No matter how badly I wanted to, I couldn’t just lay there with her in bed for the entire day. And fuck did I want to. But if I stayed in LA, which with Miriam there horses couldn’t drag me away, I decided I should probably keep my job. So instead of keeping her tucked to me the way my body demanded, I pushed myself out of bed the way my head insisted, got myself dressed and out of the apartment to work. It was tough. Miriam was cuddled snug in my bed, right in the damn middle, a little content smile on her face…shit she knew how to bring a man to his knees because that was right where I wanted to be anyway.
Chapter Sixteen
Over the next couple of weeks, the only time Miriam wasn’t at my place was when she was gone for a job and I fucking hated those nights. She’d go home, pack a bag for a few days then come back. I gave her a key so she could let herself in and out to do whatever it was she did on the days she wasn’t working. The funny thing was I didn’t even think twice about it when I did it. No massive internal meltdown or second guessing. She couldn’t stay in the apartment all the time and I wanted her back there as much as possible. It made sense.
We went out for dinner, stayed in, watched movies, went to movies and I took her to the park at the Santa Monica Pier where we rode everything more than once. I loved having fun with her without worrying about anything else. I’d wanted to tell her for a while but she always beat me to the punch then wouldn’t accept it in return because she didn’t want to think it was tit-for-tat.
The sky had grown dark and there was a chill in the air, as much chill as ever showed up in LA. We walked slowly, her hand snugly in mine, down the pier until it ended and we stood watching the water ripple in the moonlight. Miriam leaned back against my chest, my arms wrapped around her waist. She was short enough that I could rest my chin on top of her head, which I did for a few seconds before I leaned down rubbing my cheek against hers.
“I love you, Miriam.” I said it softly into her ear. She stilled completely, I wasn’t even sure she kept breathing. Inside I gave myself a silent fist bump because she hadn’t been expecting it. She hadn’t said it first so she couldn’t think I did because it was what she wanted to hear.
She turned in my arms looking up at me. “You don’t have to—”
“I love you and want to make sure you know it.”
The corners of her mouth turned up in a timid smile, the one I knew she gave when she was trying not to flash a big full one. I thought she was going to say something else but instead she raised her hand to clasp the back of my neck to pull me down for a kiss. It wasn’t a gentle one either. I knew what she wanted but wasn’t about to give it to her right there in the open. Instead, I took her home.
When I slowly slid her shirt over her head and ran my fingertips down her arms to her skirt, Miriam sighed and closed her eyes. I couldn’t shut mine for even a second. I needed to see her, kiss her, know that every single move I made was what she wanted and brought her pleasure.
It was hard not to embarrass myself when she was naked and I wasn’t. The air in the room was different, everything felt different.
I let my lips and mouth roam her body freely. When I hit a good spot her fingers clenched in my hair, pull tightly against my scalp. Her back arched as I looked up at her.
It was the most amazing sight I’d ever seen.
There was nothing hurried or frenzied about our movements. I slid into her slowly causing a gasp from her perfect mouth. Every moan pushed me too quickly.
Ending too quickly might have been a problem if we had limited time together. But we didn’t. We had all the time we wanted together. I wasn’t going anywhere and I hoped like hell she wasn’t either.
As my orgasm made my balls tighten, I didn’t change the pace at all. Still pushing slowly, I needed to kiss Miriam. Which I did and continued to do after my release came.
Afterword, lying in bed with Miriam in my arms, I figured out why this time had been different. What I said to her wasn’t just words. It was real.
My heart was hers.
***
“Are you going home for Thanksgiving?” she asked quietly as we lay in bed. She was on her back with my arms circling her, pulling close so I could nuzzle into her neck. We were both still naked. I think more because neither of us could move yet.
“Hadn’t planned on it.” I didn’t mention it’d be the first time I missed family Thanksgiving and that it sucked. But Miriam and I had such little time together, I didn’t want to waste whatever we were given.
“Why not?” Her fingers trailed through my hair making me want to fall asleep but she was trying to talk to me and I wasn’t that guy.
“You hadn’t said you were going so I assumed you planned to stay here.”
“What about your family?”
“They’re going up to my grandparents in Traverse City. They spend the whole weekend up there.” I yawned but turned it into a wet kiss on her neck.
“And you don’t?”
I shrugged. “Sometimes but not always. Last year I hung out with Cain and everybody.”
“But not this year?”
What was she trying to say? I pushed up onto one elbow so I could see her face in the barely lit room.
“Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“I’m just trying to figure out how you do things.” Miriam pulled on the back of my neck to bring me closer so she could kiss me. “The last thing I want is time apart. Trust me.”
I snorted. I slid my hand down from her collarbone to swirl around her nipple and take her breast in my hand completely. Then something else occurred to me.
“What about Christmas? Obviously I know you don’t celebrate Christmas but what do you do for Hanukkah?” I didn’t know a lot about Judaism, even dating Miriam because she didn’t talk about it much and certainly wasn’t as religious as some people.
“I always go home that week.” She glanced from me to the ceiling then back. “Actually,” she said sliding to sit up. I followed suit. “I was hoping that you’d be going home for Christmas and maybe would have time to meet my parents.” Her eyes avoided mine but did latch on briefly. My girl was nervous. I knew that was my fault because I had a tendency to react badly, but she wasn’t like Emily or any other girl I’d ever met. I could trust her.
“Sounds good to me. Then you can spend Christmas with us. Although I’ll warn you it will mean my parents and the triple terrors as well as whichever douches they’re currently dating. Probably a few grandparents and maybe even an aunt and uncle. You up for that?”
She nodded with excitement.
“It will also probably mean a small party with my parents’ friends including Cain’s family.”
“What are they like?”
“Oh they’re great but if his brother steps over the line tell me. I’ve been looking for a reason to kick his ass for years.”
She let her head fall back in laughter which gave me the opportunity to slip in and get my lips on her. She sighed then slid back down not making me break the gentle sucking I administered to her neck. As my lips claimed hers again, I climbed on top of her, pushing her legs apart with my hips.
Apparently, even though we’d had sex within the hour before she wasn’t willing to wait because she grabbed a condom, slid it on me then guided me inside her before I could even really make a move.
Miriam felt like nobody I’d been with before. Logically, I knew this was because I was in love with her and shit, I’d stay there forever if she’d let me or it was physically possible. But the way she dug her knees into my hips and her nails into my lower back, there was no way I could last long.
“You’re crushing me,” she said so quietly I barely heard her. And that was because I had cut off her supply of oxygen.
“Sorry,” I said before kissing her forehead. “Come on.” Pulling her from the bed she let out a surprised squeak but we needed to bathe.
I ran a bath hot enough it’d be relaxing but not so hot to burn us. We soaked there until the water cooled too muc
h to stay. Miriam with her back against my chest, each of us using a cloth to soap up and rinse off. I washed her hair which I’d never done in my entire life. Yeah, it made me a pussy but whatever. I helped dirty her up so I didn’t mind.
That night we both slept like the dead but when I nodded off Miriam was in my arms and she was still there when I woke. Which made me a lucky son of a bitch.
***
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I left work a little early to pick Miriam up at the airport. She’d been away three days for a Valentine’s Day shoot, and I’d missed her like all hell. We weren’t home more than fifteen minutes when there was a knock on the door. Which was unusual because I didn’t bring many people to my place.
“Where the hell have you been?” Cain asked as soon as I opened the door. “We’ve been waiting two hours.” Then he hugged me.
“Didn’t know I was expecting company.” I wrapped the girls in my arms before giving Adam the guy hug we usually did. “What are you all doing here?”
“Did you think we’d leave you alone on Thanksgiving?” Kendra asked hitting my hip with hers.
“I’m not alone.” I pointed over at Miriam who had her arms crossed at her chest.
“I meant the two of you.”
Flannery and Kendra bounced over to Miriam and she was lost in a round of girl sounds.
“You weren’t coming home and the five of us haven’t spent a Thanksgiving apart since we met.” Cain went to the fridge for a beer. “The girls say they’re going to cook.”
“Do they know how to cook?” I asked taking the beer he offered me. He then did the same for Adam.
“Maybe?” He chuckled. “They help our moms. I think we’ll live.”
“We need to get supplies,” Flannery said popping into our little group.
“And hope you don’t mind, we’re staying here. Have to get started early.”
Before I could react, the girls were gone, having convinced Miriam to take them to the store since she knew the area. Cain, Adam and I settled in the living room with the TV on.
“It’s ok we’re here right?” Adam asked.
“Course.”
“Then what was the face?”
“What face?”
“The one you made when you opened the door,” Cain said with a smirk.
“It’s great you guys are here.”
“But…”
I sighed. “But I just picked Miriam up at the airport. She’s been out of town for three days.”
“Ah. We cock blocked you. Sorry.” Cain didn’t look it. Actually he looked like he wanted to get punched in the nuts. He was practically begging for it.
And they were staying with me because they always stayed with me when they came out. No fucking way was I giving up our bed so Adam and Kendra would get delegated to the couch again. At least it was a big, comfortable couch.
At seven the next morning, the alarm went off. I could hear Miriam trying to be quiet when she turned it off but I was already awake.
“Why are you up so early?” I mumbled into the pillow
“Have to start the turkey. They take forever.”
I couldn’t let her go at that. Wrapping my hand around her wrist, I yanked her back down beside me, curling my body around hers.
“But it’s warmer in here.”
“Pretty sure it’ll be really warm in the kitchen.”
“I won’t be in the kitchen.”
“True. That is the one area it’s lacking.” She shifted her mouth and stroked her chin the way an old professor with a goatee would. “You know, you could always come into the kitchen and help.”
“Let’s not get crazy.”
We both laughed quietly until she sighed and pushed off the bed again.
“Seriously. I can’t leave them out there alone. Wouldn’t want to backslide with Kendra.”
I only got a quick peck before she headed out the door in her pajama pants and tiny T-shirt. I knew she’d be back to change eventually but I missed her body heat beside me already.
Kendra, Flannery and Miriam spent the day in the kitchen and although I’d joked about not pitching in, the three of us did help them as much as we could. At least until the girls pushed us out. Apparently, we were distracting.
This was a weird little situation we’d gotten ourselves into. One that hadn’t been seen before. Cain dated, had a few girlfriends and Adam had been with Kendra since we met them but I’m pretty sure none of them expected there to be a time the three of us would be happily in relationships. I know they didn’t expect if from me because I didn’t expect it from me.
Holy shit the girls could cook. I ate so much I thought I might need to call into work to spend the next week in the gym to work it off. Which was something new since college. In school, I played soccer or trained for soccer so I never had to worry about staying in shape. I didn’t have that anymore so I had to pay more attention.
The girls were pretty good natured about us watching the football game even though they were not paying any attention.
As I looked around the room at my friends, my family really, I knew that this was exactly how I wanted things to be. Unfortunately, most of us lived in Michigan and as badly as I wanted to move back there, I knew I never would as long as Miriam was in California. I’d have to feel her out on whether relocating would be something she’d be open to.
Chapter Seventeen
Cain, Flannery, Adam and Kendra flew out early Sunday afternoon leaving me one night with my girl before she had to leave as well. Though I was pretty fucking happy she said she didn’t work after the second week in December until after the new year. We spent the night in my apartment, mostly naked and extremely happy.
While she was gone I worked. She came back but said it was only for a few days. Miriam just wasn’t around much. It’d started to bother me and I hated that it bothered me. She had her life so why did I even worry about it?
“How long until you leave again?” I asked her as she put her shoes back on. She wasn’t staying the night because she had to unpack, do laundry, and run errands the next day. On a Saturday.
“I leave Monday morning.” She stood to her full height and put her hands on her hips.
I snorted. Not because it was funny but because it wasn’t.
“Is that a problem?” she asked narrowing her focus on me.
“Guess not.” I leaned against the back of my couch and folded my own arms across my chest.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re gone a lot.”
“Yeah. I have a job.” She snapped.
“I know.” Then I sighed. “But you’re gone…a lot.”
“Why are you bringing this up?” Miriam walked away to grab her purse off the table by the door.
“Because I miss you.”
“I miss you, too.”
“Then why don’t you skip a few jobs so we can actually spend some time together.”
“I can’t do that.” She shook her head at me.
“You could if you wanted to.”
“What the fuck, Sam.” Her voice went up a few notches. “I had these booked before I even met you. It’s my job.”
“I know that. You think I like feeling like this?” I pushed off the couch taking two steps closer. “Because I don’t. I just want to spend some time with my girlfriend.”
“I get that but you can’t expect me to drop my life because you came into it.”
“I don’t.”
“You do.” Miriam sighed and swallowed hard. “Is this about moving home?”
“I just don’t see why I’m staying here if you’re never here.”
“Then move,” she yelled.
“But I want to be with you.”
“Sam,” she snapped. “I can come see you. You can come back here. It could work.”
I already began shaking my head. Some long distance bullshit isn’t what I wanted otherwise I wouldn’t be worked up about her never being around. I also wasn’t as
king her to give up her career in deference to mine.
Two large steps brought me close enough to her that I could pull her hands into mine.
“I’m sorry. It didn’t come out the way I meant it to,” I said quietly. Hopefully, I’d bring the tension back down a few notches.
Miriam’s jaw was still clenched as she searched my face, thinking something over. The wheels were turning in her head. I could see it in the way she cocked her head to the side and watched me.
“We’ll figure this out, OK?” She said quietly. “I won’t always be this busy.”
I really didn’t even want to talk about it anymore. She had to leave in barely two days and that time should be spent together.
“How about I pick you up in the morning for your errands then you could bring your laundry over here tomorrow? We can do it together. Have dinner. It’ll be fun.”
Miriam chucked and snorted before holding my hands more firmly in hers.
“Laundry will be fun?” she asked.
I nodded. “I just want to spend as much time together as we can.”
“Ok,” she said. “Pick me up at nine.”
She turned away from me, grabbed her small suitcase and headed toward the door.
I stopped her before she could turn the knob.
“You’re not going to stay?”
“I don’t have clean clothes.”
“You don’t need them.” I gave a cheeky grin to make sure she knew I was kidding. Although if she’d be willing to get naked, I’d be willing for it to not be a joke.
Miriam shook her head. “Nine, Sam. OK?”
I sighed loudly. “Fine.”
I didn’t give her the kiss I wanted to. The one that would convince her to stay. Instead I used the moment to convey how I felt. My lips moved against hers softly and she didn’t try to take it further so I left it there.
Up for Everything (Up for Grabs #3) Page 14
