Amara assumed she was going to be woken up by Nate's dick poking and prodding at her; the typical morning after sort of behavior guys stumble into. Not the case.
She found herself suddenly enjoying an aromatic feast of the sweet and savory smells of Nate cooking breakfast downstairs. She cloaked herself in his blue striped dress shirt from the night before. It covered her body in a sexy over-sized way, but didn't fail to delineate the taper of her waist and the flare of her hips.
"Mornin', sleeping beauty," Nate greeted her over his shoulder, all bright and chipper with his early in the day bedhead.
"I feel more like the wicked witch to be honest with you." Amara's voice was like gravel. She attempted running a hand over her hair to smooth her often times uncontrollable curls. She wanted to get close to him, but the fear of morning breath prevented her from doing so.
Surveying his dining table, Amara had to admit to herself that she was impressed by Nathan's efforts. His countertops were scrumptiously cluttered with many yummy dishes: a large bowl of sliced fruit, a platter of waffles fresh off the griddle, and some sizzling bacon and sausage. "Great sex and he can cook too! You certainly broke out your A-game for me."
He chuckled as he tossed over an omelet with a spatula. "No games. Just a lot of delicious food. I don't know about you, but Round 2 might not be easy to pull off without something in my stomach for energy."
Amara slowly smiled and laughed. "Damn, you thought of everything. Coffee brewing. FRESH orange juice! I know they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but that just might be the way to mine too."
"Thanks for the inside information. I'll keep it on file." Nathan winked at her. "Now sit and eat before it gets cold." He pulled out a chair at his table for her.
"You don't have to tell me twice." She grabbed a piece of bacon and plopped down.
"She likes her meat. My kind of woman. Now had you just sat there and sullenly picked at the fruit, I might have given you the whole uncomfortable 'wish we had more time but I have to go to work' speech."
"You're lucky this food is too good to throw or else you may literally have gotten some egg on your face."
"Speaking of egg, I gotta get the rest of it out of the pan before it burns." Nate turned his attention to the mixture of sizzling egg, cheese, and veggies. Amara nodded and went back to sampling his cooking.
To the side of the stovetop, Nathan saw his silenced cell was lit up with nearly a dozen combined missed voice and text messages from Carrie. He realized it was too simple to think that closing the door on her last night would actually close her attempts at communicating with him. He was grateful that the layout of his kitchen blocked him from Amara's view.
He ever so briefly scrolled to Carrie's most recent text and read just enough to put a chill through the blood in his veins. Not the time or place to deal with her. He tossed the phone into a side drawer, not wanting Carrie to disturb the blissful morning he wanted to enjoy with Amara.
"I really like your place now that I see it in the sober light of day AND without a crazy ex-girlfriend hurling obscenities at me." Her dry, sarcastic tone did not hamper Nate from finding the humor in her observation.
"Thanks...and yeah, well, what can I say? Once a woman has been in bed with me and gets a taste of my culinary skills, it can be pretty hard to shake her off."
Amara's eyes widened in shock at the matter-of-fact arrogance in his voice. She knew he was only making fun of the awkward situation from last night. She raised a brow. "Is that so?"
"Mm-hmm." As he tore off a piece of toast, his hazel eyes glittered, implying that though said in jest, there was truth to his statement. Soon hunger took over, and their conversation died off to Nate's sporadic satisfied grunts while chewing and Amara's complimenting 'mmms' to the buttery syrup laden waffle she was nibbling on.
Nate rose up suddenly, brushed off a few crumbs at his sides and tossed his plate into the sink. "How was it?" He noticed that Amara had pushed back from the table, rubbing her abdomen to indicate her fullness.
"Delicious beyond words, thank you."