I'm still not certain how things will go when she wakes up. Sometimes in the light of day, everything looks different.
A soft knock on her bedroom door catches my attention. It's gentle and then nothing.
"She in there?" I hear Barry ask.
"It's locked," Maggie tells him.
I hear their footsteps as they walk on past. Berklee stirs in my arms, stretching her limbs.
"Morning, baby." I kiss her temple.
Her eyes pop open and she blinks a few times. I see the minute it all comes rushing back to her. Our night together, the reason she's curled up in my arms, in her bed. "Hi. You stayed," she states the obvious.
"I did."
"Last night. . . ."
"Was amazing. What are we doing today?" I ask her.
"We?"
"Yes, we. I'm not ready to let you go yet. What are your plans today? I'm supposed to go to my parents' for dinner, but I can cancel." All I have to do is tell them that I'm spending the day with Berklee and they'll get it.
"Oh, you should go. Don't let me keep you." She starts to roll away but I stop her.
"If I go, you go."
"Crew."
"Berklee."
"What is this? What are we doing?"
There it is. I was waiting for it. "We're us," I tell her, tapping her ass with my hand.
"What does that mean?" she says, almost whining.
I chuckle. "We are us, you and me. Crew and Berklee. You're mine."
"Are you mine?" she fires back.
I roll on top of her and kiss her, morning breath be damned. "All yours," I say against her lips. No truer words have ever been spoken. I've given her all of me.
"You're my boss."
"I'm your man," I counter, and she tries like hell to fight her grin. "We'll figure it out as we go. Right now, you need to decide what you want to do today."
"I-I don't really have any plans."
"Good. You can come to my parents' with me."
"I can't just crash dinner at your parents.'"
"Not crashing, attending. Trust me, the more the merrier, especially when the more is you."
"Berklee, your phone's blowing up. Your mom has called three times," Maggie says through the door.
"I'll get it." I climb out of bed, slide into my jeans and open the bedroom door, just enough for my arm to snake out and reach for the phone. I don't want to risk anyone seeing her still lying naked in her bed.
"Why, Berklee, what nice ink you have." Maggie laughs, placing the phone in my hand.
"Thanks," I say, shutting the door and twisting the lock before she can try and weasel her way in.
I toss Berklee the phone and then head to the bathroom. Once I'm done, I find her still on the phone. "Mom, I kind of have plans today."
"Tell her yes. Whatever it is, yes," I whisper in her ear.
"Sure, okay fine. Yeah, I'll be there in an hour."
"I'm going with you," I say, kissing her neck.
"Uh, I might have someone with me." She's trying to keep her voice from giving away the fact that I'm kissing her. "Yeah, uh, Crew. He, uh, might come with me." She's quiet and then says, "It's complicated, Mom. I can't answer that." She listens again. "Okay see you soon." She drops her phone to the mattress and sighs.
"What's complicated?" I ask immediately.
"This." She points her finger back and forth between the two of us. "What was I supposed to say to her?"
"That we're dating." I don't see what's so complicated with that.
"Is that what we're doing? I'm still kind of processing the last twelve hours."
"Yes."
"She invited me over for lunch. It's been a while since I've been there."
"I'll call my parents and move our plans to later today so we can do both."
"Are we really doing this? Are we taking each other home to the parents? Isn't this crazy to you?"
"The only thing crazy in this situation is the fact that my girl is naked and I'm about to push her off to the shower instead of sliding inside her heat." I climb out of bed and pull her with me. "We're doing this, babe. You and me. We've been skirting around it for weeks and it's happening. Now go get ready. We don't want to be late. I still have to swing by my place to shower and change."
"I could-"
"Nope. Not letting you out of my sight. Not giving you the chance to second-guess this." I pull her naked body close. "We." Kiss. "Are." Kiss. "Doing." Kiss. "This." I smack her ass. "Shower, woman, before I take you back to bed." She actually looks like she's contemplating what the right decision is, and I throw my head back and laugh. "Go." She grins, turns and runs for the shower.