“I wanted to make sure you had enough time to shower and get to work. Sorry about the early hour, Sunshine.”
He kissed my forehead and I squinted at him.
“No big. Why don’t you get up and make me breakfast, or get it, or something and I’ll just lay here for a little while and . . . get myself mentally ready.”
“You’re not a morning person, are you? I thought you would be.”
“Why? Because of the name? I think that was wishful thinking on my parents’ part. Besides, nobody really calls me by my full first name, not even my parents.”
He got up and pulled his boxers back on before he leaned over me.
“I’m going to get some breakfast ready. If you’re not in the shower in ten minutes, I’m coming in here and throwing you in.” He nipped the end of my nose and I put the pillow over my head.
“Get up, Sunshine,” he said, ripping the covers off me.
“Douchebag!”
His only answer was to laugh as he banged around the kitchen. Well, if the alarm didn’t get me up, the noise in the kitchen did. I grabbed my bag and went to shower. One of these mornings I wanted to shower with him. Or nights. Just nights. Maybe tomorrow.
I blow dried my hair and got it up before I put on my work attire. I was back to my pencil skirts and buttoned shirts and I had my red heels on. His back was to me as I walked into the kitchen, but the moment he heard my heels on the tile floor, he turned.
“You’re trying to end me, Sunshine. There’s no way I can work today. I give up.” He held his hands up, one of them holding a spatula.
“Don’t be so dramatic, Mr. Ginger.” I walked closer to see what he was doing. Looked like omelets in one pan and fried potatoes in another. I’d never been so spoiled with breakfast before.
“Hey, I’m very sensitive about my hair color. Be careful there, Miss Clarke.” I grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged on it.
“What are you making?” I made sure to keep my distance from the pans so I didn’t get grease on my white shirt.
“Omelets and potatoes. Which reminds me, what would you like in your omelet? I have peppers, cheese and tomatoes.”
“All of the above. One of these mornings, I’m going to make you breakfast. Sloane has taught me a thing or two in the kitchen.”
He flipped one of the omelets.
“Will you do it wearing nothing but those heels and an apron?”
“We’ll see,” I said, going for the coffeepot. He’d already put out the cream and sugar for me.
“I’m still going to have to buy you breakfast to keep up appearances,” I said as I sipped the coffee and felt instantly better. I knew it couldn’t affect me that quickly, but damn it was good stuff.
“I don’t mind second breakfast,” he said with a little smile, almost as if he was enjoying an inside joke.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh, nothing.” He scooped my omelet out of the pan and onto a plate, then added some potatoes. I went to the fridge and searched around until I found some ketchup.
“It should be illegal to eat potatoes without ketchup,” I said, squirting some on the side of the plate.
“What about potato chips?” he said, making up his own plate and declining my offer of ketchup.
“I eat those with ketchup too.” My omelet was really good and filled with extra cheese.
“I hope you like me thick, because if I keep eating breakfast like this, there’s gonna be more of me.” He shrugged.
“I’ve never liked girls with nothing to them. There’s nothing attractive about f**king a skeleton.” I made a face.
“Nice description.”
“Hey, it’s true.”
We finished breakfast and it was time for our night to be over. I took my bag and he walked me to the door.
“See you at the-place-we-won’t-name,” I said, giving him one last kiss.
“See you later, Miss Clarke.” I walked backwards as he closed the door slowly.
I had to fight a deep sigh as I walked toward the elevator. I was joined by a woman with a giant box in her hands so I held the door for her.
“Oh, thank you,” the woman said, and I recognized her voice. It was the woman who’d knocked on Lucah’s door last night. But she didn’t know who I was.
That didn’t stop me from fidgeting and blushing the entire ride down to the lobby. The woman smiled at me as she exited and I left after her, still blushing.
17
I swung by a coffee shop and got our second breakfast before I hopped in a cab and headed to the office. Somehow, Lucah (I’d have to remind myself to call him Lucas out loud at work) beat me there and I smoothed my facial expression and tried to walk normally as I approached his desk.
“Good morning, Mr. Blaine. I thought I would bring you breakfast.” I set the bag on his desk and he gave me a cordial smile.
“Well that was very nice of you, Miss Clarke. I was just sitting here and kicking myself that I had neglected to eat breakfast this morning.”
“You’re welcome, Mr. Blaine,” I said and walked to my office, sat down and gave him a huge wink. He stuck his tongue out at me and I turned my computer on and started checking my messages.
I had quite a few. It seemed that overnight one of our servers had gone down and they were still working on getting it up and running. Even in a building full of people who knew everything there was to know about computers, we still had problems. If the problem persisted, we were going to have to look at maybe getting a few more backup servers, which weren’t going to be cheap. Lovely. If the fight about the pens had been bad, this was going to be even worse.
I scarcely had time to glance at Lucah because I was so busy doing damage control the entire day. I was starving by one thirty, and I knew there was no way I was going to leave the office at this rate.
I picked up the phone and dialed Lucah.
“I’m so sorry, but it doesn’t look like I’m going to get to leave my desk to pee, let alone eat, so could you get me some lunch?” It was perfectly within his job description, but I felt like a bitch asking.
“What do I get in return?” he said in a low voice.
“Um, nothing, seeing as how this is part of your job, Mr. Blaine. Don’t make me write you up.”
He sighed.
“Fine. But you owe me a blow job.” I gasped and he laughed. “What can I get you, Miss Clarke?”
I had barely left my desk by the end of the day, and it felt strange to stand after sitting for so long. I was exhausted.