No surprise the cups were in the cupboard directly over the Keurig. I removed and cleaned the water reservoir on the machine. With a water filter attached to his faucet, I figured it was safe to use the tap water to make the coffee.
Once I had both cups made, I took a long drink of mine, letting out a satisfied sigh. That was just what the doctor ordered. As a night owl, I was rarely up this early. Being with Ned was worth it though.
Picking up his cup, I carried one in each hand as I carefully made my way to his bedroom. I’d just set his cup on his nightstand and taken a seat on the bed when he came out of the bathroom. My mouth watered at the drops of water sliding down his chest en route to the towel knotted around his waist.
“Oh, thank the coffee gods,” Ned said as he moved toward the nightstand.
I didn’t know what was better; the way his throat worked as he took a long swallow or the way his eyes fell closed as if he was in ecstasy. His cheeks pinked up prettily when he opened his eyes and realized I was staring.
“What? It’s good,” he said.
“You enjoy your coffee, baby.”
“I will.”
That sounded like a plan. And while he did that, I would enjoy watching him.
“I left a toothbrush on the counter for you,” Ned said and then added, “It’s the one in the box.”
“Thanks,” I said and picked up my cup.
I wasn’t about to brush my teeth until I finished my coffee.
“This is nice,” Ned said, moving to sit beside me.
“It is,” I said, knowing what he meant.
Even though I wasn’t a fan of being awake this early, it was nice to wake up with him in my arms and share mutual orgasms. Being able to shower together would have been even nicer, but he was right about the fact that he would be late if we did. There was no way I could be around his naked, wet body and not want to put my hands all over him. I was barely restraining myself now as it was.
Ned heaved a sigh. “I really need to get dressed.”
“And I’d better get in the shower.” Finishing off my coffee, I deposited the cup on the nightstand and got to my feet. “Is there a towel in there for me?”
“Oh, no, but if you want to go ahead and get started on your shower, I’ll grab one from the linen closet and bring it in,” Ned offered.
“Thanks, baby.”
Ned’s eyes tracked my movement as I padded across the room. The bathroom was still warm from the steam of his recent shower and filled with the subtle scent of either his body wash or shampoo.
I opened the door of the shower stall and leaned inside to start the water. With him having just showered, it heated up quickly.
I groaned as I stepped inside and soaked up the warmth of the shower. Between the amazing sex, good coffee and the heat of the water, I was fully awake now, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be taking a nap before going into work today. I would have to if I was going to deal with the Friday night crowd.
Using Ned’s shower taught me a lot about him. In the few minutes I used to wash up, I learned that he liked a lot of variety in his shampoo. Of course each of those shampoos had a matching bottle of conditioner. There were at least five different bottles in there, all of which claimed to do something different. Instead of a regular old bar of soap and a washcloth, Ned preferred body wash and a loofa. A heavy duty disposable razor hung from a fogless shower mirror.
I didn’t mind all the product, but it wasn’t for me. I was a much simpler guy. There was one bar of soap in my shower along with one bottle of shampoo and no conditioner since I usually went with the shampoo plus conditioner option.
Not wanting to make him late, I made short work of my shower. When I shut off the water and climbed out, I smiled to see a neatly folded towel resting on the closed toilet lid.
Once I was dried enough to keep from dripping on his floor, I brushed my teeth.
By the time I joined him in the bedroom, towel knotted around my waist, Ned was fully dressed in his blue scrubs. Something about seeing him all dressed up for work really did it for me.
“Did you want another cup of coffee?” Ned offered.
I smiled at the way he kept his eyes on my face, as though he was afraid of what might happen if he looked down. I didn’t blame him. I wanted nothing more than to peel him out of those scrubs and spend the day in bed with him.
“Is there time for another one?”
“I’m making mine to go. I can do the same for you.”
“That would be amazing. Thank you.”
“You got it.”
“Hold on a second,” I said when he turned to leave.
Ned frowned as he spun to face me. “What’s up?”
“I brushed my teeth,” I informed him.
“Then maybe you’ll get a goodbye kiss if you’re lucky,” he said and then darted out of the room before I could protest.
Yanking the towel from my waist, I mopped the excess water from my body before reaching for my clothes. Since I hadn’t planned on staying the night, though I’d hoped, I was stuck with putting on what I’d worn last night.
Though I pulled on the T-shirt and jeans, I opted to forego the underwear, stuffing them in my pocket instead. It was bad enough I had to wear dirty socks. There was no way I was putting my dirty briefs back on. At least I was only going home.
I was just pulling on my shoes when Ned returned to the room.
“You ready?” I asked, getting to my feet.
“Yeah,” Ned answered. “Sorry you have to wear your dirty clothes.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re not?”
“Nope, spending the night with you is totally worth wearing dirty clothes.”
“That’s sweet, but maybe next time we should plan this better.”
I couldn’t help the wide grin that stretched across my face. Though I’d been certain there would be a repeat, hopefully many, I didn’t want to presume anything. The confirmation was nice.
On the way out the door, Ned made a detour to the kitchen to snag our coffee cups. I had been expecting a plastic travel mug, but what I got was a paper to-go cup, complete with a lid. Just like the ones you would get from any restaurant or coffee shop.
“I get them from Costco,” Ned explained when he realized I was staring. “This way I don’t have to worry about losing track of them in the hospital.”
“Makes sense.”
When we stepped outside, Ned paused to lock the door before turning to face me. “Thanks for coming over,” he said softly.
I smiled. “Thanks for taking care of me, baby.”
“You’ll let me know about dinner?”
“I’ll text you as soon as I get to the shop this afternoon and check my schedule.”
“Okay, but I may not be able to reply right away, depends on how busy we are.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Leaning forward, Ned pressed his lips to mine. As much as I wanted to deepen the kiss, I kept it chaste so that I wouldn’t get carried away.
“Have a good day at work, baby.”
“You too.”
“I will.”
How could a day that started with Ned in my arms be anything but good?
After leaving Ned’s place, my plan had been to head home and catch a few hours of sleep before picking up my dog. Didn’t work out, probably thanks to the two cups of coffee I’d had before I even made it home.
Since it had been too early to wake Coop, I’d used the extra time to pick up the place and do a load of laundry. The thing about living alone was that there wasn’t much to do by way of cleaning and what not if you stayed on top of that shit; something that was even truer with the odd hours I kept. If I wasn’t working, I was usually sleeping which didn’t leave much room for making a big mess.
I waited until shortly after noon to swing by Cooper’s place, and I made sure to text him first. Not because I wanted to make sure he was awake or home. Nope, the heads up was just in case he’d brought s
omeone home last night. The last thing I wanted was to catch my little brother in a compromising position.
Despite the fact that it had been less than twenty-four hours since my dog had seen me, you would have thought it had been twenty-four years with the way she was carrying on.
“I guess she missed you,” Cooper said, grinning. “Not sure why.”
“Uncle Cooper can fuck right off, can’t he?” I cooed at Daisy as I petted her. “Yes, he can, that annoying little son of a bitch.”
Cooper cracked up as I baby-talked shit about him to my dog.
Straightening up, I asked, “Did she give you any trouble?”
“Nope, she was cool. This guy, on the other hand.” Cooper dipped his head in the direction of Prince Harry William who was nestled in the crook of his arm. “He spent the night acting like a jealous little shit.”
That did not surprise me at all. Cooper spoiled the shit out of his dog, acting like the damn thing hung the moon. The dog wore clothes for God’s sake, and I don’t just mean an occasional shirt or sweater. I swear that dog’s wardrobe was as big as Cooper’s. My brother even dressed him up for Halloween.
The closest my dog had come to wearing clothes was when she got stuck in my shirt that time she was nosing around in my laundry basket.
Don’t get me wrong. I loved my dog, but Cooper took his dog loving to a whole new level. Every time he went to the pet store, the dog came home with either a new toy or a sweater or both, and that was on top of the dog food and treats that Cooper bought him. And though he owned a leash, it was rare to see Prince Harry William walking anywhere. Cooper carried him everywhere he went, and I was pretty sure the dog liked it. The few times Cooper did put him down, Prince Harry William would always look up at Cooper with this ‘are you serious right now?’ expression on his little face.
If dogs could talk, I could easily imagine Prince Harry William sounding like a snobby British dude.
“I’m guessing I don’t have to ask how your night was,” Cooper said.
I smiled. “It was good. Ned wants me to meet his parents.”
Cooper’s eyes went wide, and I chuckled at the look of horror on his face.
“What are you going to do?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, how are you gonna get out of it?”
“Why would I want to get out of it?”
“The better question is, why would you want to do the meet the parents thing? Meeting the parents is serious.”
“Yeah, well, Ned and I are getting serious.”
“But you haven’t been on that many dates.”
“That doesn’t matter. I like him, a lot. He’s amazing, Coop.”
“Yeah, but meeting the parents, man. That’s scary, especially for you.”
I had an idea what he was getting at. “Not all parents are like ours.”
“I know.” Cooper grimaced. “I just meant that he probably comes from a nice, respectable family. I’ll bet his parents are still married and shit.”
“Yeah, and?”
“And you’re a scary tattooed dude.”
“Are you saying I’m not good enough for Ned?”
That hurt, more than I wanted to admit. It had been bad enough to grow up listening to our parents tell me I wouldn’t amount to shit, but Cooper always had my back. At least I thought so.
“Fuck you,” Cooper said. “You know me better than that.”
“Okay, then what are you saying?”
“Just that nice, respectable families aren’t used to people like us, especially not when those people are dating their sons,” Cooper explained. “What if they don’t like you?”
“What if they don’t?”
“I just don’t want to see you get hurt if they’re dicks.”
“Thanks, but I don’t think they’ll be dicks.”
“I hope you’re right,” Cooper said. “By the way, if you’re doing a meet and greet with his parents, you need to do the same for us. I want to meet him, officially.”
“You just want to tell him embarrassing stories about me.”
“I doubt anything I tell him is more embarrassing than you doing porn.”
I cringed. “I haven’t told him about that yet.”
“Why the hell not? I thought you said you guys were getting serious.”
“We are which is why I don’t want to tell him.”
I could already imagine how that conversation was going to go, and it wasn’t going to go well.
Cooper shook his head. “Yeah, well, if I was you, I’d tell him or that shit is gonna blow up in your face.”
That was easy for Cooper to say. He wasn’t the one who’d been a twenty-one-year-old porn star who was now dating a man who didn’t do penetrative sex.
Unfortunately, he was right. If I didn’t tell Ned the truth, the secret was going to explode in my face.
Chapter Eighteen
Ned
Thanks to a rush of patients, it was almost half an hour after my shift was supposed to end before I was able to walk out the door.
After the amazing way my day started, I probably should have expected it. When you started at the top, there was nowhere to go but down.
The first thing I did when I got home, the first thing I always did, was take a shower. It didn’t matter that I’d started my day with a shower. There was no way I was going to sit around with the stench and germs of the hospital clinging to me.
Once I was clean and changed into a pair of knit pants and a tank top, I headed into the kitchen. Even though I wasn’t in the mood to cook, I was hungry. Surveying the contents of my refrigerator, I decided I had what I needed to make a nice chef’s salad.
Before getting started, I poured myself a glass of white wine, sighing when I took the first drink. That was so good, just what Nurse Ned ordered.
Smiling, I chopped the ingredients, taking sips of wine as I worked. Since I had to work tomorrow, I would have to stop after the next glass, but that was fine. I didn’t want to get drunk anyway.
I didn’t like the feeling that came with being drunk. The loss of control was frightening. Not to mention, I had seen the consequences of too much alcohol first hand in the ER.
Salad and wine in hand, I headed into the living room and made myself comfortable on my awesome couch. In between bites, I picked up the phone to call my mom.
As promised, Heath had texted me earlier in the afternoon to let me know he could do dinner on Monday as long as he was at work by eight. I couldn’t help being worried that he was moving around appointments and losing money because of me, but I didn’t call him on it.
Hitting the speaker phone option, I returned the phone to the coffee table so that I would have my hands free while I ate. I took a deep breath as I listened to the phone ring. Hopefully, I made it out of this conversation with my ear drums intact.
“Neddie, how are you?” Mom crowed, and I rolled my eyes.
No matter how many times she answered the phone that way, she always sounded so pleased that she knew who was on the other end of the line. You had to love caller ID.
“Hey, Mom. I’m good. What about you and Dad?”
“I’m good, but your father is questionable.”
I sat up straighter. “Is everything okay?”
“I suppose that depends on the definition of okay.”
“What does that mean?”
“I think your father is starting to lose his mind,” Mom answered. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she added, “I think it could be the early stages of old age setting in.”
“I am not old you crazy woman!”
Dad’s indignant shout made me relax. With as clearly as I could hear him, I figured I was either on speaker phone or they were sitting beside each other. Both were possible. For whatever reason, neither of my parents was capable of having a solo phone conversation.
“Well, there has to be some explanation for the fact that he suddenly wants to take up bird watching,” Mom said. “Tell me that d
oesn’t sound like something a boring old fart would do.”
“Dad wants to take up bird watching?”
I wasn’t touching the boring old fart comment.
“Yes.” Mom heaved a long suffering sigh. “I thought when you kids grew up and left home that we would do exciting things like taking ballroom dance lessons or travelling the country in our RV, but I’m stuck with a man whose idea of excitement is bird watching.”
“You guys don’t own an RV.”
“Well, that’s easily fixed.”
“Yeah, but you don’t really want to travel the country in an RV, do you?”
“I don’t know. It could be fun, but maybe we should start smaller. A cruise to the Caribbean might be a good way to go.”
A cruise to the Caribbean was smaller?
“Grant, what about going on a cruise to the Caribbean?” Mom asked.
“That could be fun,” Dad agreed. “Just think of all the exotic birds I could see.”
“Oh, for Heaven’s sake, forget I said anything,” Mom said. “So, Neddie, how are things going with that tattoo artist you’ve been keeping all to yourself?”
“Funny you should mention that.”
“Oh and why is that?”
“I thought I’d bring him to dinner on Monday if you don’t mind.”
My mom let out a whoop of joy. “Of course I don’t mind, honey. Did you hear that, Grant? We’re finally going to meet Neddie’s new man.”
“The one that does the tattoos?” Dad asked.
“Yes, that’s the one.”
“Oh, good, I wonder if he’s ever done any bird tattoos.”
“That’s what you’re wondering?” Mom sounded so affronted that I tried not to let her hear me laugh. “Not what kind of a man he is and how he plans to treat our son? I would think those would be more important.”
“Give me some credit, Connie.” Dad harrumphed. “I have no doubt he treats Ned just fine otherwise the boy would have kicked him to the curb by now. That’s what they say, right? Kicking him to the curb?”
“Yes, dear, that’s what they say,” Mom agreed.
By now, I knew it was pointless to interrupt my parents when they had these side bar conversations. Besides, they could be pretty entertaining.
Going Inksane (Nice Ink Book 1) Page 21
