I woke to a warm, steady thumping under my ear and the perfect sensation of being surrounded by something equally warm and solid. A pleasant heaviness was spread throughout my limbs and a familiar, musky smell filled my nose. As consciousness filtered in, I realized it was Rafe's heartbeat I was hearing; his arms were still wrapped protectively around me, our touching skin slightly sticky from where one or both of us had sweated during the night, and his firm chest rose and fell to the accompaniment of faint snores.
I smiled softly. I hadn't known Rafe snored. What other interesting trivia would I learn about him now that this new world of interaction had been introduced?
Opening my eyes, I lifted my head to gaze at his sleeping face then winced as all the dormant aches incurred by last night's activity flared to sudden life at the movement.
Wow... and ouch,
I thought. Given my inexperience and the intensity of our physical interactions, I had expected some tenderness today, but I was surprised at just how global it seemed to be. Even my neck and shoulders hurt to some degree. And Rafe had done most of the work! Sheesh. Moving around promised to be pretty interesting for a while.
Time for a shower,
I thought to myself, hoping that the warm water would ease some of my soreness.
I looked up at him again before moving away though, admiring the handsome planes of his face. He really was something amazing. Even asleep his features were somehow wild, powerful, proud, without seeming coarse or frightening. His almost-black hair tumbled across his forehead in happy disarray and dark eyelashes hid those unusual topaz eyes that fascinated me so. I had the sudden urge to kiss him on his sexy, slightly open mouth, but I didn't want to wake him, so I refrained.
Instead, I carefully moved his arm from where it was still wrapped around my small waist, and levered myself gingerly to a sitting position, wincing again as new parts of my body were aggravated by the movement. I scooted slowly to the edge of my bed, partly to ease some of the stiffness in my muscles and in part to keep from disturbing Rafe. Goosebumps rose all over my fair skin as I swung my legs over the edge and felt the cool air of my room and the smooth cold of the wooden floor under my toes.
Stifling a groan, I stood up awkwardly then looked back quickly to make sure I hadn't woken him. Rafe stirred momentarily, moving his now-free hand to rest on his perfectly muscled stomach, then let out a huge, shuddering sigh and stilled, just like a large dog. I almost laughed at the concept, but pressed my lips together and merely smiled instead.
This wasn't the first time he'd reminded me of a giant canine. Maybe it was the honest-to-God yellow of his eyes, or maybe it was something about his mannerisms, but on more than one occasion I'd found myself making that sort of comparison. You know, like the silly "if you were an animal, what would you be?" question. In Rafe's case, it was definitely dog. Or wolf. I grinned to myself.
My
wolf.
A shiver reminded me that I was standing naked in my room and that I had a shower waiting for me. I resisted another urge to lean down and kiss him and started walking towards the bathroom.
Walking was enough of an experience that it temporarily pushed thoughts of Rafe's naked, glorious body from my mind as I tried to just focus on making my unreasonably sore limbs get me to the hot water. That morning, I gained a new understanding of the expression "fucked bow-legged."
The hot water was a blessing. For a while, I just stood under the heated spray, letting it massage my skin and slowly loosen joints and muscles unfamiliar with such rigorous exercise. I washed my hair next, working shampoo through the silky strands and feeling the excess suds slide down over my shoulders, in between my breasts and down my flat stomach.
With the shampoo still in my hair, I then began the task of gently washing my groin area. I worked around the tender flesh very carefully, and at first the water came away slightly darkened with dried blood, proof that my virginity was no more. That made me pause a moment.
You're not a virgin anymore,
I thought to myself, assessing how it felt when put so plainly. Sore, I ultimately concluded, but otherwise not all that different from before.
I turned off the water after I'd finished washing and rinsing, and once most of the worst aches had mellowed a bit. While I dried myself and brushed my teeth, I kept an ear cocked for any movement coming from my bedroom, but heard nothing, so I wrapped the towel around myself and padded softly back to check.
Rafe lay on the bed in the same position I had left him, still snoring softly, the sheets tangled around his long body. I grinned and restrained myself from laying back down with him and curling into his welcoming heat; an intermittent grumbling in my stomach told me that I was in need of some breakfast.
After throwing on some panties, pajama pants and a tanktop and giving my wet hair a fast brush, I slipped back out into the hall, then over to the kitchen. I quickly settled on bacon and the improbably delicious corn pancakes my grandmother enjoyed making, figuring they were the most likely of any of the things I had available to lure my sleeping lover out of bed.
I found myself humming as I went about my task. The enticing smell of frying bacon filled the room and my soft melody was accompanied by the staccato popping and sizzling of grease.
Before long, I heard shuffling footsteps enter the room. A warm presence loomed behind me and I felt a pair of large, strong hands creep up from where they brushed my elbows to gently squeeze my shoulders.
"Mmm," Rafe rumbled as he bent down to nuzzle my neck, inhaling. "Smells good."
I giggled. "I thought bacon might tempt you out here."
"That too." He answered, then breathed in deeply again. "But I was talking about
you
." His hands slid from my shoulders and slowly down my chest. He squeezed one of my breasts in a massive palm and my breath caught in my throat.
"Didn't you get enough last night?" I asked somewhat breathlessly.
I could hear his grin as he replied. "Never." He nipped playfully at my neck.
I laughed and squirmed in his grip. My sore body was responding to his touch just as intensely as it always did, but I was feeling sassy and not ready to let him have his way just yet. Besides, I was hungry. I batted at the hand that was still rubbing my breast through the thin tanktop, ignoring my hardened nipple and the swirls of pleasure.
"Hey, you'll make me burn the bacon!"
Rafe grumbled for a second, but reluctantly released me and stepped back. I half-turned to look at him adoringly over my shoulder. His dark hair was wild and stood up in odd shapes from where he had slept on it and his strong features were still vaguely dazed with sleep as were his glorious golden eyes. A shadow of whiskers darkened the lower half of his face. He was shirtless so I was able to admire the perfectly toned musculature of his torso and shoulders, but he had apparently managed to pull on his jeans before joining me in the kitchen. I beamed at him.
"You sit and I will feed you. It's almost ready." He followed my pointing spatula and slumped heavily in one of the chairs at the small kitchen table. A wide yawn flashed white teeth. I went back to my task, smiling and shaking my head in amusement.
After turning the bacon over once more, I set it aside on a plate and gave the first batch of corn pancakes a last flip. Frequent glances over my shoulder showed that Rafe's attention seemed to be pretty evenly divided between me and the bacon, but he listened and remained seated until I slid the pancakes onto another large plate and brought the two items over to the table. I slipped into the seat next to him and pointed to the food.
"Since the pancakes are small, I thought we could just use our fingers." I told him and demonstrated by picking one up carefully with my fingernails, watching the steam rise from it. "Owie. Hot."
Rafe chose a slice of bacon and crunched it while eyeing the pancakes warily. "Is that
corn
?" His tone was accusatory.
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, it is. But it's good." He raised an eyebrow and I had to fight back another surge of giggles at the adorable contradiction his superior expression made with his sleep-tousled hair. I nudged his shin under the table with my bare foot. "Just try it, you beast."
Still wary, Rafe polished off the bacon he was holding and lifted a pancake so that it could cool. While he did so, I took a bite out of my own and savored the unlikely combination of flavors: the slight sweetness of the corn, the starchy salt of the pancake mix with the underlying bonus of just enough grease. More dense than what I considered normal for pancakes, the corn kernels added a random moisture and pop to the otherwise neutral batter.
Mmm.
I think it was the happy noises I made that decided it for him, but Rafe finally took a bite of his own. I watched his features closely to assess his reaction, and after a moment of chewing, he grudgingly nodded.
"Okay, you're right. They're good. Weird, but good." He took another bite and I smiled, triumphant.
"You want something to drink?" I rose and started for the fridge.
"Coffee," was his single-word reply before adding belatedly around a bite of bacon. "If you have it. Please."
"I can make some."
The coffee-maker issued its customary bubbling and hissing sounds while I poured myself a glass of cranberry juice. I couldn't remember feeling so content. So comfortably happy. Before returning to my seat I set my glass on the table and leaned down to kiss Rafe at last.
