-Blake-
I woke up to the sensation of delicate fingers slowly moving across my chest. I kept pretending I was still asleep so I could enjoy the soft touches a little longer. These lazy mornings were the best part of my day, after all, and if I kept my eyes closed and stayed still, Jordan would continue with his teasing.
He had wrapped himself around me, with his head resting on my shoulder, and a leg between mine very close to the danger zone. I could feel his breath on my neck and chest, and his long hair tickling my arm. Neither of us had any clothes on, not after what we did last night, so I got to enjoy the smoothness of his skin to the fullest. He had a very enjoyable skin. And body. And he was very good at doing enjoyable things with that body.
"I'm up, I'm up," I hurried to say before I could get myself in trouble.
"Good morning," Jordan murmured with a lazy smile, kissing my cheek. "Did you sleep well?"
"Oh, I sure did," I purred with a mischievous smile as I turned to my side to wrap him into a hug.
He laughed lightly at my words, but it wasn't enough. I wanted to hear him laugh harder, so I started planting teasing kisses on his ticklish neck, quickly succeeding in my task. His laugh turned into giggles, and he tried to wiggle out of my reach, but I didn't let him.
And it was awesome.
This was not the same person I met eight months ago. I still remembered how loudly he had screamed just because I'd been there. I still remembered all those times he had to look away from me to calm down his nerves. I would never forget the times I had sat behind his door, hoping he'd have the energy to let me see him, even for a short moment, in vain.
Now he was laughing so hard he was gasping for air, with my arms tightly around him. He wasn't trying to break free from my hug. His body wasn't tense. There was no fear in his eyes.
I had to stop teasing him so I could see his beautiful face. He stopped moving and turned to glare at me with squinted eyes, but with a smile on his face.
"You look beautiful," I told him, but he squinted his eyes even more. "Absolutely gorgeous," I continued.
"Trying to act cute, huh?" he asked with a snort, then pushed me on my back. "That won't save you..."
"I just wanted to kiss you," I said with a smirk.
"Uh-huh," he said and climbed on top of me, grabbed my hands, and pinned them above my head. "Any last words?"
"Can I have a moment to write them down?" I asked.
"Denied," he said, let go of my hands, and immediately went for my armpits – my weakest points – with an evil smile on his lips.
Oh, how I hated being tickled. I deserved it, of course, but that didn't stop me from begging for my life. I really had to watch myself so I wouldn't accidentally hurt him as I tried to protect myself from his punishment. At least he stopped only a minute later and pulled his hands away.
I was still laughing when he gave me a victorious glance, pleased with himself. Man, he was beautiful. That confidence was beautiful.
"You are beautiful," I told him, reaching out to touch his face.
"Have we learned our lesson?"
"I only wanted to kiss you," I said, but he only raised an eyebrow in disbelief and amusement.
"I need a shower," he then informed me and got out of bed. "And so do you."
I wiggled my eyebrows at the invitation and followed him. I kept a close eye on him, and not only on his butt. Well, mostly on the butt, because I got to admire the relaxed swaying of his hips as he made his way into the bathroom. He didn't stop to look for the clocks, and even though he'd stopped doing that a long time ago, I still found joy in that. It had been a long battle, after all.
The refreshing moment in the shower stayed nice and sweet, even though there was still a bit of heat left from last night. The kisses could've easily gotten out of hand, but we prevailed. Barely.
After we stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped up in bathrobes and heading to the kitchen for breakfast, I glanced at the only clock left in Jordan's living room. Ten minutes past eight. Jordan walked straight past it without giving it a single look. I knew he wanted to check it, but he was still afraid he'd fall back into that hole he spent so long getting out of.
The clock was back because of that. He wasn't a slave for time anymore, but he wasn't friends with it, either.
But I knew he'd get there.
"What do you want for breakfast?" he asked, peering into his fridge.
"Whatever you want," I said with a wink.
We ended up having bacon and eggs. I ate with a good appetite, while also feeling sad as I watched Jordan struggle with his breakfast. He was getting better at eating, and he was slowly gaining weight, but his progress with it wasn't anywhere near as fast as his progress with time. Though it wasn't a surprise since we couldn't try to fix all the issues at the same time. That considered, he was doing really well.
Too soon, it was almost nine o'clock, and I had to get dressed for work. Jordan followed me back into the bedroom and leaned against the wall, keeping his eyes on me without saying a word. I tried to ignore the long gazes on my naked body as I put on a pair of simple black jeans and an uncomfortable gray shirt, buttoning it all the way up before grabbing a tie.
Jordan stepped in to help me with it, since I hadn't quite mastered it myself. I was thankful for it, but...
"Could you make this less erotic?" I asked with an awkward smirk as he handled the tie, his lower half tightly against mine, flashing pretty dirty looks in my way.
"I'm just making sure you'll be thinking about me," he said, winked, and stepped back. "You're all set."
I glanced at myself in the mirror. The person looking back at me was exactly the type of person I had never wanted to be.
I straightened my tie, then my posture. I was not the same person I was a year ago, either. I was proud to say I was the secretary of J.S. Cleaning Services. I, a miserable little petty thief, now had an actual paid job. And I was pretty good at it, too.
I grabbed my black jacket. I rarely needed it, but I wanted to look professional in case I needed to take part in video calls, so I always kept it with me. Then I turned back to Jordan. He gave me a smile, picked a loose, black hair off my clothes, and then pecked my lips.
"I hope you have a great day at work," he told me.
"Thanks, baby. Are you going to continue with that painting today?" I asked as we headed out of the bedroom.
"Yeah – I'm hoping to finish it before the weekend," he said, and I glanced at the said painting in the corner: a commission ordered by one of his relatives, a life-sized wedding picture that had already taken Jordan a few weeks.
"I'm sure you will," I said and pecked his lips before stopping by his door. "Call me if you need anything, okay?"
"Oh, I'll call you, all right," he purred with a wink.
"Oh no..." I muttered as a joke, earning a laugh from him. "You're getting me in trouble with your mom."
He only wiggled his eyebrows, blew me a kiss, and vanished into the kitchen. I shook my head in amusement and stepped out into the now empty hallway. I walked past the spot where my desk used to be and walked down the stairs and continued my way to Julia's study.
My desk was now there, right under the window. I put my jacket down on the chair and sat down, firing up my laptop and making sure Jordan's intercom was within my reach in case he needed anything. While I waited for the laptop, I pulled my calendar closer to see if Julia had left any notes before heading to the office. There was one mention of a new client who had requested an estimate of our prices, and that she had left those papers in my top drawer.
I found the papers, clocked in, and started my day as a working citizen by picking up the phone to get this estimate out of the way.
"Good morning! This is Blake Woźniak calling from J.S. Cleaning Services. Is this a bad time? Great! I have the estimate you asked for right here..."
I honestly liked my job. I handled a lot of the phone calls and emails with the clients, so my people skills really came in handy. I enjoyed talking with people, and even though I usually answered the same questions over and over again, it still didn't bore me. I also kept track of paperwork and dealt with the suppliers, and if I didn't have any tasks at hand, I used that time to draft ad campaigns and special sales to attract more people.
And the business was growing. It was actually making a profit. Not much, but we were able to pay the bills and salaries on top of upgrading the equipment and paying for special courses for the staff, meaning we could take on more challenging opportunities. Julia kept saying the company was doing so well because of me, but I didn't feel right taking all the credit. I just wanted to help this family.
Once the call about the estimate was over, I opened the emails, but didn't have any time to check the new ones when Jordan's intercom beeped.
I frowned as I hurried to answer it – Jordan rarely needed me so soon.
"Hey, you okay?" I asked, ready to run upstairs to go to his aid.
"I just wanted to let you know I'm not wearing any clothes."
"You." I pursed my lips together and stared at the staircase outside the door. Then I faked a couple of angry breaths, making sure he could hear them, and hung up.
I heard distant giggling coming from upstairs. I laughed as well, glanced at the stairs, and started going through the emails.
Man, I loved Jordan's playful side. It had taken him a while to get used to not having me right next to him, not even outside his door, so these playful calls were great. He wouldn't come up with something dirty like that if he wasn't completely relaxed and in a good mood.
He still needed to know I was somewhere in the building to stay completely relaxed, but we were working on that, too.
His healing journey was not an easy process. It required a lot of balancing between trying to help him overcome his original issues and trying to make sure he wasn't developing new ones. It felt a lot like trying to extinguish a big fire that was spreading smaller ones while we weren't watching, and all of those had to be caught fast or they'd just keep spreading.
We put out the big fire, his obsession with time, but now he was afraid of clocks. I helped him get over his fear of being close to other people, but he also ended up being unable to stay relaxed without me right next to him. Small fires, but we were putting those out, too, and this time we were careful not to cause a third wave.
Jordan was merciful enough to let me do my job without trying to get me into trouble. I answered the emails, answered the phone calls, and ordered supplies using a list Julia had left for me yesterday. I was happy she turned me enough to let me handle all these important things, but at the same time, I was sure she didn't care if I fucked up every once in a while – she was getting a lot of free time in return, after all. Besides, the worst I could do was send a group to a wrong location or order way too much soap – both of which I'd already done, and she hadn't gotten mad at me.
I carefully went through the order before placing it, then looked up from my laptop. And I smiled. Jordan was sitting on the stairs, watching me through the banister.
"Hi," he said, returning my smile.
"I didn't hear you coming down," I said.
"I wanted to come ask when you get off, but you looked busy, so I decided to wait and watch," he said. "You look handsome when you're busy," he added with a wink.
I laughed lightly and peered at the clock.
"I'll be closing the line in twenty minutes," I informed him.
He knew I was manning the phone from nine in the morning to two in the afternoon, but I assumed he hadn't had the energy to check the time.
"How's the painting?" I asked.
"I made a lot of progress, but shockingly, I ran out of white paint," he said and sighed. "I thought I had enough."
"I'm sure George can get more for you so you can continue tomorrow," I said.
He nodded slowly, then laughed a little. "I can't believe I actually ran out of paint without realizing it... I didn't realize I didn't have enough paint!"
I smiled as I watched him. "It's nice, isn't it?" I asked quietly.
"Yeah. And super annoying. I was making so much progress!" he said, still chuckling. "But it's nice."
"Did you feel bad about it when you found out?" I asked.
"No, not really. Not in a bad way, I mean. I was annoyed, but it didn't bother me," he spoke with a small smile.
"That's great, my love. Getting annoyed by something like that is completely normal," I said reassuringly.
"Look at me," he said quietly. "I'm a normal person."
"Yes, you are," I said, and he smiled wider.
He was really happy with himself, and rightfully so. He was no longer obsessed with keeping everything in precise order, in specific places, so not knowing how much paint he had left was huge. Another big fire extinguished.
"Welp, I'll let you finish your day at work," he said and stood up. "I'll wait for you in the living room."
"All righty," I said, and almost turned my attention back to my laptop, but then he walked past the doorway.
He was on his way to downstairs. I stopped to stare at the empty doorway, listening to his light footsteps going down the stairs without interruptions. I was not going to get used to that anytime soon. I wasn't going to stop feeling happy and giddy every time he did things he used to be deadly afraid of. Especially with such ease.
He had conquered so much fear during the past months I'd known him... He had conquered his own thoughts, and I was so proud of him. His intrusive thoughts couldn't get a hold of him anywhere near as well as they used to. I knew they were still there, but he was becoming a master of keeping them under control. He had worked extremely hard on it, and it was showing.
I couldn't wait to clock out so I could run after him and smother him with hugs and kisses. I counted seconds until two o'clock, then quickly turned everything off before anyone could stop me and rushed down the stairs to find my beautiful beloved.
There he was, standing next to the windows, looking outside at the backyard. He turned around when he heard me and flashed an excited smile at me.
"It's such a beautiful day outside," he said with glimmering eyes.
"It sure is," I said when I stopped next to him and pulled him into a tight hug.
"I want to open the door," he told me.
"Sure thing," I said, pecking his lips.
His smile grew even more excited, and he turned his attention to the backdoor next to us. He had opened it a few times in the past couple of weeks, but he hadn't had the courage to step outside yet. I knew it was happening soon. Maybe even sooner than I thought.
He slowly reached for the handle. He took a few deep breaths, doing his little mantra to find his center, and pushed the door open like it wasn't a big deal to him. I watched him closely, loving the wide smile on his lips as he stared outside at the yard, enjoying the fresh, warm air on his face.
"I can't remember the last time I felt grass under my feet," he murmured.
I already knew where this was going. I'd known it the second I saw the excitement in his eyes.
I hugged him gently. "Would you like to remember how it feels?" I whispered in his ear.
Slowly, he turned to look at me, the shine in his eyes growing brighter. He didn't have to say anything. I already knew what the answer was.
"Yes."