Breathe In (Just Breathe, #1)(77)
“No,” he argues, though he doesn’t change his expression until he can no longer suppress a grin. “I’ll join you ladies.”
“We’ll be fine by ourselves.”
“I know, but I wouldn’t mind getting out.”
We take Sadie for a walk around a few blocks and over to one of the nearby parks for her to run a little. As we take a break on the far, top left of the park while Sadie sniffs around a tree, I decide that I need to know what caused the reason for his moving.
“Why Pasadena?”
“What do you mean?” he says confused.
All I do is give him a look and I know he understands what I mean.
“I like it here.”
“You like it here?”
“Yes,” he agrees.
“And . . .?” I pry.
“And . . . what?”
He’s not going to make this easy, is he?
“Any other reason?” I inspect.
“Uhhhhh . . . no.” The smirk on his face indicates that he’s lying.
Shaking my head, “You’re kidding, right?!”
He ponders what to say, and leaves me with, “All in good time, beautiful.”
When we get back to his building, Joe stands in the elevator with his shoulder touching mine. I decree not to look at him because it might encourage him to do something. From the corner of my eye, I see him staring at me until the box dings at our arrival.
Standing in the doorway to his bedroom, I offer, “Go ahead and change. I’ll wait until your done.”
Joe lifts his eyebrows at my words before he strides to the wall of mirrors, sliding one to the left. I didn’t realize that a walk-in closet could be hidden behind it. Interestingly, Joe leaves the door propped open halfway, but I can’t see it — and I don’t dare to look. To be safe, I remain in the crook of the door between the bedroom and the hallway.
Two minutes later, Joe emerges from the closet with pajama bottoms on and a shirt in hand, exposing his naked torso. He deliberately waits to put the shirt on when he’s standing right in front of me. Winking, he methodically shrugs on the tee as I bite my tongue. I stand rigid as he presses into me and leans in for a kiss. Pulling my head away, I shake it in opposition. His knuckles graze my cheek before his lips meet my forehead for a long embrace. He pecks the same place before he reluctantly pulls away and heads out of the room. I close and lock the door behind me for precautionary measures.
Before changing, I venture to the bathroom first. Most women would be uncomfortable sleeping in a man’s bed who she isn’t intimate with when she has her period, but not me. I’ve been using a menstrual cup for years and love it. No messy pads or tampons or the chance of leakage. I just remove the cup, clean it out in the sink and place it back inside.
Sadie watches me change as she lays on Joe’s bed. I put on loose, soft pink, white and grey plaid bottoms that tighten with a drawstring, a white camisole with a built in bra and a light pink cardigan that matches the color on the pants. Choosing to take a little longer, I brush my hair before tying it up, rinse my face, and put on some lotion before snooping in his closet.
Opening the door, I discover that his closet is the same size of his bathroom. It has floor to ceiling dark mahogany wood with hints of a deep sky blue grey, like that of a summer rain storm, on the few strips of wall. The shelving is a variety of open hanging areas and different sized drawers on the two longer walls. The shortest wall is lined with nothing but a shoe rack. Everything is neatly arranged like it’s a department store. Suits, dress shirts, pants, tee shirts and some sweaters hang by their garment type and then by color on one side, the other side is completely empty. The shoe’s are arranged like his hanging clothes, and only fill half the space. I swear he has just as many shoes as I do. A large rectangular unit sits in the middle of the closet. Upon closer inspection, I see that it’s lined with drawers on both of the long sides. The drawers that are filled with items are flawlessly folded, I know because I check. Joe is a boxer brief man — my favorite. There are drawers with ties and belts and some that have cufflinks and tie clips that are all strategically lined up. He’s either one serious neat freak or Anna makes sure everything is where it should be. The thought of Anna having to do his laundry is comical and probably true.
Sliding open the last drawer, I find a collection of watches that are gold and either silver, platinum or both. A red item at the far right catches my attention and my heart flutters at the sight of the bracelet Jade bought Joe on New Year’s. It’s laying alone in its own little container. I know that Joe wears a watch practically every day, which means that he sees the bracelet each time. My fingers caress the beads as memories from that first day we met dance into my mind and into my gut. Pull yourself together, Emma.
Not wanting to take too long for fear of getting caught snooping, I head out to join everyone in the living room. I’m happy to find that everyone wasn’t waiting for me when I arrive. Henry and Maggie have yet to emerge from their room.
Jimmy, Allen, Jared and Nathan are deciding on what movie to watch as Jimmy and Allen cuddle in one spot and Jared and Nathan are in another. Sadie curls up next to Joe with her head resting on his thigh before I sit down. Jared motions for me to visit, so I do. I slump down into his left side, placing my head on his chest next to Nathan’s who is burrowed into Jared’s right. Allen tosses a blanket on the three of us, then one to Joe before situating one for himself and Jimmy. Anna makes two trips out to us with drinks and four really large bowls of freshly popped popcorn.