Page 52 of An Adventure For Aster

“What are you doing up?” Aster asked the next morning. He’d snuck out of bed as quietly as he could and then slipped into the bathroom to shower and leave without waking Raine.

He should have figured that wouldn’t happen even though she’d passed out cold in his arms last night.

Once he knew she was out, he got out of bed and went through the apartment shutting off the lights. It’d been barely nine when they got in bed, but she’d been exhausted.

He’d lain there thinking of everything that had happened the day before.

From meeting her family to talking to his sister about Raine.

The worry his sister had over him volunteering at the fire department and why he hadn’t told her.

It was stupid on his part, but why get her upset when there was no need for it?

“I wanted to make you breakfast before you left,” Raine said.

He looked at his watch and saw it was six. “It’s too early for you to get up. Go back to bed.”

“I’m already up and have the food started,” she said. She was standing in the kitchen in his T-shirt that he’d had under his button-down shirt yesterday.

There was something deep in his chest that pleased him to see that. Maybe it was sexist, but he didn’t care.

“I’ve been feeding myself for years,” he said. “It’s your day off. You should be sleeping.”

“Nah,” she said. “I don’t sleep in late. You know that. And I went to bed early last night. Thanks for shutting everything off. I guess it was the combination of all the food and activity when we got home.”

He moved closer and put a kiss on her puckered lips. He found her adorable when she did stuff like that.

“See,” he said. “I can provide some activities too.”

“You know, I love it when you grin like that. It’s a boyish smirk, but I say it’s a grin. You don’t do it often.”

He wanted to say he didn’t have much to smile about in life, but that would be wrong. He didn’t think he had a horrible childhood by any means, just a different one.

The past year, that could have gone a little better, but if anything changed there then he wouldn’t have met Raine and he wouldn’t give that up for anything.

“I do it when I feel it,” he said. “When I’m around people I can let my guard down with.” He pulled her in for a quick hug, another kiss and tapped her on the ass, then reached under the shirt and cupped her there.

She giggled and he loved hearing that sound.

“I’m glad I can make you feel it. Sit, the eggs will be done in a minute unless you need to leave?”

“I’ve got time,” he said. He’d planned on grabbing breakfast on the way in and now wouldn’t have to. Zane was meeting him there at seven and they were going to try to get some work done early and then call it a day.

Raine cooked breakfast for him efficiently like she did everything in life, it seemed.

The two of them sat at the table and ate quietly.

“Are you working all day?” she asked.

“Probably not,” he said. “There isn’t a full staff on. Zane and I hoped to be done by early afternoon. I know he wants to spend some time with Willow since she’s out of school but needs to get this addition done as fast as he can. We’ve got new machines coming and have to stay on track. The good thing, most of the holiday products were done and in stock, so no worries there.”

“I hear Ivy talk about things like that and it always amazes me how far ahead you’ve got to plan for it all,” she said.

“I’m learning my way around it too but, honestly, I only need to know more in terms of when it’s the worst time to have a machine down.”

“Do you like the job?” she asked.

No one had ever asked him before about his career choices. “I do,” he said.

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