Chapter 19

The morning sun was filling the room now, and Sara smiled drowsily as the light made Jon’s hair seem to glow.

“What is it?” He asked.

“You’ve got a halo.” Sara replied, brushing at his hair and watching the colour change as the light played on the strands. “You must be an angel.”

“Damn.” Jon said, stretching as he spoke. “And here I was trying to be a devil. I don’t think anybody’s ever called me an angel before.”

“Are you hungry?” She asked, sitting up. “I’m starving. Do you want breakfast?”

“That would be good - I seem to have quite an appetite this morning!”

“Okay. Why don’t you just stay there, and I’ll go make something. Is there anything you don’t like?”

“Other than being apart from you?” He smiled, seeing Sara blush at that. “No. I’ll pretty much eat anything.”

“Right. Give me ten minutes.”

Sara walked out of the bedroom, not even really realising she was naked until she saw the discarded babydoll on the hall floor. She picked it up, dropping it onto the back of the couch as she passed through the living room.

In the kitchen, she cooked breakfast, glad she’d had the sense to decide earlier what she could make - her normal morning ended up with her eating breakfast at lunchtime, because she couldn’t decide what to have. Today, though, she had it planned, and she quickly browned pre-cooked potatoes and some onion in a pan. The onions started to spit grease at her, and she backed off when a hot drop hit her stomach, leaving a red mark. Maybe cooking in the nude wasn’t such a good idea. There was an apron on a hook by the back door, and she put it on, tying it firmly in place before approaching the pan again.

Raiding the fridge, she threw in some handfuls of sliced bell peppers and some chunky bits of cooked ham before pouring beaten egg over the lot and letting it cook while she grated cheese and poured coffee. When the eggs were nearly done, she sprinkled cheese over it and slid the pan under a hot grill until the cheese was bubbling. She put the whole thing onto a single plate, then put plate and coffee mugs onto a tray along with some cutlery and napkins

When she got to the bedroom, she found Jon sitting comfortably propped up in the bed, a blanket pulled up to his waist, reading a book. He looked up when she came in, putting the book to one side.

“Hey. That was quick - so what’s for breakfast?”

“This.” She showed him the plate.

“Looks good! What is it?”

“It doesn’t really have a name! I just make it sometimes. It’s eggs with herbs and, well, stuff - whatever’s in the fridge.”

She handed him a mug of coffee, then balanced the tray on his lap before walking around the bed to climb in the other side.

“Nice outfit.” Jon smirked as she turned away, when he saw she was still bare under the apron.

“Well, I discovered that cooking in the nude isn’t a good idea. I got splashed with hot grease, so I decided to cover up.”

Untying the apron, she dropped it to the floor before climbing into the bed, and Jon took a fork and dug into breakfast.

“Mmm - that’s good.” He said, taking another big forkful. “You’re a pretty good cook.”

“It’s not exactly haute cuisine.” Sara replied, cutting herself a forkful. “But it’s tasty and it’s quick. You should try my baking!”

Jon grinned, then swallowed before speaking. “All this, and she can cook, too? I must’ve done something right to find you!”

They worked their way through breakfast, occasionally picking out bits of pepper or ham to feed to each other. When the plate was empty, Jon gave a slight groan.

“I think I ate too much. But that was really good. Thanks, babe.”

“You’re welcome.” Sara wrinkled her nose at him, gave him a soft kiss. “More coffee?”

“Just if you’re having some…..don’t go just for me.”

“Oh, I’m having some. I need my coffee in the mornings!”

She took the empty plate and mugs back to the kitchen, and poured more coffee, thought about it for a moment, then made some toast.

Returning to the bedroom, she found that Jon had picked up the book again.

“Like it?” She asked, nodding at the book.

“Yeah. Not the kind of thing I’d have expected you to read. Marines? It’s pretty engrossing, though.”

“I like escapism.” Sara got back into bed, balancing two mugs and the plate of buttery toast. “I don’t particularly want to read true stories - I read to find something interesting and exciting - to escape from being me.”

Handing Jon a mug, she realised what she’d said when she saw the look in his eyes.

“Oops. Didn’t mean to say that. You’ll have to forgive me - sometimes I just open my mouth and don’t think first. Toast?” She offered the plate, trying to change the subject, and he took a slice with a frown.

“Who was it?” He asked quietly.

“Who was what?”

“Who hurt you so badly, Sara?”

She looked down at the plate, taking a slice of toast and toying with it, avoiding the question until finally Jon laid his hand on her wrist, stilling her hand.

“Tell me, baby, please. What happened? Maybe you should talk about it.”

Sara looked at him with a wry smile, shaking her head.

“You don’t want to know, really - it’s just a stupid, silly little thing that happened when I was a kid. Trust me, I know myself pretty well, Jon, and I know it’s illogical, and I know how much of my attitude to life comes from it, but it doesn’t really matter. It was a very long time ago, and it’s just a trust thing. Don’t worry about it. I don’t.”

“Obviously you do, babe, why don’t you just tell me what it is?”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Jon! I said no!” Sara exploded, and Jon raised his hands.

“Whoa! Sorry - I just wanted to help, Sara.”

As fast as it had come, Sara’s anger fled, and she looked embarrassed, dropping the uneaten toast on the plate and running both hands into her hair, peeking between them at Jon.

“Shit!” She said with great feeling, “No, I’m sorry, Jon. I told you before - I don’t do emotion!”

She pushed her hair back off her face and looked at him.

“Do you really want to know? I’m warning you, it’s stupid and pathetic.” Jon nodded silently, looking at her, those bright blue eyes making her feel unable to keep anything from him, even her stupidest, darkest secrets.

“Well, okay - you’ve been warned. When I was in school - I think I was only about eleven or something - I went out a couple of times with this boy. God - I can’t believe I’m telling you this!” Sara shook her head, but ploughed on - she’d started now, so she may as well carry on.

“Anyway, one day - I should probably tell you that I hate being made a fool of, absolutely HATE it - one day he asked me, in front of all his friends, to tell them if we were going out. I said we were, and he laughed at me, said no, we weren’t, and all his friends thought it was hilarious. Come to think of it, that was the last date I was on. Told you - pathetic, right?!”

“Well, kinda, yeah.” Jon said honestly. “But it obviously hurt you, so it’s not stupid. Come here.”

He bearhugged her, squeezing her tight against his chest.

“Thank you for telling me.” He whispered. “I love that you trust me that much.”

Jon kissed the top of her head, then released her. “Now, eat your toast!” He ordered with a grin.

Obediently, Sara picked up her toast. She was amazed to find she actually felt better, having told Jon about that stupid childhood incident, and she was glad he’d been honest enough to agree that, yes, it was a bit pathetic, but then to make her feel he understood. It made her feel, not loved exactly, but that somebody cared enough to ask, and it was an unfamiliar sensation for Sara. Nice, though.

She was still playing with the toast, rubbing a finger in the butter and then licking it off, when she felt Jon watching her.

“What?”

“Stop playing with your food.” He told her, taking her hand and licking the butter off her finger himself. “Then again, it does taste good like that.”

Sara smiled, and wiped more butter onto her finger, holding it up to Jon. Before he could lick it, though, she smeared butter onto his lips, then carefully licked it back off again. Jon took the toast out of her hand, put it back on the plate and laid the plate to one side as he licked his lip where her tongue had just been. Sara sucked the remaining butter off her finger, crossing her eyes at Jon when he grinned at her.

“You took my toast.” She said sulkily.

“I was thinking you could put your mouth to better use.” He answered, and Sara raised an eyebrow.

“Oh yes? And what better use would that be?”

“This.” Jon leaned forward to kiss her, and Sara could taste the faint residue of the butter on his mouth as she opened her lips.

Still kissing, they slid down the bed until they lay flat again, and Jon grabbed a handful of blanket, tossing it off the end of the bed so he could see her. He trailed his fingers down her body, raising his mouth away from her when he felt her tense.

“Ow!” She said, and looked down to where his hand lay. The burn from the hot grease was bigger than she’d realised, and there was a coin-sized red spot just above her navel which stung as Jon lightly touched it again.

“Ouch. You really did burn yourself, didn’t you.” Gently, Jon kissed the sore spot, moistening it with his tongue, then blowing on it to take away the heat.

“That feels good.” Sara said, and Jon smiled as he blew on her skin again, then ran his lips up toward her breasts, making Sara shiver with delicate touches of his tongue on her skin.

Just as Jon brought his hand up onto her breast, the phone on the bedside table buzzed quietly, and Sara jumped.

“Who’s phoning at this time in the morning? It’s only…” she looked at the clock “…eight fifteen.”

Sighing, she reached for the phone, hesitating as Jon kissed her nipple.

“Do you really need to answer that?” He asked.

“I’d better. This time in the morning, there must be something wrong. Nobody calls me this early!”

She picked up the phone as Jon watched her, his chin resting on her chest.

“Hello?” She rolled her eyes, mouthed ‘my assistant’ to Jon. “Hi Paul. What’s wrong?”

“Yes, Paul, I’ll be in later. I left you a note - didn’t you see it?”

Listening to the voice on the other end, Sara comically slapped a hand to her forehead. Why had she answered the phone?! Now Paul was telling her about his vacation, and she tried desperately to think of a way of getting him off the phone, without actually saying why, and without being so rude that he sulked for a week.

Unseen by Sara, Jon gave a wicked grin, then lifted his head, bringing his mouth onto her nipple and sucking hard for a moment, making her jerk and look down at him, pointing at the phone. He grinned again, then pulled himself up until his lips were next to her ear.

“Just keep talking.” He breathed in her ear, then slid back down her body, looking up at her with devilish eyes as he took her nipple in his mouth again, and smiling against her soft skin as he listened to her speaking to her assistant, trying to keep her voice level as he teased her with lips and tongue, moving gradually down her body.