“Sorry, did I wake you?” He asks.
“Um, yeah. Rule number two, no hammering until at least noon on the weekends.” I try to smile, but I can’t take my eyes away from his shirtless chest.
He notices that I’m not looking him in the eyes and grins.
“Sorry. I didn’t think I was being that loud.” He offers. “My eyes are up here Tate.”
“What are you making?”
“To be honest, I’m not sure. I bought this table thing and it came in a million pieces, it’s worse than IKEA.” He wipes his brow and he’s leering at me like I’m prey.
I look down and notice that I’m wearing boxers and a tiny tank top with no bra. My tank top is showing my alert nipples and I cover myself up as I look back up to Max. He shrugs and smiles.
“I was about to give up anyways, I’ve been trying to hammer these things for the past 45 minutes and I’m obviously not getting anywhere.” He says starting his way to me.
“It looks like a beaver’s dam.” I laugh.
He turns and starts laughing, looking at the scene from beside me.
“Come on, I wanna get your input on something.” He turns and I follow him back inside.
He takes me down the hallway and at the very end, is a closed door. I never noticed it before but now that we’re about to enter, I’m all the more interested.
He opens the door, and he walks inside, as I linger in the doorway.
“I didn’t know the house had 3 bedrooms.” I say looking around at everything.
“This is my office. I’ve never really used it as such, but I was thinking, what if we use this as Peanuts room?” He finally says.
The air has been pushed out of my lungs and tears are threatening to fall. I cross my arms over my chest and hug myself.
“Okay.” I squeak out, and as I take a deep breath the tears have emerged. Max notices and then he’s rushing to my side. His hands are on both of my shoulders and he’s bent down to look me square in the face.
“Hey, did I do something wrong? Are you okay, is everything okay? Shit, fuck. I knew I should have waited.” He’s started to ramble.
I shake my head and uncross my arms so I can wipe at the tears on my face.
“No, no… it’s just I wasn’t expecting this. Any of this.” I sniff waving my hand toward him.
He pulls me against his chest and hugs me. He’s rubbing my back as I breathe in and out.
Day one in the new place, and I’ve already cried like an idiot. I pull back and look up at him. He’s just as good looking up close as he was that night at the hotel bar when he was flirting shamelessly with me.
“I’m sorry, I’m just emotional. Sorry. This is great Max, really great.” I sniffle as I stare into his blue eyes and study the bridge of his nose and his soft pink lips, those soft, soft lips.
I pull out of his arms suddenly as I start to feel an ache in my stomach and my throat goes dry. Damn hormones.
“Huh?” Max looks at me. Did I just say that out loud?
“What?” I ask.
“What about hormones?” He asks with a straight face.
He’s fucking with me now. “Um, nothing. I’m going to shower, your sweat just rubbed all over me.”
Damnit, why did I say it like that?
I smack myself in the forehead and look at Max. He’s grinning and now looking my body up and down.
I shuffle out of the room quickly and back into my bedroom. I quickly grab my bath towel and rush into the hallway bathroom, hoping Max won’t be there to see me in my frantic glory. Except he’s standing in the doorway to the office… baby’s room watching me dart back and forth.
I finish my shower and get dressed in record time. I swallow a prenatal pill and pull my long hair up into a bun and leave the confines of my bedroom. Surely, Max won’t be lingering around. But he is, he’s lingering around in the kitchen now.
This is what life will be like now, I’ll be fat and pregnant, having inappropriate thoughts about my new roommate, who also happens to be my baby’s father. Great! Max notices me in the entranceway and without really looking up from the counter he starts to talk.
“So, I thought maybe we can spend the day together. I’ll make some breakfast, then we can go to the store and get you whatever you need. And then maybe we can just hang out? If you want?” He finally looks up.
“Um, sure. That sounds great. Thank you.” I say, relaxing a bit.
“I thought of a rule.” He says as he turns around.
“Okay.”
“Rule number three is no more see through tank tops.” He smirks as I gasp.
“My tank top wasn’t see through… was it?” I try to picture it, I’ve never really looked at it like that before, it is an old ratty tank top. Holy shit.
“I’m not complaining. Trust me, I’m not. But I think maybe just for now, tank tops need to be not see through.” He blows out a breath as if he’s kept it in the entire time.
“Deal.” I hide my face in my hands.
“Hey, no need to be embarrassed. I did put a baby in you after all.”
“Yeah, this I am well aware of. So what’s for breakfast?” I ask looking at the arrangement of veggies in front of him.
“Omelettes and sausage. I remember you saying bacon was off the table, so we’ll have the 2nd best thing.” He smiles.
“Sounds good, can I help with anything?” I ask, desperately wanting something to keep my hands busy so I don’t think about running them over his body.
“Nope. This is your first meal in your new home. You sit your pretty butt down and relax. Did you take your pill today?”
“Is that how the next 8 months will be? You reminding me to take my pill?” I started to get defensive.
“No, not at all.” He smiles and resumes his chopping. “Please just tell me if I do anything that isn’t cool with you. This is new territory for me. I’ve never lived with a chick, aside my mom.” He admits.
“Never? Max Hunter, engineer playboy extraordinaire?”
He laughs and shakes his head.
I stare at him, and watch him cut the onions next. The muscles in his arm are so corded and so sexy. I must have made some sort of noise as Max peers up at me through his eyelashes and smiles. I lick my lips and squirm in my chair.
Who knew that making breakfast could be so sexy?
24
Max
I’m standing around the buffet table stacked with donuts and cookies with Leo. Sunday night meetings are my favorites; everyone is so relaxed as if their work weeks give them the drive to drink. Leo is talking about how insane his fiancée is driving him with wedding details and all I am thinking of is getting home and seeing Tatum.
After all the meetings we attend together, we linger and have a donut with stale coffee while we catch up. Even though we see another twice a week, it’s good to catch up on what’s been going on. Most of the time, we don’t talk about anything other than his upcoming wedding. This time around, I can’t wait for him to finish his latest, so I can tell him that Tatum moved in finally.
She moved in and I am trying to refrain from thinking about her as anything other than my roommate. I don’t know how this sort of thing works, I’ve never lived with a female before, I practically begged for Betsy to move in, but she liked her own space and even though she had plenty of her belongings at my house and stayed over more often than not, she still refused to make it official.
Tatum has got a slight baby bump, it’s not too noticeable, but I swear that I saw it when she came out into the backyard wearing the tank top that was practically flashing her high-beams at me this morning.
“You’re awfully quiet, yet you seem alright… what’s up brother?” Leo asks.
“Tatum, she moved in yesterday.” I smile.
“Whoa, really? I thought she hadn’t given you an answer?” Leo says.
“She sprung it up on me when she stopped by, which by the way was a little awkward.” I clear my throat. “Nikki had stopped by, for some quick releas
e.”
“Nikki… is she the college student? One of the hook-ups?”
“Yeah, a steady one.”
“Whoa, how did that go? Tatum didn’t interrupt, or walk in… did she?” Leo was a bit dramatic.
“Not at all. I couldn’t go through with it with Nikki. Tatum would have probably interrupted if I could have though.” I ran my hand through my hair. “Nikki and I, well we’re friends too. And well, we’ll stay that way, and only that way now.”
“Are you and Tatum..?” Leo asks.
“No, no, and no! We’re getting to know one another, we’re just roommates.” I explain.
“Okay, sure.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We’ve known another for what, 3-4 months now? I’ve known you to be driven and moody in the little time we’ve been acquainted. Right now, right now you look eager to get home to your woman.”
“Shut up.” I don’t think that’s true, is it?
“I’m just calling it like I see it man. So, when do I get to meet her?”
“Whenever. Maybe you and your lady can come over next week for dinner? I can clear it with Tatum and then yeah.” I offer.
“Yup, clear it with your woman and I’ll clear it with mine.” Leo smirks. I playfully punch him.
* * *
I unlock the front door and hear the hum of the television from the living room. The house is mainly dark except a lamp is on next to the couch. Tatum is sitting on the couch surrounded by drawings and construction paper. School had started earlier this week, Tatum is sitting cross legged and dammit she’s wearing that tank top again. Rule number three is broken and now I’m thinking inappropriate thoughts.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t know when you’d be home. I’ll clean this up. Just some school work.”
“This looks better than when Davis would sit around with his school work for his class. It all looked much more boring, yours is colorful.”
She laughs softly and starts stacking some of the drawings. I grab a few off the arm of the couch.
“What’s this supposed to be?” I ask holding up a drawing.
“The topic was summer plans. I think that’s a house. Let me see whose it is?” She stands and comes closer to me, I can clearly see through her tank top, thankfully she’s wearing a bra. My pants are tightening, which seems wrong while I’m holding a 5 year old’s homework assignment.
“Yeah, that’s Macy’s. Her family bought a new home this summer, so I think that’s the house.” She says grabbing the drawing from me. I look at another drawing and it’s a set of swings, another is of a boat and then another is a stick figure surrounded by animals. I smile, she is going to make a great mother, if she can interpret this stuff.
“What?” She asks, noticing my smile.
“Just thinking that … you broke a rule.” I smile even bigger as my eyes are pinned to her chest.
“What?” She looks down and notices the tank top she had on this morning.
I shrug and head into the kitchen. I empty out my pockets and then into my bedroom to change. I change into some gym shorts and as I walk to my dresser for a shirt, I decide against it. I adjust myself so my hard on is not so obvious and I walk out of the bedroom and back into the kitchen and grab a water then plop down besides her on the couch.
“My God, you’re just like a child.” She says as she catches air from my plop.
“Meh. What are we watching?” I ask grabbing the remote.
“I just have it on as background noise, change it to whatever you want, I still have a good 20 minutes left of cataloging and stuff.” She says, staring straight at my chest.
“My eyes are up here Tatum.” I tease her. She flushes and quickly looks at the papers in front of us on the coffee table. I place my arm behind her on the couch as she works. She occasionally will look in my direction, I’ve purposely put a few of her papers on the other side of me, and she reached across me for the first one, where her breast rubbed against my stomach, then to put her and myself out of misery I moved them to the coffee table. I adjusted myself again to camouflage my boner and hoped that she didn’t notice what she caused.
She finishes her work, packed it up, and put her box on the dining room table then took her seat again beside me.
We settle on the couch, not speaking but both engrossed in an FX reality show that I have recorded.
We sit there, with her knee touching my thigh, and my arm still draped behind her across the top of the couch. Somewhere towards the end of the episode, she was closer and leaning towards me more. I looked over at her and her eyes were getting heavy.
“Hey Tate, you okay over there?” I ask her, sitting up a little and looking at her. She slowly turns her head to me and nods with a slow smile.
“Hey, let’s get you into bed? Yeah?” I say smoothly.
“No, I’m awake, just one more episode, I want to know what happens next,” she says. I look at the clock, it’s only 9pm, I’m not going to sleep anytime soon.
“Sure. Here’s a pillow, put your feet up on my lap and lay down.” I hold out one of the throw pillows that she brought with her in her direction. She takes it and changes her position. Her ankle brushes with the length of my dick and I hope to God that she didn’t notice. I steel a glance at her, and she’s oblivious, and better yet, her foot hasn’t moved as it touches my twitching dick.
The next episode started and by the first commercial she was passed out. I finished watching the show, as I had my hand on her foot with my fingers drawing circular patterns. I slowly move from under her feet, and I bend to lift her up to carry her to her bedroom. I gently place her in her bed and pull the covers over her.
“Max.” She whispers.
I turn around, expecting her eyes to be open. But they’re closed.
Is she dreaming of me?
* * *
Tatum has lived in the house for a week. Every night this past week, I’ve carried her to her bedroom and placed her in bed. It’s been torture each and every night as I would rather have been bringing her to my bedroom. But we haven’t crossed that line, regardless of her breaking rule number three every night and especially the mornings we bump into another in the hallway before her shower. She gets up every morning at 6 a.m., she leaves her bedroom and starts for the shower at 6:15 a.m. every morning, it just so happens to be the time that I run into her on my way to the kitchen to start the coffee. She hasn’t tried to cover up in the mornings when we bump into each other, I’m hoping she hasn’t caught on yet.
It’s again Friday night, and I’m sitting at the dining room table with my laptop and a few folders on either side of me, when I hear the front door open and close. Tatum walks into the dining area holding a giant take out bag. She’s wearing a bright green knee length dress with a black belt at her waist. Her long almost black hair is in a braid off the shoulder, and as her eyes land on me she smiles.
“Hey there, I brought dinner.” She smiles holding up the bag.
“What’s in there?” I ask, pushing my laptop away from me.
“Italian. I wanted lasagna and manicotti, but I didn’t want to cook it.”
“I’ve been working from home most of today, I could have.” I offered.
“You can cook something more than omeletts?” She asks surprised.
I stand up and approach her, I grab the bag from her hands and wrap my arm around her waist. I’ve taken her by surprise as I kiss her cheek.
“Honey, I’m a man of many talents.” I say as I release her and take the bag into the kitchen leaving her to her own devices and hopefully to regain her composure. I felt her shudder as my lips touched her cheek.
She meandered into the kitchen a moment later, plastered on a smile and reached into the cupboard behind me for glasses.
“Would you like some sparkling water with your dinner sir?” She asks mocking a baritone.
“Please madam.” I plate off portions and as she goes into the dining area, I follow with dinner.
Her eyes look like they will pop out of her head, she’s licking her lips and rubbing her hands together. I don’t know if it’s downright creepy or adorable. I smile as I hand her a fork and knife and sit in my seat. I’m unsure if she’s just excited about the food or if it’s me.
“So, how was your day?” I ask.
“Well, I threw up a few times after lunch, but other than that it was an easy day.” She smiles taking a bite, then immediately moaning.
My dick twitches. I try to ignore it.
“More morning sickness?” I ask continuing with the conversation.
“It was gone for a few days, but then there was this gross smell in the teachers’ lounge this afternoon, and I couldn’t handle it anymore.” She explains, taking another bite and again moaning her appreciation.
My dick twitched again. I’m still trying to ignore it.
“Your brother and Kat want to come over for dinner tomorrow, is that okay? I sorta said it was. I’m sorry, I should have checked with you first.”
“That’s cool. I’m surprised he actually didn’t just show up without telling either of us. Speaking of which, my buddy Leo wants to come over next week with his fiancée, would that be cool with you?”
“Yeah, I’d love to meet him” She smiles and again, moans.
Alright, my dick might explode.
* * *
We’re sitting on the couch after dinner, watching some show that she chose. I’ve stopped paying attention to anything other than managing my breathing and noticing where on the couch she is and exactly how close she is to me.
Her leg and my leg are friends now, her thigh and my thigh are next to each other touching. I’m well aware of this. She’s now started to lean my way.
“Is this okay?” She asks as she leans her head against my shoulder.
I can’t vocalize how okay it is, so I just nod as she fully leans into me. Back in my high school days sitting like this next to a girl like we are right now was a big deal, I feel like I’m 16 again and I need to start paying attention to whatever the hell this is that we’re watching.
No More Heartache: The MORE Duet Page 13