Page 72 of The Ghost of Ellwood

“Wow,” I said, breathless.

He nuzzled my cheek before placing a kiss there. “Your heart’s beating really fast.”

It was strange not to feel his beat at all.

“I’m okay.” My softening cock slipped from his ass, and I collapsed beside him on the bed. I pulled his face to mine and gave him another kiss. My muscles relaxed and it was difficult keeping my eyes open.

“Sleep, darling.” Theo kissed my forehead.

Surrendering to the exhaustion, I slid an arm around him and closed my eyes. Earth-shattering: I finally knew what it felt like.

***

Something was burning.

I jolted upward and looked around, still somewhat dazed from sleeping so hard. The curtains were pulled shut, blocking the sun, but I could tell it was morning. The chilly air assaulted my naked flesh as I slid out of bed and grabbed a clean pair of boxers from the drawer. As quickly as I could, I pulled on sweats then headed for the door. The smell of smoke wafted from downstairs.

Was the house on fire? Panic clawed in my chest.

“Theo?” I called out, as I descended the steps into the foyer.

“In here.”

Running into the kitchen, I coughed as I hit a cloud of smoke. Something sizzled too.

“What’s burning?” I asked, before going into a coughing fit.

“Apologies, Ben.” Theo opened a window and started ushering out the smoke. “I’m cooking bacon and left it on too long. I wanted to cook you a nice breakfast.”

The devastation on his face crushed me. I’d eat an entire skillet of bacon burnt to a crisp if it made him smile again.

“Hey, I like my bacon on the crispy side.” I pulled him to my chest. “Anything I can do to help?”

“The eggs from the refrigerator, please.” Theo turned back to the cast-iron skillet and transferred the bacon to a large plate. The pieces were shriveled and blackened. Bless his heart. I placed the eggs beside him, and he cracked one into the skillet. “I’ll do my best not to burn these at least.”

Theo loved to cook and had made several amazing dinners. Everyone had off days. Every time I had tried cooking bacon in the past, I hadn’t fared much better.

The smoke began to clear, but I knew the scent would be singed in my nose for at least another hour. I kissed the back of his neck and wound my arms around him as he stood at the stove. It felt natural to do so, like we’d been at this for months instead of only days.

Three days had passed since we’d had sex for the first time, and it’d been hard keeping my hands off him since then. Kind of like being denied something for so long, and then once you’re able to have it you overindulge.

Theo was my indulgence. I could touch, kiss, and make love to him every minute of the day and still want more.

“I made coffee,” he said, resting his arm on mine. “Go ahead and pour a cup. Breakfast shouldn’t be much longer.”

Holding him was more appealing than coffee, but I released him. I added hazelnut creamer to my cup before walking over to the table. Theo grabbed a plate from the cabinet and loaded it with bacon, eggs, and bread that had just popped up from the toaster.

“Would you like strawberry jam for your toast?” he asked, placing my plate down. He was totally spoiling me.

“Yes, please.”

He blinked out of sight and reappeared by the refrigerator before bringing over the jam.

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” Though he hesitated a moment, he bent to kiss my cheek before taking his seat across from me.

He was still getting used to this new relationship between us. Hell, I was too. I was glad he hadn’t shut down on me like I’d feared he would. When I kissed him, he didn’t pull away. He even initiated some of his own. We hadn’t put a label on it, but in my eyes we were together.