And she was supposed to be an adult female who had merely had a fun night with an equally adult male.
“I’ve been busy lately. I’ll try to clean up this morning.” Casual. Cool. She wasn’t bothered at all by the fact that she was lying around naked. Nope. Not at all.
He chuckled a little and leaned against the doorjamb. “Come on, Mills. You got to be able to take a joke.”
“It’s not really a joke. I think I saw something growing in the fridge. I haven’t been very attentive to housekeeping lately.” She bet any girlfriend of Derek’s likely was. He seemed to be an organized guy. His desk was always neat as a pin. She was lucky if she could find anything on hers.
“Yeah, pretty sure that was going to rise up and take us all down one of these days. Luckily I think I tossed it out before it gained intelligence and led a fungal revolution.”
She felt her cheeks flare. “God, Brighton, you didn’t have to do that.”
“I did if I’m going to keep my sanity. I’m the slightest bit OCD about some things, including being able to open the fridge with little to no fear that I’ll be attacked. The good news is now it’s clean and I’m going to show you something amazing. It’s called food. You see, we buy these things like eggs and milk and then they’re waiting there when we want to cook.”
She couldn’t help but send him her middle finger. Something about the man brought out the worst in her. “I cooked last night.”
“And you only bought the stuff for dinner.”
“Which you ate all of. Normally that would last me a week.”
“Now you have to feed me,” he said, his voice dropping. “And I like to eat, Karina. I’m a big guy and I need a lot to satisfy me. How about we make a deal? We’re stuck together for a while. I’ll clean. You cook. If you do breakfast anything like you did dinner, I will happily dust this whole place.”
Somehow the idea of Derek walking around with a duster in his hand made her giggle. “I had no idea how handy you were. I kind of thought you would have some sub do that for you. Aren’t you looking for a slave?”
His smile faltered. “Yes, well we know that’s nothing you’re interested in. If we’re going to survive this I have to be a little less rigid. Besides, I guess I never really thought about that part. I wasn’t trying to find a maid. I’ve cleaned up after myself for a long time.”
Then what exactly was he expecting his chosen sub to do all day if she wasn’t keeping house? It wasn’t forever, but he was right. They needed some rules if they were going to share her very small space. She just needed to be able to get her eyes off his chest long enough to think about what a good rule would be. Maybe he shouldn’t walk around shirtless so she didn’t turn into a drooling idiot every time he entered the room.
“What do you say?” Derek asked. “I’ll even put together that bookshelf you shoved into the front closet.”
She groaned a little. “All the instructions are in Swedish. I’m not very handy.”
“I am. I think you’ll find me very handy to have around. Do we have a deal?”
He must be really hungry. “Yes. Now if you give me a sec, I’ll shower and get breakfast going.”
“We have plenty of time. Now for the second part of our deal. Drop the sheet. I want to see you.”
“What?”
“I want to see your breasts. I want to see your legs. Hell, I want to see your toes, gorgeous. I want to see the way your skin looks in the morning light because I dreamed about it all last night. That’s right. My dreams are usually shitty, but last night I dreamed about fucking you and I slept like a baby. So drop the sheet and show me.”
Last night seemed like a dream. “Derek, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“Just play with me. Sleep with me. Be with me for a week, maybe two. Think of it as a vacation from where you usually are. I don’t know about you, but I’m lonely. I would really like to take a vacation from being alone even if it’s just for a little while. Hell, I’ll be honest. I want you more than I want my next breath. I just…can’t we just be for a while?”
If he’d pushed her, if he’d talked about fucking or screwing around or even called it sex, she might have been able to get up and walk away. His words had begun an ache that pierced through her because she hadn’t really known how lonely she’d been until he’d kissed her. He might be using her as a stand-in for his perfect submissive, but she knew that the only reason he could fill the void was because he was Derek.