

     “No, darling, I’ll just be down the hall” he kissed my forehead and began to try to stand back up, but my arms held their grip around his neck.

     “Mmmm,” I protested. “Stay.”

     I felt his sweet breath over my face as he chuckled. “Darling, I don’t think there’s enough room for all three of us.”

     Oh right, Cooper. “Yes-huh!” My voice grew louder, pouting as I scooted over and patted the bed beside me. I frowned when the lights turned off, but smiled widely when the bed dipped under Elliot’s weight beside me. When he stilled, I snuggled in close to him.

     “I win,” I mumbled as sleep began to take over my body.

     “You’re very hard to say no to, darling.”

…

      I woke the next morning with a smile on my face. I had been afraid of having another night terror due to all the events of yesterday, but fortunately I had slipped into a sweet dream of Elliot.

     “Good morning, darling.” Elliot was raised on one elbow with his crooked smile plastered on his face. It was obvious that he had been watching me sleep.

     I smiled as I blinked away the sleepiness that lingered. “Good morning, handsome. Enjoying the view?”

     “Most definitely.” He twirled a piece of my hair around his finger and his voice sounded amused. “I’ve been upgraded to handsome?”

     I blushed. “Most definitely.”

     “If you’ll let me take a quick shower I’ll make you breakfast while you shower.” He continued to play with my hair, and I was so happy because things were so easy with him.

     “Anything for your cooking.”

     “Anything?” He raised an eyebrow and smirked at me.

     I shoved at his shoulder, pushing him to his back, and Cooper bounced up into the bed wagging his tail playfully.

     “Cooper, get down,” I laughed. I didn’t want him to get fur all over Elliot’s Bed.

     “Oh, he’s fine,” Elliot said as he started to play with Cooper. The two of them made me happy. And seeing them both together was even better. Yeah, things were easy with Elliot. And I hoped he felt that way still about me, because I rarely spilled my heart out like I did the night before.

     “I’ll go feed this little monster,” I said as I rose from the bed.

     “Wow.” I turned around and Elliot was smiling crookedly and looking up and down my body. “I could get used to waking up with you.”

     I blushed and scrunched my nose at him. He threw his head back and laughed when I stuck my tongue out at him. I hadn’t known that I was going to be sleeping here so I had slept in one of Elliot’s shirts. It barely came down long enough to cover me, but he seemed to enjoy it.

     I padded, barefoot, down the hallway with Cooper at my heels. He seemed to really like Elliot’s place—probably almost as much as I did. “Are you hungry, buddy?”

     He licked his lips while I poured food into his bowl, and I didn’t know exactly what to do then since Elliot had planned on fixing breakfast. I walked back up the few stairs and decided to step out onto the balcony. The view was almost as stunning as the night view, but not quite. The morning breeze was chilly on my bare legs. I should have known that Elliot, as pushy as he was, would have had a problem with me staying alone. Oh well.

      Once I had spent a few minutes on the balcony enjoying the morning, I decided to go back inside and get my clothes from the day before out of the drier and get ready to shower. I put my clothes out on the bed, pulled my makeup out that I had packed to put on after we swam yesterday, which I didn’t do anyway, and grabbed the bag from the drugstore. After a few minutes, Elliot stepped out of the bathroom and my eyes widened at the same time that my jaw dropped. His wet hair still dripped slightly and hung over his forehead slightly longer than usual. His chest was bare and he wore only a towel around his waist that hung perfectly from his hips. His muscles rippled through his body with every step he took. He smiled and stopped at the foot of the bed, noticing my stare, and turned to me.

     “Enjoying the view, Miss Reynolds?” He asked running his hand through his wet hair.

     I nodded and smiled, my eyebrows still raised. “Definitely. And, I think I agree with you… I could definitely get used to waking up next to you.”

     He smiled and continued to his closet. “I laid a towel out for you in the bathroom.” He disappeared into what I could only assume was a huge closet for a moment and came back in dress pants with a mock pout on his face. “I don’t know what to wear.”

     “Aw,” I teased him as I stood from the bed. “You poor thing.” I took my toiletries into the bathroom and he still stood at the door of his closet with a sulky look on his face. “You better figure it out, Flint. Because I’m sure you have a lot of catching up to do at work today.” I winked at him and retreated into the bathroom.

…

     Once I had freshened up, I came out into the kitchen to the wonderful smell of bacon and eggs that Elliot was cooking. I stopped, though, when I realized that he was still shirtless and barefoot in only his dress pants.

     “Is that all you’re wearing to work today?” I teased as I took a seat at the breakfast bar across from where he cooked.

     “No, but I can’t decide what shirt and tie to wear since somebody wouldn’t help me. I have an important meeting today.” A smile tempted the corners of his mouth.

     “I’ll be right back, then.” I climbed off the stool and started down the hall. “But if it was just me, I’d keep you like that,” I called over my shoulder.

     I could hear him chuckle as I turned to go into his bedroom. His closet was as big as I expected and then some and he had enough clothes to never wear the same thing twice. He had everything from casual t-shirts to tuxedos and, as I saw each one, I imagined what he’d look like in them—everything turned out to look extremely good on him in my mind. I ended up choosing a gray dress shirt that would make his eyes pop and a black tie to match his pants. Yeah, he’ll look um extremely nice in this. I snapped out of my daydream when I heard Elliot clear his throat from the doorway of his closet.

     “Breakfast is ready.” He looked amused and the look on his face seemed as though he had seen straight through my head and into my thoughts of him. “You’re making that face that you kept making the night of our first date.”

     “Oh, that was a date?” I felt my cheeks turn crimson with the realization that I must make the same face every time I think about him.

     “I’d like to think so,” he stepped forward with the crooked grin on his face that always made my heart skip a beat, even though that’s cheesy. “What were you thinking about?”

     “Um…” I bit my lip but a smile crept its way onto my face. “It might have been you… or something else.”

     His eyebrows raised and his crooked grin turned into a smirk. “Interesting. I like your choice in clothes, though. I may just have to have you pick out my clothes from now on.”

     I smirked back at him despite the redness on my cheeks. “That may be fun.”