She was woken up by the sensation of his hands pulling her bottoms down, and her top up; and his rough beard scraping her skin. Jackie moaned approvingly. His efforts halted; and she knew the enquiry about consent was coming.
"Jackie?"
"God, yes! Yes!"
He roughly jerked her trousers down; and she shuddered under his hot greedy mouth.
***
He, first, made sure she was satisfied; he knew all the right 'buttons to push,' after all. And then, while she was still panting and squeezing her eyes, colourful sparkles dancing behind her lids; he moved up her body, shook off his pants; and it was quick, hard, and purposeful. Her moaning out 'more' and 'god, yes' had clearly spurred him.
After he cleaned up in the bathroom, he stretched on the bed near her. She still hadn't regained full control over her limbs - or over the cat-that-got-the-cream sort of grin on her face.
"Can I sleep more?" he asked.
"Of course," Jackie answered; and he scooped her, pulled her closer, and snuggled into her.
Her buttock was once again resting on his palm, just as the previous times. She wondered if he might develop a CTS from the hefty ballast.
"Just a few moments," he muttered. "You need to take a shower, right? I'll let you go in a jiffy."
Jackie threaded her fingers into his hair, and he sighed contently.
"You don't have to. And sleep as much as you need," she whispered. "I like you in my bed."
He'd said something similar at some point, she seemed to recall.
She nodded off for about half an hour, but eventually she needed to get up to go to the loo. That woke her up completely, and she decided to take the aforementioned shower. If his previous stats were anything to go by, that would be far from the last round for today. She needed to prepare some of her parts for a potential shag marathon.
She was sitting in the sitting room, in her robe over her naked body; pale morning light slowly climbing the wall opposite from her. She kept catching herself throwing looks at the stairs leading to the first floor; as she savoured her coffee, the silence around her, and the delicious tiredness in her body.
After about half an hour Tartufo creeped out of the utility closet and started approaching her, crouching low to the ground.
"So you know, cheetie, he's still upstairs," Jackie said and saluted the feline with her brew. "And that might become a recurring constant."
The cat froze in the middle of the room, in a weirdly elongated shape, cowering along the floor.
"No pressure, of course, but I think you should give him a chance. He's very gentle." Jackie, being the proverbial hormonal teen in her heart, snorted. "Well, when the circumstances call for it, that is."
The cat backed up, shuffled forward, reversed again, and retreated back into the utility closet. Jackie giggled at this awkward turn-in-the-road manoeuvre and took a sip of her coffee. Everything tasted, smelled, and looked exceptionally grand this morning - and she was very much aware that there was nothing new about the beans or the weather.
She finished another mug of coffee, a Chelsey bun, and two chapters of a new Emily R. Green's romance novel; when he shouted from upstairs, "May I take a shower, please?"
Jackie found his occasional formal language properly fit - but, truth be told, she found everything about him mind-blowingly sexy.
"Help yourself!" she hollered.
Twenty or so minutes later, he walked down the stairs - starkers. Jackie's mouth went dry.
"I've got clean pants in my bag," he said and pointed at his luggage that he'd left by the door the previous night.
"Um–" Jackie threw a panicked look behind her to make sure her curtains were closed. "Just– Yeah." For the record, she did try to keep her eyes above his waist. But it was such a gorgeous penis - as was all of him: the wide torso, the muscles, the thick body hair, the long arms, the big hands, the prominent strong thighs! To stop leering at him, she once again checked the windows. "Oh, I'm not worried someone will see you in my house!" she rushed to clarify. "Just maybe– not naked. Hazel tends to drop by unannounced. And she won't be shy about having a good look if allowed."
He took a few slow steps towards her, and she audibly swallowed a knot in her throat. When he stopped next to her, she told herself that she was imagining the waves of heat radiating from him.
"You aren't dressed either."
He bent slightly, hooked his finger on the opening of her robe, and pulled. That trickle of liquid warmth that his glance sent down between her breasts was definitely her imagination.
"Let's go back to bed," he said.
Jackie consulted her cautious side, then her randy side - and then lifted her hand and stroked him. A certain part of his anatomy had been standing at attention for a while now.
He caught her mouth in a kiss and pushed her back onto the sofa. The last clear thought she had in her mind, before it was filled with a flurry of desire and pleasure, was her praising herself for prudently stashing protection in a pocket of her robe.
***
She was filling the kettle in the kitchen, when he came from the bathroom and wrapped around her from behind.
"I've got pastries if you eat them for breakfast. And oats, of course," she said. He settled his chin on the top of her head. "And I've got all sorts of add-ons that you can put in your porridge, like nuts and fruit and so on," she continued. "They're in that shelf."
He took the kettle out of her hands and put it on the stove. His arm was long enough to reach it without shifting much.
"For me?"
"Yeah, I've gone a bit overboard," she muttered shyly. "I kept imagining you eating breakfast in my kitchen, and– yeah."
There was a graver note in his next question. "Why did you change your mind?"
"About us?" she asked, and he nodded - or maybe rubbed his beard to her noggin. Either was fine with her.
Jackie carefully turned, sliding her hands over his forearms, making sure not to break the circle of his embrace. She looked up and met his eyes.
"I went to the drag club where Jarvis Montjoy performs," she started. "I mean, Joy performs. And we talked." Jackie had anticipated the discussion and prepared the answer. "And I understood two things. Firstly, that I didn't know much about you. For example, that you two were still friends. You're an adult with your own history and your interests. I was caught up in my own worries, and I kept forgetting it." She smiled at him softly. "I know it now, and I will be more respectful. And secondly, I realised that I missed you terribly. I rethought it and decided that being with you was worth possible complications."
She leaned in and placed a light, tender kiss on his warm skin, over the clavicular head of his pectoralis major.
"I should send Jazzo a present," he said and nuzzled her behind her ear.
The caress was familiar; as was the cosy snuffling noise he made. Jackie suppressed the vengeful urge to throw 'Jazzo' under the figurative bus; but then she reminded herself that, firstly, her ridiculous misadventure in the club had helped. And secondly, in Alexander's case, said bus would probably end up being a Enviro400 Stagecoach double decker. Joy had had implied to worry about her well-being, should Alexander find out about her behaviour towards Jackie. And most importantly, Joy's tantrum was between her and Jackie; and the latter wasn't planning to intrude on any of Alexander's relationships.
"I think we should date," she said firmly. "Properly. And openly. If you still want it."
"I do," he answered.
There hadn't been any of his habitual pause before the response; and Jackie pressed into him flush and hugged him tightly around his waist.
"I might not be good at it," he murmured. "It's not my gig. Going to movies and so on. Or restaurants. Recipes and kitchens? Maybe. But not the whole sitting and talking schtick."
"I had a lot of fun in the Serpent's Nest with you," Jackie reassured him and softly ran her palms up and down his thoracolumbar fascia. "But we don't have to do that again. The whole point is to learn what the other one likes, and to find something we can enjoy together."
"Besides sex?" he checked; and Jackie chuckled.
"Yes, whatever it is that we can enjoy together in the rare moments that we aren't shagging," she joked.
"We sleep and take showers together," he pointed out.
Jackie pursed her lips to hide a grin she was holding back. "Excellent. That's already three shared activities."
"We both cook and eat each other's cooking," he continued.
"Exactly."
"And I think I'll have a couple of pastries for breakfast," he stated.
He wasn't moving, and Jackie studied his suddenly aloof face.
"Yes?" Jackie encouraged.
"Do we need to go on a date tonight?"
Jackie burst into laughter and dropped her forehead against his sternum. She was still chortling when she felt his chest rise in an exasperated sigh. Being a loved-up muppet, she, of course, had missed the sighs as well.
"Or... we could just stay in all day, eat, have sex, and maybe watch some telly?" she offered and peeked at him.
She could see relief wash over him.
"Sounds good," he answered and snogged her.
***
"You're going to collapse from starvation," Jackie pointed out, and he hummed. She tenderly ruffled his curls. "Let me go, and I'll sanitise the table."
His head was lying heavily on her shoulder.
"I'll tighten the table legs," he said. "It was creaking more this time."
"After we get some food into you."
She kissed his ear, and he huffed a happy chuff into her neck.
"Pastries might not do it for me now," he murmured. "Could I have some of that chicken from yesterday, please?"