Page 64 of One Day

“Good morning,” I hum happily, stretching my arm out above me. My fingers curl into one of the pillows, and my eyes move to the ceiling fan as it spins. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Just checking in,” he says, the sputter of the coffee machine filtering the background and I can just imagine him standing in our teal kitchen. The small of his back pressed to the edge of the countertop, one arm crossed over his chest while the other holds the phone to his ear. Concern painting every corner of his face. “You never came home last night.”

“Yeah, that’s my bad, but no need to worry. I’m with Walker.”

“I figured. Dylan said Fitz dropped you off,” he shares, his voice a little more tired than usual. “He also mentioned something happened with your project. Is everything okay?”

Topher’s snide comments fill my chest again, pressing down on my sternum. “Yeah, everything’s going to be fine. You know how it is with Topher and his stupid need to put others down to lift himself up. Nothing I’m not used to.”

“You shouldn’t have to be used to it.”

“Preaching to the choir, Reid.” A laugh falls from my lips as I untangle my fingers from the pillow and run my fingers into my hair. “Thank you for checking in. I’m assuming I’ll be home later, but I’ll let you know if that changes. You’re okay?”

“I’m okay. I’ll see you later, Sunny.”

“Bye,” I hum softly, turning on my side again. “Love you.”

“Love you,” he says quickly before the line goes dead.

With a small sigh, I sit up and crawl toward the end of the bed. The floor is bare of my clothes, now sitting neatly on the corner of Walker’s dresser like they hadn't haphazardly been thrown on the floor in our haste to get each other out of our clothes.

Or maybe it was my haste. In my complete and utter addiction to him—in clothes and out of them.

My bare feet hit the carpeted floor and carry me towards his dresser. I want nothing more than not to have to put my jeans back on, but for Flynn’s sake, I reach for them before thinking better of it and reaching for Walker’s closet. I eye the top shelf for a pair of his sweats, stopping short when my gaze lands on a felt cowboy hat. A giddiness fills my chest as I grab it, rocking back on the soles of my feet when it’s in my hand.

Strands of my hair stand up in every direction when I turn towards the mirror hanging on the back of his door and bring the hat up to rest over them. The brown color is almost an exact match to my hair, blending in as an extension of my body. My smile widens, and I push onto my toes, taking a step forward to pull the door open. Being half-naked except for one of Walker’s shirts is suddenly not a problem as I step into the hall and head for his living room and kitchen.

“Walker Bodie, you have been holding out on me,” I say, walking into the kitchen where he’s sitting at the table, one leg crossed over the other. The sound of my voice causes him and the cat draped across his lap to turn their heads in my direction.

When his eyes land on the hat on top of my head, a smile curls up on his lips. Growing wider when I extend my arms out, doing a little spin before pinching the brim of the hat and tipping it forward. “This, Cowboy, is in fact a cowboy hat. What happened to not being a cowboy?”

“Owning a cowboy hat does not make me a cowboy.”

My lips curl up as I walk towards him, lifting the hat from the top of my head to put it on top of his sleep-swept hair. He leans his head back, letting me remove his glasses and rest them on the kitchen table next to his laptop. “You look like a cowboy to me.”

He smiles. “That so?”

I nod my head and lean down, kissing him. “Good morning,” I say, running my hand down his chest until my fingers are in the cat's fur. She twists until she can nudge my hand with my head, purring before she gets up and jumps down. “That lasted all of five seconds.”

“Don’t take it too harshly. She doesn’t like a lot of people.”

“She likes you,” I say, moving to sit on his lap. His hand drops to my leg, moving up my thigh to the hem of my shirt and trailing under it while his other moves to take his hat off. “No, you have to let me bask in your cowboyness a little while longer.”

“Can’t do it,” he says, setting it back on my head. “You were in my closet.”

“I was looking for sweatpants, for Flynn’s sake.”

A rich laugh falls from his mouth, wrapping around me like a security blanket. “How thoughtful of you, but she never came home. I’m guessing she spent the night with Devon.”

“And you didn’t think to seize the moment with dirty morning sex?” I gasp, bringing my hand up to rest over my heart. “You could have gone down on me. I would have gone down on you. We could have fucked in your bed, in the shower…” I say, my eyes roaming over the kitchen table and smoothing my hand over the wooden surface. “On the kitchen table.”

“On the kitchen table, huh? And how exactly would that go?”

“Well, it would probably start a little like this.” Biting my bottom lip, I tip the cowboy hat back and lean down to press my lips to the dip in his chin. I feel his lips tug up, and when my hand slides over his shoulders, my chest pressing to his, he tightens his hold on my hip and pulls me towards him. His fingertips leave a trail over my skin on their path further up my shirt and over my ribcage, curling his fingers into my skin.

“What next?”

“You’d help me with this,” I say, picking at the hem of my shirt. He follows my cue and pinches it between his fingers, moving the fabric up my body. I grab the cowboy hat off my head and let him take it off, grinning when he tosses the shirt behind him and places the hat back on my head with a lustful gaze. “I think you might like this hat more than you think, Cowboy.”

---