Jolie was exhausted. Her plan to buy Warren a new IPod was brilliant but seriously hampered by the fact he lived in a tiny little town devoid of even a Walmart. She'd been forced to drive 50 miles to the next largest town to get her hands on one and it had been a total madhouse due to the proximity to Christmas.
With electronic device in hand she'd called in a large everything pizza for pickup and texted Warren she was going to be late with her apologies. When she'd finally arrived home exhausted and starving she'd displayed her most unladylike behavior to date as she'd devoured three slices of the heavily laden pizza.
She hadn't lied when she'd answered him about what she had been up to. She truly had been forced to run out of town to obtain a last minute Christmas present, she just failed to mention it was for him or what it was.
She was slightly embarrassed about her behavior toward Noelle. Before she'd known it her inner bitch had engaged in response to the other woman's attitude. Something about the way Noelle had been leaned in trying to brush her body against Warrens had irritated her deeply but she'd resolved to ignore it. Then when the little red head had put on her snide smile and tried to make Jolie seem like some sort of simpering female trying to bribe Warren into liking her.....well that was just about it.
Warren hadn't seemed to mind one bit and in fact seemed to enjoy Jolie's pointed severing of the red headed third wheel. She only felt bad about what abuse he may have had to take after she'd made her exit. Despite what Noelle had intimated when they'd first met, Jolie didn't think Warren reciprocated the red heads obvious interest in him.
After dinner she'd snuggled into the couch intending only to watch a couple of episodes of their shows before heading off to bed. She awoke in unfamiliar darkness some time later. The feel of the upholstery and the heavy quilt clued her in to the fact she was still on the couch. She was facing the opposite direction she'd started in since her left side was against the back and her neck was bent at an odd angle against a hard warm pillow.
Slowly her mind came around to the realization that there was not a hard warm pillow but that she was in fact leaned up against a very fit body. She also became aware that a muscled warm arm was currently draped over her shoulder and across her chest holding her securely in her current position.
Jolie wiggled to adjust her head a little and tried to decide what to do about her predicament. She was sure that the right thing to do would be to carefully extricate herself and sneak off to her room in hopes that Warren had no idea what was going on and would remember nothing in the morning. Even if he did remember she could blame it on her crazy restless sleep activity.
The problem was that she was really comfortable and had absolutely no desire to move. The simple contact satiated a gnawing craving she'd been feeling deep within her gut. He smelled like warm clean cotton. Despite the hardness of his chest, the rhythmic rise and fall and soft material of his shirt were soothing.
In that moment she made a decision. Admittedly she'd probably hate it in the morning but right now she wasn't going to think about that. Right now she was going to savor this little bit of human interaction and contact. She shifted to her side and settled herself more comfortably against his warm chest. His arm tensed and pulled her closer before going limp again. Jolie relaxed into the warmth of his body and drifted back into sleep.
*********
Christmas Eve dawned brightly with sun shining brilliantly on a thin layer of fresh snow. Jolie cracked an eye and tested her ability to handle the brightness but kept the other pressed firmly into Warren's chest. It seemed to be doable so she shifted to enable the opening of the other as well. She let her eyes roam about the room as she adjusted. Their final destination was locked onto a pair of gorgeous green obs.
"Hey" she chirped trying to hide how self conscious she felt but she could feel her face getting warm.
"Good morning sunshine," he smiled and she felt something drop in her stomach. His arm was still around her and he squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.
"Sorry I fell asleep on you. I hope I didn't drool on you or anything," she moved to check but he held her in place. "I don't even know how I ended up over here. You slept sitting up all night, which must have been awful."
"You didn't its fine. You were out and then you moved to stretch out but couldn't because it wasn't long enough so I pulled you up to me so you could put your legs out and have some where to lay your head."
She was shocked. She certainly hadn't seen that coming.
"Well if you're looking to get hired on as a professional pillow you're going to have to put on a few pounds." She joked as she reluctantly pulled up into a sitting position and rubbed her eyes. "Those rock hard, finely chiseled muscles of yours would need a layer of fat to really sink into."
He snorted. "And here I thought keeping in shape would be a draw for women."
"Don't get me wrong I slept great. My normal pillow is just a lot softer." She shot him a teasing smile and got up. "Must brush teeth. Must make coffee. And waffles......mmmmm waffles." She retreated down the hall to the bathroom happy that it had gone so easily. She felt certain she'd successfully played off how deeply sleeping against him had affected her.
She splashed cold water on her face and scrubbed away the last vestiges of sleep with grapefruit scrub but she couldn't scrub away the sexual tension still zipping through her body. That smile, his sleepy eyes and mussed up hair had done her in. When he'd squeezed her he'd set the slow simmering desire in her middle on fire.
She'd imagined those strong arms pulling her up so that they were face to face, hazel to emerald green. In the flash of a moment she'd seen him place his lips on hers and kiss her passionately but slowly like he had all morning to get his fill. She'd stopped the fantasy there to keep from embarrassing herself plus she'd needed to focus on their conversation.
Things weren't any better after taming her hair and brushing her teeth. She could smell coffee brewing from the kitchen. She blessed him silently as she scampered across the hall to her unused bedroom.
Estelle had closed the store for Christmas Eve and Christmas day stating that family was more important and procrastinators had to learn. She picked out a comfortable outfit for a day at home but sat down in frustration before she was done. She simply couldn't focus with this many hormones coursing through her.
With a sigh she pulled the shoebox from under her bed and her good friend B.O.B. In a few minutes she'd be right as rain and capable of putting on clothes and facing the world.
*************
Warren was halfway through frying a package of bacon and sipping on his cup of black coffee when she reappeared looking flushed and happy. Instantly his mind returned to those hazel eyes staring up at him this morning and her soft body held close. He'd half expected her to bolt but been pleasantly surprised when she'd simply stretched and continued their easy banter.
Her freaking out had been his biggest concern when he'd pulled her close and settled her against him to make her comfortable but once she'd snuggled up, breathing softly he'd been absolutely incapable of letting her go. He wouldn't lie to himself and claim he hadn't wanted her but the intimacy of just holding her had been more than enough for the time being.
Now here she was looking fresh and vibrant and he had the whole next two days with her. She picked up the cup of coffee he'd poured for her and added a healthy dollop of cream and honey before taking a sip.
"So good," she mumbled then began pulling ingredients and utensils from the drawers and cabinets. As he finished the bacon she assembled the batter for waffles and had the first batch in the waffle iron by the time he had pulled the syrup and butter from the fridge.
He set to work setting the table as the sweet smell of Belgian waffles filled the kitchen. He marveled at how easily they worked together as if they'd been doing it for years. Everything was on the table just as the first batch was ready to be delivered.
After he'd consumed 3 waffles and half a pound of bacon he leaned back in half pleasure and half agony.
"So what are your plans for today?"
She was still working her way through her second waffle and finished chewing before answering. "Just finishing up a couple more batches of cookies. I want to take a large goody plate to your family tomorrow. Then I have some random computer stuff to do and one last present to wrap."
"Is today fudge day?" He gave her his best puppy dog face.
"Maybe."
They cleaned up the remains of the meal. Jolie settled into her baking rhythm and Warren retreated to the quiet of the garage where he worked on projects to escape her punk rock Christmas album until the cookies arrived.
Jolie just finished up pulling the last sheet out and was moving cookies over to the cooling rack when Warren poked his head in the front door and yelled to be heard over Reliant K's "Silent Night".
"Hey Joe are you busy? Can you help me with something out front?" She gave him thumbs up signal and hurried to grab the remote and turn down the music. Once he saw she was putting on her coat he ducked back outside.
Jolie pulled her hat and mittens on and slid her feet into her snow boots while zipping up her coat. When she was sufficiently bundled she stepped out into the cold. It hadn't warmed up as much as she thought it would and the snow was maintaining its softness for the moment. She took a deep breath and turned to look for Warren just as a compacted orb of partially frozen precipitation made contact with her right shoulder.
Her eyes zeroed in on Warren hiding behind a small bush on the corner of his front yard. His knit hat did not quite make it below the line of the bush and he seemingly was not aware of this being the case. Jolie quickly stooped grabbed a healthy handful of snow and started packing her own missile as she sprinted across the yard. Too late he realized his poor stealth as she rounded the bush and hit him square in the neck and his partially covered ear.
"Ow! No head shots!" he yelled while scooping snow. She was already packing her follow up and close on his heels. That one hit him between the shoulder blades. He turned and tried to fling his at her while protecting his face but it went way wide. She retaliated by nailing him in the right butt cheek as he scooped for more snow. He was now running pell-mell across the yard with her in hot pursuit loaded with two freshly packed snowballs.
Warren hit the edge of the driveway and his legs went out from under him. The next instant he was flat on his back staring up at an avenging angel of winter fitted out in a rainbow knit beanie, scarf and mittens.
"Truce! I'm down; you can't hit people when they're down!" He stumbled for the words that would save him from his fate but they failed. She sank down onto his chest pinning him with her weight as she applied both snowballs to his face in vigorous fashion.
When she pulled her hands away his skin was red and wet. She laughed as he coughed and snorted shooting snow out of his nose. "I don't think that went the way you had hoped."
"No. Definitely not how I envisioned that playing out," he admitted in between sputtering and deep breaths. "But you my dear do not weigh enough to hold me down." With that he locked his hands onto her legs and flipped her onto her back with a yelp and a squeal.
"How the tables have turned!" he announced before taking a handful of snow and depositing it onto her face. To his credit he did not rub it in but simply watched as she shook her head back and forth to rid herself of it. "See I'm nicer than you, no rubbing." She glared up at him not speaking.
"Awe come on! You got me way worse so don't even look at me that way. It's only fair." She continued to glare or at least tried to. She wasn't really angry but she wasn't going to tell him that and she'd hold the blank, angry face as long as she could until he broke.
"You got a good arm on you." He tried for the compliment but got nothing. She was so darn cute with her pseudo angry face. He could tell she was just playing him now. He eyes sparkled with mirth and there was no way she could subdue that. "Don't make me make you smile."
She held firm, or tried to. "Fine. I'll serenade you. Ohhhh....I wish I was an Oscar Meyer Weiner because that is what I truly want to be! And if I was an Oscar Meyer Weiner everyone would be in love with me!!!"
She struggled to keep the corners of her mouth cast down. She'd heard him sing and knew he could. He'd just howled his way through his little commercial for the sake of irritation and while she wanted to laugh she'd be damned if she'd lose this little standoff.
"So close. I saw it. Kudos to you for the recovery. You're going to make me haul out the big guns then." She stared up at him defiantly, quite sure that there was nothing he could do that would break her resolve. Suddenly his smile dropped and his brows knit together in all seriousness. He moved swiftly, she only had two seconds notice before his lips were on hers.
It was short but amazing. The first five seconds were marred by her complete shock and she regretted having lost them but her mind woke up soon enough and caught up to the fact that he was kissing her......and she liked it.
Too soon it was over. He leaned back and looked down at her face which was now slack and awe stricken but not at all angry.
"I win." He stood up, dusted snow off his person and walked away leaving Jolie frozen in place as her mind continued to reel. She took stock of her body and all its tingling places; the most prominent of those being her lips and below the belt. After a moment she realized how ridiculous she must look and pulled herself up to standing.
Carefully she brushed the snow from her body and took a look at the house. She'd have to go inside. It was where all her stuff was, it was where she lived but she couldn't help but think to herself
'Holy shit, now what?'