Unexpected Chance (3 page)

I bite my tongue and look in the refrigerator. I’d really like a beer, but it’s two o’clock in the morning. I close the refrigerator and stand in front of the island where Savvy has perched herself on one of the stools. She looks around the kitchen and whistles between her teeth, again.

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have any gum would you?” she asks. Now that’s one thing I remember about her. She’s always smacking gum between her teeth. That’s enough to drive a man to drink.

“No, I don’t chew gum. I’ll just go get you a t-shirt that you can change into for the night. Give me your clothes when you’re done, I’ll throw them in the washing machine. You’ve got some blood on your shirt.”

I walk into my bedroom, open a drawer, and pull out an old t-shirt for her. She’s pretty short; it should be just fine for her. I walk back out into the family room and find Savvy looking at pictures on the wall.

“You have such an amazing family,” she says, touching the last group family picture we took just before my dad died.

She wipes a tear from her cheek, turns around, and takes the t-shirt. I point to the bathroom and she slowly walks down the hall, stopping to look at each picture on the wall. When she gets to the bathroom, she doesn’t close the door all the way, and I can see her stripping out of her clothes. I know I shouldn’t be looking, but it’s damn hard to take my eyes off of her. She’s a stunning woman. She’s wearing a bright orange bra and matching panties. That’s not something I expected her to be wearing. Somehow I expected them to be red like her car.

She takes all of her clothes off even her panties then puts on my shirt. Oh, fuck me. She comes out of the bathroom, walks straight to me and puts her clothes in my hands. She takes a seat on the couch, picks up the remote like she’s done it a hundred times before, turns on the television and starts flipping through channels.

I go into the laundry room and take out a bottle of stain remover. I stand there with her shirt in one hand and the stain remover in the other hand, unable to think what I’m supposed to be doing. I shake my head, then dab some remover on the shoulder where the blood is. Just as I’m about to throw it into the washing machine, I spot a hole in the side of the shirt. I take a closer look and see blood there too. What the fuck? How did the blood from her cheek get all the way down the side of her shirt? Then it hits me. She has another injury, and she didn’t tell anyone. I throw it all in the washing machine and turn it on. I go into my bedroom again and grab a pair of boxers. They’ll be big on her, but they’ll have to do.

I walk over to the couch and hold them out for her. She’s engrossed in the television show she’s found, and doesn’t see me.

“Savvy,” I call.

“Hmmm,” she answers, cocking her head my way, but she doesn’t take her eyes off the television.

“Put these on,” I say, holding my boxers out toward her.

She looks at me, and then she looks at the underwear in my hands. “Why? I don’t sleep in underwear,” she replies, looking back at the television.

Fuck me is right.

“Alright, I’ll tell you like it is. You can either take these, go in the bathroom and put them on, then show me your side, or, you can lift your shirt as you are and show me your side. And let me remind you that I know you aren’t wearing any underwear. Either way, you’re showing me your side,” I say, holding out the underwear again.

She inhales a breath probably ready to lie to me, then thinks better of it. She exhales and takes the boxers. She rolls her eyes, then slips them on under the shirt without even getting off the couch.

“Happy now?” she asks, going back to watch television.

“Side,” I say.

“It’s nothing, really. You know what, I’m actually really tired. Am I sleeping on the couch?” she asks.

“No, I have a guest bedroom, you’re sleeping in there,” I say, pointing down the hall.

“Oh, good. I’ll see you in the morning. Do you have eggs and bacon in the refrigerator? I’ll cook you Sunday breakfast. Ok, See you tomorrow morning,” she says in one big breath. Then she quickly walks down the hall.

I follow behind her as she walks to a closed door. She points to it, silently asking if this is the guest room. I shake my head no, and open the door next to it.

“Thank you, I’ll see you in the morning,” she says. She rolls up on her toes and kisses me on the cheek. She quickly turns around and closes the door.

I shake my head wondering just how she managed to get away with not showing me what I wanted. I should knock on the door and make her show me, it could be serious. No, I should just barge in there and make her show me. Forget it. I take one step backward, ready to turn around and head back into the family room, but the door opens suddenly and she takes a step out into the hallway.

“Aiden,” she calls. “Oh, shit, you scared me! I thought you’d be down the hall by now,” she says, abruptly stopping. She takes a step back, then rests her head on the side of the door and continues, “Thank you for today.” Without another word, she smiles then closes the door again.

I park myself on my couch and get sucked into whatever show she was watching, while I wait for the washer to finish. I’ll at least put the clothes in the dryer and start it, and then I’m going to bed.

At three thirty in the morning, I climb into bed and laugh to myself about my whole day. My sister got married in the courthouse she got shot in and technically died in. I almost got into a fight outside a bar. I took a woman to the hospital. I was then indirectly accused of hitting her by a friend, and now she’s in my guest bedroom sleeping in my t-shirt and boxers. There are orange panties and an orange bra among other women’s clothing in my dryer, and she’s making me eggs and bacon in the morning. She named my car Jade, and her car, Ruby, is sitting in my garage keeping Jade company. Can someone please tell me how this all happened to me today?

The warm morning sun on my face coming in through my curtains wakes me. I look at the clock on my nightstand. It reads six thirty, and I think to myself about what I’m going to do today, when a pair of arms resting over my chest distracts me from what mundane thing I could have possibly thought of to do. I turn my head and look at Savvy sleeping soundly. Her beautiful blonde hair is resting over her face, and it doesn’t help the morning wood I’m already sporting. Her body is pressed to my side, and her right leg is thrown over my left. The t-shirt I gave her to wear last night is hiked up to her ribs. That’s when I see the dried blood on her side. It’s what she didn’t want to show me last night. I don’t know how she got it, but my blood boils. Reno is a fucking asshole. Savvy is such a sweet and beautiful woman. How could anyone treat another human being like that? How could anyone treat Savvy like that?

My eyes travel back up to her face, her stunning green eyes are staring back into mine. “Good morning,” I say.

“Good morning. I couldn’t sleep last night, and I got scared. I hope you don’t mind that I crawled in bed with you,” she says, rubbing her hand up and down my arm.

My eyes follow her hand up and down my arm. On an upward stroke her hand continues upward to my face. She rubs the stubble on my cheek, then her thumb comes to my lips. She gently caresses my lips back and forth . . .
then she slides her body up and her warm mouth comes to mine.

“Aiden?” she questions bringing me out of my fantasy.

The second her fingers touched my lips I lost my mind and wanted nothing more than for her to kiss me, and for me to kiss her back, but that’s not what happened. My eyes come to hers and I look at her lust filled, questioning face. The cut below her eye looks like it will heal nicely, but her black eye looks like it hurts. She was just hurt by another man and now she’s in my bed and I’m imagining kissing her. She doesn’t need that right now.

“I’ll just go turn the dryer back on so your clothes aren’t wrinkled,” I say, getting out of bed, ruining the moment.

She has a hurt look on her face and I’m sure she’ll want to get the heck out of here now. Dumb, dumb, dumb, incredibly dumb, she said she was going to make me breakfast. When’s the last time you had a woman in your kitchen wearing your t-shirt cooking you breakfast, Einstein? Too fucking long ago, that’s how long.

“I’ll start breakfast while you do that,” she says, surprising me.

She scoots out of bed, the t-shirt falls down covering her to her thighs. She lifts up the right corner of the shirt and pulls a wedgie out of the crack of her ass, which exposes the bottom of her right butt cheek. I lick my lips as she turns around and offers a sly smile.

I go turn on the dryer and then check my phone. There’s already a text from Max asking me to keep Savvy today and to bring her to Sunday dinner tonight. He and Chloe will take Savvy home with them tonight and Max will bring her to work with him Monday morning. The smell of bacon distracts me. I head into the kitchen and find Savvy standing at my stove manning bacon. My breath catches in my throat. She’s stunningly beautiful, her sexy bare legs and the glow from the sun shining through the t-shirt expose her sexy curves underneath. She looks like an angel in my kitchen, an angel wielding kitchen tongs, cooking bacon.

“Hey sugar, could you get some paper towels and line a plate for me? The bacon is almost ready,” she says.

She must be feeling a little better, her colorful wording is coming out. I smile and do as she asks. I start some coffee and sit at the table, then watch her move around my kitchen. She plates two dishes and sets one in front of me and another across the table. She goes to the coffee pot and pours two cups, then sets those down.

She sits down and digs in. Other than seeing my sisters eat like pigs I’ve never seen another woman eat like this. I find it amusing so I just watch while I sip my coffee. She looks up with half of a piece of bacon hanging out of her mouth, and then swallows the food that’s already in her mouth hard. She takes the half of a piece of bacon out of her mouth and says, “What? Do I have egg on my face or something?”

“No,” I answer, amused.

“Is there something wrong with your breakfast?” she asks concerned, looking at my plate.

“No,” I answer starting to like this game.

“Well, you haven’t eaten any,” she replies.

“No,” I answer.

“Are you going to eat your bacon?” she asks.

“No,” I answer. I wonder how many more questions she’s going to ask that I can answer no to?

“Do you know how to say anything other than no?” she asks.

“Yes,” I answer.

“Well, thank God! I thought I was transported to the universe of no and I was the only strange one that knew how to say anything other than no.”

I couldn’t help it; it was so damn funny, I tipped my head back and laughed. It was a full on deep belly laugh that was contagious because she started laughing, too. She’s laughing so hard she has tears streaming down her face. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard.

“Wait, what are we laughing at again?” she asks seriously, wiping her tears.

My face goes serious. Is she for real? Then I bust a gut laughing again.

“Seriously, you aren’t going to eat that? Can I have your bacon?” she asks again.

“I slide my plate over to her and she takes all of my bacon, leaving only my eggs. I slide the plate back and eat my eggs.

“Do you want to talk about last night?” I ask.

“Not especially,” she answers, bringing her right leg up to her chest. She’s insecure about the question, but not about me seeing my own underwear on her thighs.

“Alright, I won’t pressure you. Then how about if you tell me a little about yourself?” I try.

“There’s not much to tell really. My dad was never around, my mother died when I was ten. I was raised by my Aunt Molly, I moved out when I was eighteen. I’ve been on my own ever since,” she says, shrugging.

The dryer buzzes and I get up to get it.

“I’ll get it. You sit and enjoy your coffee,” she says. She rests her hand on my shoulder on the way into the laundry room. She comes back out dressed in all of her own clothes.

“I’ll just clean up the breakfast dishes, then me and Ruby will be out of your hair.”

“You can’t go,” I tell her, standing in front of her.

Savvy

“What do you mean I can’t go?” I ask, looking up at him. I hold my stare for about fifteen seconds, then take the plates to the sink, turn the water on and load them in the dishwasher.

“You’re invited to family dinner tonight, and I thought we’d hang out today until then,” he answers.

“You want to hang out with me?” I turn around and ask, surprised.

Men don’t usually want to hang out with me. They want a quick fuck, sure, but not to just hang out with me. And he’s already indicated he doesn’t want to sleep with me. I tried to show him my gratitude this morning and he wanted no part of it. So why would he want to hang out with me?

“I do. We can do absolutely anything you want today,” he answers, finishing his coffee.

“I really should go home and get a change of clothes and my books. Unfortunately, I have studying to do. How about we go get my stuff, then we go to the zoo for about an hour. I’ve always wanted to go to Woodland Park Zoo,” I say, excitedly. I’ve wanted to go since I was a little girl. I’m actually extremely embarrassed by the things I haven’t done. Aunt Molly never allowed it. Even on field trip days in grade school, she made a point out of it and made me stay home, just so I couldn’t have any fun.

“Deal! I’ll follow you home. You can leave your car . . .”

“Ruby,” I interrupt.

“You can leave Ruby at the condo. We’ll take my car to the zoo, afterwards we’ll come back here so you can study for a bit, and then we’ll go to my mom’s for dinner. Does that sound like a plan?” he asks.

“That sounds like a fantastic plan!” I say. Secretly inside my chest, my inner little girl is jumping up and down screaming and doing cartwheels across the room. If he offers me an ice cream, I’d have to chalk this up to one of my top five days ever.

Aiden gets in the shower and I straighten up his house. If I can’t show him my appreciation with sex, I’ll clean up his house. And I for sure won’t think about a naked, sexy, hot, dripping wet Aiden in the shower.