Caged in Darkness (Caged #1)(14)
I woke to the sound of my alarm clock indicating that it was 8 o’clock. It felt much earlier. The sun shone through the glass, which made my room look larger than it actually was. I opened the bay windows to step onto the terrace. The rush of damp morning air refreshed me, but I couldn’t tarry long. I could see a storm coming in and did not want to be caught on the terrace in a downpour.
The terrace connected to Ash’s room, and I looked over to see his window open. He must have been out earlier. We met here most mornings. We rarely spoke, but instead sat in warm silence. It was my favorite part of the day. He never pressured me to talk and understood that I needed those moments.
I followed my weekend morning routine; showered, brushed my teeth, threw my hair into a messy bun, and replaced my robe with a pair of jeans and a billowy t-shirt. Before leaving my room, I opened the dirty clothes hamper and pulled my money and student ID from the jeans I wore the day before.
I walked into the kitchen to be confronted by the obnoxious odor of burnt cinnamon rolls, cooling on the stove top. Ash bent over them and poked each with a fork, as if testing to see if it would move.
I cleared my throat and he angled his head away from the rolls to greet me with a slight smile.
“I think I killed them.” He nodded towards the charred remains of his attempt at breakfast.
“I think that’s a safe assumption. I vote don’t risk it.”
Ash folded the rolls into a paper towel and threw it into the trash with a thud. I sat on the counter and grabbed the glass of milk abandoned there.
Ash arched his right eyebrow, “Feeling lazy this morning? I guess that means, I am setting out everything for breakfast?” He sighed, and flashed a sarcastic smile. “Since you’re drinking my glass of milk, I suppose I have to make do with a can of orange juice, since that was our last clean glass?”
“Mmmm… good milk.” I smacked my lips. “You could always do the dishes and have a glass of milk too.” He walked over to where I sat, and placed his hands on either side of my waist.
“Or I could take back what is rightfully mine and you could do the dishes.” He made a grab for the milk and I artfully pulled my hand holding the glass as far away from him as I could.
“Fine. You get the darn milk.” His arms were back in their original position and he stared directly into my eyes, while I brought the milk back to my lips to take another sip.
Guilt rushed over me. I smiled and hesitantly offered the glass to his lips. He took a sip. His mouth quirked into a half smile.
“You’re too easy. Keep the milk; I poured it for you anyways.”
Laughing, I swatted at his back with the kitchen towel that lay on the counter. He began combing the cabinets for assorted boxes of cereal, bowls and sugar. I watched as he placed them on the table in the connecting family dining room, and added fruit, nuts, and bread to the mix.
“Hope you’re okay with dry cereal?” He didn’t glance up to see my nod.
Pushing myself off the counter, and moving around it I ran directly into Ash on his way back into the kitchen. Our feet tangled and before I knew it, I was plunging towards the antique tile. Ash grasped my waist with one hand and my hip with the other. He held me in a position that mimicked the type of dip couples generally did at the end of a dance.
“Klutz.” He kissed the tip of my nose, and pulled me back to stand before him, but I was dizzy from the movement and fell against him.
Ash’s eyes widened, as my body molded to his. I quickly sucked in my breath. My face angled upwards and his lowered. Our noses grazed one another’s in an Eskimo kiss. We stood still, his breath gently brushing my lips, and I noticed that he had specks of brown in his green eyes.
He straightened suddenly, and pulled my body away from his. My confusion greeted his detached stance, and noticing he moved closer. His hand, which had been holding my upper arm, slid upwards to pull the part of my t-shirt that covered my shoulder, to the side. He then leaned forward and placed a small kiss on the exposed skin between my shoulder and neck.
His breath grazed my earlobe, “As I said, klutz.” He laughed awkwardly and went back to sit at the table.
I didn’t know what was wrong with my body, but I felt warm. My spine was tingling from when he had kissed my nape, and my chest felt weighted down.
I vaguely wondered what Ash had meant to get from the kitchen, as I moved to sit across from him at the wobbly table. Before I could ask, Maye entered in her normal bubbly mood.
“Morning!” She stopped at the counter and poured her morning cup of coffee, took a testing sip, while gazing at us over the rim of the mug. “Did I interrupt something?” Her eyebrow arched in a way that always reminded me of Ash.
Ash quickly responded, “Nope.” He shoved the last bite of Frosted Flakes into his mouth and moved to bring his empty bowl to the kitchen sink.
I grabbed an apple, from the bowl of fresh fruit Ash placed on the table earlier and watched as he leaned back against the sink behind Maye.
“What were you two chatting about then? The room feels positively frigid.” She feigned a shiver.
“I believe we were talking about how I am a klutz and Ash is bull headed, or something like that.” I jumped up from the table and walked to the dining room side of the counter. I looked at Ash innocently, expecting him to comment, but he didn’t. Instead, he looked away and began to leave.