Page 93 of Full Tilt
“You’ve really got this pillow-talk down, don’t you?”
“I’ve been practicing, can you tell?”
“Very smooth.”
He silenced my laughter with kisses. God, even first thing in the morning he tasted so good. So clean. I broke away with a small sigh, rested my chin on his chest. “I’d love to meet your parents. Actually, I take that back—I’m nervous as hell to meet your parents, but I can’t go tonight. I had to take another gal’s shift at Caesar’s to cover the weekend. I’ll be slinging free booze in a toga from one o’clock until nine.”
“Next Sunday?”
“Next Sunday works,” I said. “It’ll give me a week to prepare myself. And a week for Theo to get used to the idea. Still not sure that he likes me. At all.”
Jonah wore a funny smile. “I think he likes you plenty.”
“He doesn’t show it well. And poor Holly—the way he just dumped her in the middle of the woods?”
“Yeah, that was shitty,” Jonah said. “One of the Big Feets might’ve grabbed her and taken her for a mate.”
“Oh, aren’t your hilarious?” I bent to kiss him again, simply because I could. The kiss deepened and started to turn into something more, then Jonah’s watch alarm went off from the bedside table.
“Your meds,” I said, kissing around his mouth.
“Yeah, my meds.”
I threw on a long shirt and underwear, he put on sleep pants and a white undershirt. We went to the kitchen together, and he introduced me to his regimen.
He gave me the quick rundown of how to make his protein shake. He started swallowing one pill after another while I blended the powders and supplements. Soon, he had to grip the counter and breathe through a wave of nausea.
“Not sure what’s worse,” he said, his head hanging down. “When it comes or that I know it’s coming.”
I poured him a glass of water and rubbed his back.
This is real. This is what it means to be with him.
A whisper in my mind told me I didn’t have the guts to handle anything worse. I swallowed it down, silenced the thought. Iwantedto be with him. Not just swept up in an emotional moment under a starry sky but breathing side-by-side with him through the nausea.
“Do you have other side effects?” I asked.
He nodded, taking a long sip of water. “Insatiable horniness.”
I snorted a laugh. “I noticed. What else?”
“The steroids cause excessive hair growth. Everywhere. I spend a good two hours a day shaving it all off.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“In fact, I’m glad you’re here,” he said. “My back has some real hard-to-reach places.”
“Smartass.” I rolled my eyes and kissed the tip of his nose. “C'mon, I’m being serious. Or trying to.”
“I have nausea, sometimes my ankles swell, but it doesn’t last.” He shrugged. “I don’t have too many other side-effects. I’m lucky in that respect.”
I nodded while he busied himself with making me coffee. I sat on a stool to drink it, right across from Jonah choking down his protein shake. Déjà vu. Minus the burnt-out hangover.
Jonah met my eyes. His smile stretched out warm, almost proud. “Look at you, here,” he said softly. “Just like before, but everything’s different.”
“Different better,” I said, and climbed halfway across the counter to kiss him.
“Wait—” he started to say but my kiss was faster.
