by Anthology
“From what I remember, he was a very willing participant.”
“Did you say something?”
Oh shit! He didn’t leave.
“Sorry I was just talking to myself. Where are you?”
Within seconds he appeared in front of her carrying two plates heaping full of French toast, her favorite.
“I hope you like this. I don’t do a lot of cooking but this is one of my favorites so I made yours like I eat it, with lots of butter and syrup.”
“It’s perfect.” She sat up against the sofa and wrapped a blanket around her very naked body.
“Don’t cover up on my account.”
He’s right. It’s not like he hadn’t seen every inch of her already. She just didn’t feel right casually sitting in her living room naked. She never did that when it was just her so why would she now?
“I was joking Jenna, don’t overthink it.”
He handed her a plate and sat down on the floor beside her.
“So…”
“Yep.” She mouthed the word around a huge helping of toast she’d just shoved into her mouth.
“Glad you like it. Does this mean you’re going to move in with me?”
After Jenna finished chewing, she put her fork down and shifted her body toward him.
“It does. Actually, that’s the reason I showed up at your apartment yesterday, to tell you I’d made the decision. I really handled that badly, I’m so sorry.”
“Let’s just agree that we’re both sorry and move past yesterday. I for one, would love to forget that whole incident. How about you?”
“Yes, please. So now what.” Jenna didn’t wait for an answer but resumed shoveling French toast into her mouth until there was no more.
“You must have been hungry?”
“Might have something to do with all the energy we used up last night and that Chinese we never ate.”
“Yeah, I put all that in the frig this morning when I got up. If you don’t think it’s still good, I’ll just throw it out.”
“Trust me, it’s not the first time food has been left out overnight and I’m not dead yet.”
“Do I dare ask?”
“Just that I’ve fallen asleep on the couch plenty of times after work. I’m sure it’s still good.”
“So…”
“You’ve already said that once.”
“Just wondering what the next step is.”
“We should probably get dressed, then I guess I’ll finish packing. Would you like to help?”
“Sure, but before all that, I have something else in mind.”
Zayn took her plate and stacked them both on the table, then knelt down over her and pulled the blanket away.
“Oh, I think I like where this is going.”
One kiss led to another and needless to say, not much packing got done.
EPILOGUE
When Jenna finally made it home from work, she pushed open the door to Zayn’s apartment and the lights were all dimmed.
“Zayn, are you home?” There was no answer.
She couldn’t remember them making any plans and didn’t think to check the parking garage for his car. Maybe he was still at work. She hung her keys on the hook beside the door and put her bags on the floor where she took her shoes off and headed toward the bedroom they shared. It had been a long day and she was too excited to soak in the big garden tub. The covers were folded back but empty and there were flickers of light coming from the direction of the bathroom.
When Jenna slowly peeked around the corner, she shouldn’t have been surprised to see a full bathtub and a naked man waiting for her.
“Hi honey, come on in, the water’s warm.”
Zayn and Jenna had been living together going on seven months and he still managed to surprise her whenever she wasn’t expecting it. Her old apartment building and been quickly torn down and the new townhouses were only weeks away from being once again occupied. He’d been more than generous to everyone he’d had to relocate and they were all anxious to be moving back. Everyone but her.
She was dreading it.
She couldn’t help but carry a constant reminder that her time with him was almost up and she wasn’t sure how she’d be able to handle living without him. They had been living every day to the fullest and not once mentioned her leaving. She was too afraid to bring it up. In the beginning, she wasn’t ready to trust him but Zayn had weaseled his way into her heart and found a place to stay.
“Come on already, I’m ready to scrub your back.”
He held up the loofa and her favorite body wash.
She put on a smile and stripped out of her work clothes. That was another thing she’d gotten comfortable doing, being naked in front of him. He made it easy, he did it too, and there was no judgment.
Jenna climbed into the bathtub and settled herself between his outstretched legs. He immediately ran the water over her shoulders and made soft circles with the soapy loofa.
“This is a nice surprise, what’s the occasion?”
“Well I was hoping we could talk.”
“You surprised me with a bubble bath for two so we could talk? That kind of scares me.”
“Really? I promise it’s not bad.”
Yeah right!
“Okay spill, you know I hate anticipating the worst.”
“I told you it’s not bad.”
She turned and gave him one of her looks.
“Alright, alright. I wanted to talk about the obvious elephant we’ve had in the apartment for the last few weeks. I’ve picked up on your change in moods.”
“What do you mean?” She knew exactly what he meant.
“Jenna, your apartment building is almost done. You can’t honestly tell me you haven’t thought about what’s going to happen when it’s all finished?”
She sunk back against his chest.
“I’ve been trying not to think about it.”
“Why?”
“Because Zayn, I’m not sure I can leave you, and go back to living on my own.”
“Hey, look at me. Please?”
She turned again but couldn’t look him in the eyes. He used a finger to move her chin up in his direction.
“I want you to know that I never had any intention of letting you move out of here Jenna. This is your home, our home. I don’t want you to leave.”
“You don’t?”
“No way. The best day of my life was when you moved in here. No way am I giving that up. I love you and I want this to be a forever thing.”
She was speechless. Of course, it’s what she’d wanted as well but hearing him say the words was more than she expected and it meant the world to her. She couldn’t stop the tears that streamed down her face.
“Oh honey, don’t cry, this is a good thing. Right?”
She nodded, trying to smile. “It’s what I want too, I just didn’t expect it to happen.”
“Really?”
“Well yeah, our circumstances were a little bit unusual.”
“I have to admit; I was very guarded from the beginning, skeptical, and afraid of opening up my heart. I’d been burned more times than I could count.”
Awe, he thought I was playing with his heart.
“Well I can promise you, I’m definitely in for forever.” She kissed his lips so sweetly. “I love you Zayn.”
The End
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KRISTA AMES is an International #1 best-selling author of contemporary romance, including several sub genres. Western Romance is her failsafe and she loves a man in uniform but Paranormal is starting to be her new go-to.
Born and raised in Indiana, she is now a Northern Lower Michigan transplant and married to the love of her life. They have 4 children and a few fur babies. She is a full time stay-at-home mom and pursues her writing career when she’s not running her kids every which way.She finds her inspiration in the love of her family and binge watches romantic and scary movies.
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