Page 17 of Home Brewed (The Perfect Cup #1)

His beard rasps against my neck as he whispers into my ear, “You look so fucking hot when you do that. Keep going, pretty girl, you’re doing so good.

” My moans begin to hit a higher pitch, I’m right there.

He bites my neck—I know I’ll find a mark tomorrow—and I can hear a growl of approval as liquid gold runs through me, stars bursting behind my eyes as I writhe against him, riding out my climax.

Holy shit. This is the first orgasm I haven’t had on my own in months. Years? Who knows. I think I dropped my brain somewhere back there because I can’t hold onto a single thought right now.

Beck peppers kisses on my neck and face, hands continuing to smooth down my sides, as I come down, breathing heavily.

The haze of my orgasm slowly lifts, and I see him gently smoothing out my hair and caressing my side where he still holds me.

I meet his gaze and see the flush on his cheeks and neck.

I can still feel how hard he is where he still rests between my hips.

When my eyes flick down to look at it, he catches my chin to look back at him.

“Fuck, pretty girl, that’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” he says, kissing me firmly.

I become pliant under him again, my body surrendering to his touch.

I reach down to his belt. When I get close, he grabs my wrist before I can unbuckle it, bringing my hand back up to his face.

“Not tonight, sugar.” He scoops me up and sits us back on the couch, with him holding me on his lap.

He wraps my new powder blue throw blanket around my shoulders, letting me snuggle into him.

I wrestle with the uncomfortable feeling brewing in me, that something may be owed.

“Want to finish the movie?” he asks, still nipping small kisses on my shoulder. I look at the screen and see it was paused at some point during all of that.

“Are you sure? I mean, it feels like you could use some attention.” I wiggle my hips for emphasis.

“This wasn’t about me. I wanted to make you feel good.

And trust me, I feel anything but neglected, pretty girl.

” He slyly wipes his thumb across his bottom lip, which looks so much sexier than it should.

I flush at his term of endearment. Beck has yet to lie to me, even when it might not be fun to hear.

So, despite the slight unease I feel in the pit of my stomach, I settle into him to watch Andy get chased down the highway in a taxi.

Beck continues to play with my fingers and kiss my hair, finding ways to keep touching me as the movie wraps up, and I can feel us both drifting off.

It was an emotional roller coaster of a day, the intensity of it weighing on both of us.

My head struggles to wrap around the events of today. I don’t know what we are. Even though I’m sure it’s next to nothing; I don’t need it to be anything except for this moment right here. At least for now.

And yet, I’m not quite ready to let him go.

“Would you want to make this a double feature?” I ask hopefully. “We could watch it on a laptop… in my room?”

“I would love that, Hazel, but just so you know, I intend to only watch the movie and cuddle with you.” As if sensing my disappointment, he continues, “Not because that wasn’t arguably the best movie watching experience of my life,” he wiggles his eyebrows at me again, “But because I want to be careful with you. I want you to feel safe and know that I’m not going anywhere.

I want to go slow, if that’s okay?” I nod, feeling slightly embarrassed by my overeagerness.

I don’t know if he notices, he simply stands with me still in his arms, and carries me to my bedroom.

“I’ll be honest, I wasn’t even sure you liked me, you know, like that .” Wow, that was super not middle schooler of me…

“Well, Hazel, I can say, without a doubt, that I do like you, you know, like that ,” he emphasizes each word with a kiss to my head or face, which has me giggling in his arms.

Placing me down gently to stand on the floor, he grabs my laptop from on top of the dresser.

While he opens it and I tell him the password, I quickly wiggle out from under my blanket and sneak on the most worn-out t-shirt I own.

It may be ugly, and the graphic that used to be on it is no longer visible, but it’s so freaking soft, and I’ll be damned if I don’t sleep comfy.

I hop onto the bed where Beck has set up my laptop.

He hands it to me, and proceeds to lay behind me on the bed, pulling me flush to him, one arm coming up under my neck and settling his head where my neck meets my shoulder.

I pull up my streaming service and put on season five of Gilmore Girls, feeling Beck laugh into my hair behind me, and allow the comfort of his heat to lull me into the first dreamless sleep I’ve had in weeks.

I startle awake when I hear a clanking in my kitchen, the scent of coffee gently floating in the air.

Quickly feeling behind me, I realize the bed is still warm, the events of last night flooding back.

I can’t believe I slept with Beck. Actually slept with him, not sex.

He wasn’t pushy, if anything, I was the pushy one.

I would have been confused if he hadn’t seemed very clearly pleased with himself and happy to simply have me in his arms. His big, muscular arms that I want to have my hands on again.

As though I’ve summoned him, Beck comes in carrying two cups of coffee in the strawberry patterned mugs I found on Etsy.

“I assumed the coffee creamer in the fridge was your preference? I put in a decent amount, given your usual order, so I hope I didn’t overdo it.

” He’s so cute when he’s a little unsure, handing me my coffee with his hair still mussed from yesterday, and missing the shirt he had fallen asleep in.

My mouth gapes when I see his chest. I hadn’t had a chance to fully appreciate his extensive tattoos last night, intricate patterns going all the way up his right arm and curling over his shoulder, and his left forearm covered in patchwork American traditional style pieces.

This man obviously goes to the gym, based on his tight abdomen and the muscles on display, the slight V-shape leading down into his boxers…

and I re member he had taken his pants off before crawling into bed last night.

Beck’s cheeky smile when he notices where my eyes have landed makes me want to hide under the covers.

“I could have made that,” I grumble. Beck throws me a goofy glare. I bite my lip as I take the offered coffee from his hands.

He perches on the bed next to me when I sit up, brushing my hair from my face and placing a kiss on my head. “Why should you have to, pretty girl?”

“Good morning by the way,” he mumbles into my hair. “God, you look so cute like that.” I take a long sip of my coffee—which is made to perfection, by the way–to hide my blush. I moan in satisfaction. He made me the perfect cup of coffee.

“Glad I made it right, although I don’t know if it’s fair of you to torture me with those kinds of noises,” he laughs, sipping his own coffee.

“Hope you don’t mind I borrowed some of your creamer?

” I notice his coffee matches mine, though it’s significantly darker, as he is clearly not the sugar fiend that I am.

“Borrowing implies you intend to give it back, so I’d say whatever you took you can keep,” I throw back at him while he chokes only a little on his coffee.

“Sassy girl,” he mutters into his coffee, smiling. “I had a really great time last night.”

“I did, too.” I take a brave breath. “I think we should probably try it again sometime? Make sure it wasn’t a fluke?

” I’m still a little nervous asking, even though I’m pretty sure I already know the answer.

And that orgasm… it’s been a while since something like that has happened, even if it was because I humped his leg like a teenager with a purity ring.

“I think that’s a very smart idea.” He places a chaste kiss on my lips, his grin blinding and warm.

The way he looks at me is foreign, like he can’t stand to take his eyes off of me for a moment.

“I have to go in to work. I hope I’ll see you there later?

I would stay here, but I have some supplier contracts to go over for the bean roasting. ”

“Holy crap, you’re finalizing a roaster?!” I nearly splash coffee onto my new duvet with my excitement, and he smiles wider.

“Yeah, the one in Hamilton you helped me find. They seem pretty legit, and I admire their environmental stance. I think this would be a great partnership.”

“Ugh, and those samples they sent? Heavenly!” Excitement thrums through me.

“I couldn’t have done it without you, sugar.” His fond gaze warms me from the inside out. Maybe it’s just the coffee…

“I think I’ll come by later in the morning?

” I peek over at my phone where it displays the time as eight.

This is when I usually get up, so it’s not that early for me.

Still, I’m determined to take a slow morning and finally open the email from my old work that I saw come in late last night.

Which I pointedly ignored, by the way. A notification had pinged at the bottom of my screen while Rory and Logan were about to do a daring jump.

Beck had tensed up behind me, so I’d quickly closed it and pressed back into him.

He held me tightly without saying a word.

“Sounds perfect.” He gives me one last sound kiss before standing and quickly whipping on his clothes.

“Oooh, someone’s doing the walk of shame this morning,” I tease from my comfy spot on the bed as I watch him get dressed. This man looks as sexy putting clothes on as he did taking them off.

“That would require me to be ashamed, pretty girl, and I can tell you, that is the last thing I feel about you.” Beck must be determined to turn me into a puddle before he leaves.

I walk him to the door as he makes his way out, promising to see him later in the day, and watch his ass as he walks towards the steps out of the building, wanting to catch every last glimpse of him before he’s gone. The second he’s out of my sight, I grab my phone and text Nessa.

Hazel

Morning, babe! Random question, how soon is too soon to look at someone else after a breakup ?

I throw my phone down on the bed and quickly hop into the shower, knowing Nessa probably won’t be awake at this time. If the past two weeks I’ve known her has taught me anything, it’s that Nessa runs on her own clock.

I take my time, lathering my hair and letting my clementine shower oil soak in while my morning playlist comes through my shower speaker—exclusively Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan.

By the time I get out, get a towel wrapped around me, and a toothbrush in my mouth, she’s already texted back, surprisingly enough.

Loch Nessa Monster

Oh yeah, super random for sure. well i would say whenever u feel ready. timelines are for chumps, and i think u should bang whoever u want whenever you want because only u know what’s best for u.

My heart seizes. I was expecting her to say that I was too fragile and needed time to eat, pray, love or something, or to at least attempt a true ‘ho phase’.

Loch Nessa Monster

tell beck good morning for me :p

Yeah, that sounds more like her.

Hazel

No idea what you’re talking about, weirdo

There’s no way she knows he stayed the night. I’d bet she doesn’t even know he was here yesterday.

Loch Nessa Monster

Sure. cause he's wearing the same outfit as yesterday for fun

Hazel

First of all, when did you see him yesterday, and secondly, when did you see him today?? You don’t even work until this evening.

Loch Nessa Monster

grabbing breakfast on my way home from my own rendezvous ;P

Hazel

And yesterday?

Loch Nessa Monster

same answer

I laugh, loving how secure she is in herself. I push down the slow bloom of envy.

Hazel

Well, I’m pleading the fifth

Loch Nessa Monster

i would fully support that but we’re in Canada and we don’t have “the fifth”, so tuff titties

Hazel

Whatever, wanna grab brunch tomorrow?

I’m really hoping she’ll say yes, I need some girl time, and dinner the other night was fun. I’m slowly getting to know Stella, too, and I secretly hope Nessa suggests inviting her as well. She’s basically a calmer version of Nessa, still energetic and bubbly, maybe less… insane?

Abandoning my phone on the bed and wandering to the kitchen for breakfast, I see a bowl of yogurt with some fruit and granola on the side, a bright pink sticky note with a smiley face on it stuck to the cling film on top.

Yeah, Beck’s out here for brownie points and he is earning them. I smile and scoop the mixture into my mouth, heading back to my bedroom. I pick my phone back up, seeing Nessa’s agreement to brunch with a time and place along with a list of expletives explaining why it’s going to be great .

I chuckle to myself. As nervous as I was making friends with Beck’s best friend, she is really something. I could see us becoming really close.

If you let yourself, I think to myself. Making and keeping friends is clearly not my forte.

Deciding I need to bite the bullet, I wrap a blanket around my shoulders, needing the security, as I open my email account.

There it is. An email from HR telling me that I’m in breach of contract, terminating my employment effective immediately.

My chest squeezes as I read further, seeing that I will not be getting my two weeks’ severance or payment for these last few days as it was vacation time, which was apparently forfeited in cases of breach of contract.

Another fun tidbit they added in without telling us.

As sad as I want to be about it, this only confirms my belief that corporations are evil, and businesses are not here to look out for their employees.

I sigh and close the email, knowing it won’t need any kind of response, and they won’t be getting one.

I left nothing in the office, besides a slowly dying potted plant, so I have no reason to return and face the dirty looks of the other jerks at the office.

Everyone in the office gossips, including HR, so everyone will know about it by the end of the day anyway.

At least I wouldn’t have gross old men asking me to bring them coffee anymore instead of doing my job.

If I had a job, that is. I flop down on my bed dejectedly. Once this contract, which is barely a contract, with Booze & Brews is done, I won’t have anything.

I breathe out the weight that’s starting to squeeze my lungs.

That is future Hazel’s problem. Right now, I need to focus on what I can do, and not let the stress and grief of losing my job sweep me away.

I need to not let this overwhelm me and make a plan.

And that starts with going into work and doing what I’m good at.