I yawn into the refrigerator for maybe the fifth time in twenty minutes as I blink blearily at the food I have no interest in cooking.
Even after Jackson kept us up well into the early morning, it didn’t stop me from waking at six, as I always do. This time with the knowledge I hadn’t had near enough sleep.
But you weren’t so tired to have a morning quickie with Jackson, were you?
I was not. Not in the least.
The only reason our morning sex session didn’t turn into yet another marathon session was Jackson’s phone ringing from downstairs. Presumably on the kitchen floor, where we left all our clothes. He’d determined to ignore it, but it just kept on ringing, and in the end, he stopped kissing me to go deal with it.
By the time he returned, he was wearing a dark frown because of more damage to the contractor’s cabins near the site of the new house. So, he went to investigate, and to speak with the site manager about the possibility of hiring security.
Right now, it’s the theft of some tools and minor damage to cabins, which isn’t causing too much of a delay. But as the building project ramps up, Jackson can’t ignore the likelihood of even more damage and increasing delays as well as costs going up.
So, after a lingering kiss, and a promise to be back before lunch, Jackson dressed and left.
I didn’t intend on going back to sleep, but I blinked and then I was waking up again, confused about what time it was. It still wasn’t enough because when you’ve spent most of the night having hot sex with a guy who only needs a couple of minutes to be ready to go again, a couple more hours of sleep isn’t near enough.
A small throat clearing has me spinning around.
I blink in surprise at the sight of the boy standing to the side of the kitchen doorway, his body mostly hidden, holding the bag of clothes I gave him. “Uh, hi.”
His large brown eyes study me intently from behind his long dirty blond hair. “I thought I heard you snoring.”
I bark out a laugh, making him jump. “Sorry, yeah. That wouldn’t surprise me. I didn’t get too much sleep last night. You want some breakfast?”
“I didn’t know you could sleep standing up.” His voice is low, gravelly, as if he rarely speaks. Which, considering I mistook him for a wolf when I first met him, tells me all I need to know about how little he spends in his human shape.
I should warn him about that. It’s not safe.
“Yep.” I turn to the refrigerator and start feeling awake enough to want to cook.
Awake probably isn’t an accurate description of how I’m feeling. Motivated would be. Also, I’m trying to hide my relief that the boy came to me, and he’s talking. To me.
“You want eggs and bacon?” I call out, already reaching for the eggs.
There’s silence behind me, and I turn back, surprised to find him staring at the ground, hunched over as if embarrassed.
“What is it? I didn’t tuck my skirt into my underwear, did I?” I reach a hand to check I did not, in fact, tuck my navy floral sundress into my panties. Not only because I’ve done it before and none of my lovely pack thought to tell me for hours, but because any opportunity to get the boy smiling and I’ll take it.
He darts a glance up at me, and there’s a hint of a smile on his lips. Not a big one, but it’s a smile and I’ll always take a smile, no matter the size.
He shakes his head. “No.”
I sag in relief. “Thanks. Once, I went practically an entire day, and no one told me. It was only when it got cold later that I realized one part of me was colder than the rest that someone thought to mention it.”
The small smile kicks up into a larger one. It’s rusty, but it’s a genuine smile.
Even better.
“Or did you not want breakfast?” I glance at the time on the microwave and wince. “Yeesh, it’s eleven-thirty and I’m making breakfast? You have permission to slap my wrist.”
I stop thinking about breakfast and start thinking about lunch.
“I can make sandwiches or maybe…” I stare at the boy as my brain cycles through lunch options that boys might like. Things that are light on the veggies and salad, but will fill him up since he looked like he was starving before.
“Steak sandwiches, with chips and soda. I can do coleslaw. Or maybe fries instead of chips. And something sweet. There’s no cake because… yeah, you probably don’t need to know why there’s no cake.”
His eyes brighten and I guess I chose well.
“Okay. Now, what’s with the bag? Did you not want them? It’s okay if you didn’t. I just thought you might not want to be sitting on a cold wooden chair naked. Or did they not fit?”
He goes so long without answering that I regret buying the sweatpants for him if it’s made him this uncomfortable. I knew there was a risk, but I went with my instincts, and it looks like they’ve proven wrong.
“They’re new,” he says.
I wait to see if he has anything more to add, but when he doesn’t, I nod. “Yeah. I don’t have any sweats, and if you saw the size of Jackson, you’d know nothing he wore would even come close to fitting you.”
“You bought them for me.”
“Yeah. I know they’re not anything special. I don’t know Dawley all that well, so I’m not sure what the best shops are. I can get something else if you want, but Jackson took his truck, so it’ll have to be after he comes back.”
He goes back to staring at me and his expression is so guarded, so closed off, that I have no idea what he’s thinking. “No one’s ever bought me anything before.”
“Well, now they have.”
Another long moment passes in silence.
“Or baked me cookies.”
“First time for everything,” I say offhand as if it’s nothing, because the last thing I want is this boy to be thinking anything I’m doing for him comes with any strings.
“I can’t wear anything new. It’s clean and I’m…” He lowers his gaze to the ground and his hair obscures his face. “…I’m not.”
I close the refrigerator, and the sound has him jerking his head up. “Well, that’s an easy enough fix. The way I see it, you have two options.” I lean against the kitchen island and count them off on my fingers. “One, we can take the clothes outside, trample over them, and get them nice and dirty so it’s no longer an issue.”
I study him to gauge his reaction. His eyes widen in surprise at what is undoubtedly a ridiculous idea.
“Or I can show you up to one of the eight bedrooms and twelve bathrooms upstairs and you can have a shower.”
He slow blinks. “There are twelve bathrooms?” he whispers in awe.
I nod. “Yep.”
His face scrunches in confusion. “Why are there more bathrooms than bedrooms?”
“People need the toilet more than they need beds?” I shrug. “Who knows?”
He hesitates and I say nothing, just wait for him to decide what he wants to do. That he’s here at all is a massive deal, and I have no intention of rushing him and scaring him off.
After a couple of minutes of silence, he clears his throat. “The second thing.”
“The bathroom?” I ask, just so we’re on the same page.
At his small nod, I push off the island and stroll around it, giving him plenty of time to move away if he feels threatened by my slow approach.
But to my surprise, he doesn’t react except to turn his head to observe me as I walk out of the kitchen and start for the staircase.
I don’t turn back since he’s being so careful to hide his naked body. “This way. I’ll show you the room and you can shower and dress. When you’ve finished, just come on back down and I’ll probably have the food nearly ready.”
I push open the door for the first bedroom on the first floor. That way, there’s no way he can get lost, and if he gets spooked, it’s easy enough for him to find his way out.
Behind me, I hear his slow approach and guess he’s a couple of feet away at least.
I walk straight into the bathroom and go to the shower. “I’ll turn it on for you since it takes a minute to warm up. Just turn right for hot, and left for cold. There’s body wash and shampoo already on the shelf in the corner.” I stand aside so he can see, and once I’ve shown him, I turn to the sink. “If you need to brush your teeth, there are new toothbrushes and toothpaste in the cabinet over the sink. Oh, and towels are hanging behind the door. You need anything else?”
I slowly turn to the doorway, so he knows to expect me to look in his direction. Just like downstairs, when I do, I find he’s tucked most of his body behind the doorway.
He shakes his head.
I grin at him. “Cool. I’ll get started on making lunch. Just shout if you need anything, okay?”
At his small nod, I make my way out of the bedroom, careful not to close the door behind me as I’m leaving, in case he thinks I’m trying to trap him inside.
Halfway down the stairs, I hear the soft click of the door closing and I smile and continue down.