You hadn't meant to spend the night wrapped in his arms, you surmise when you awake in the early morning. His bare skin sending electric shockwaves through your body as you look up to see his dark eyes staring intently at you. Your squeal is lost in his mouth as he moves you over him, settling you over his hips in one swift motion. You hadn't meant to spend the night wrapped in his arms, naked you might add, but that doesn't mean that you don't appreciate the wake up call you are currently receiving as he grips you to his chest. His hips moving in slow circles as he sits up, his right arm gliding up your bare back to grip your hair and tug your head backward, allowing his lips free reign to the vast expanse of your neck. You hadn't meant to spend the morning matching his pace in his dimly lit bedroom, stealing minutes of solitude before you were to spend the day apple picking, but here you are with incoherent words spilling from your bruised mouth. And when you finally start to fall apart around him, moans coming out in higher octaves as your legs quake around his waist, he chuckles out your name. The sound vibrating through your body as you stare down at him with your right arm wrapped around his broad shoulders and your left hand splayed across his cheek, your breasts heaving and brushing against his chin.
"Good morning, gorgeous," he whispers bringing his mouth to yours and placing a slow kiss to your lips, drinking you in with each stroke of his tongue against yours.
"Good morning, indeed," you reply as you reach behind you to unwrap his arms from around your waist, moving yourself off of his lap and walking towards the bathroom, dragging the sheet to wrap around your body as you go.
On days like today, when you awake unintentionally in his arms, you're grateful for the small stash of clothes you have in a drawer in his bedroom. Your mind starts to wonder at the simple domesticity of it, the slow introduction of cohabitation staring you in the face as you realize the drawer is packed with some of your favorite wardrobe pieces. You can't remember what your closet looks like, you realize, and you start to feel guilty at the face that Sergio has essentially been alone all week, with either yourself or Luke stopping on your way home from work to feed the cat and spend a few moments with him.
When he exits the shower and reenters the bedroom you don't turn to look at him, knowing that if you do that you will both be distracted enough to spend the rest of the day entangled in the sheets of the now perfectly made bed. You can hear the little footsteps approaching the door to his bedroom as you slide a pair of green panties over your hips, knowing that they were his favorite. This knowledge causing you to blush with the intention of rousing another round from him after Lex drifted off to sleep later this evening.
She knocks before entering as you're pulling a yellow dress over your shoulders and settling it around your legs, and when you look over at her she has managed to get herself dressed this morning, in an outfit that you had picked up for her several weeks ago. Her little legs encased in a pair of purple leggings, an oversized cream sweater hanging from her shoulders, and a pair of brown boots on her feet with the laces untied. She's holding out the purple flower to you and you smile as you grab the brush off of the top of the dresser and walk over to sit behind her on the bed. Your fingers work quickly as you pull her hair into a french braid, securing the end of it with an elastic from your wrist before you clip the flower in front of her right ear.
"It's perfect!" Lex exclaims as she turns around to wrap her arms around you in a hug, smiling at you with a toothy grin before jumping down from the bed and racing out of the room. You find yourself staring off after her as you begin to run the brush through your damp hair, pulling the strands over your left shoulder and plaiting them quickly before you pull a denim jacket over your shoulders and slip your feet into a pair of well worn converses. Glancing back at the man who is staring at you in amazement with a small smile you exit the room as well chasing after the girl in order to give her something to eat for breakfast.
"Penny, I want this one!" She exclaims as she races up the slight hill to point at an apple hanging halfway up the tree. You turn to Luke and walk quickly up the hill in order to lift the small girl, reminding her to twist the apple from the branch instead of yanking, before she races off to dump the fruit into the bag. You watch as she turns back to you in the October afternoon, skipping with a large smile she slips her hand into yours. When you turn back to make sure Luke is following you along the line of trees you notice that he's stopped and is staring at his cell phone.
"How about we take a picture for Daddy?" you tell the small girl, pointing her over to the nearest tree as you pull your phone from your pocket and begin to snap a picture of her. Luke approaches as you're sending the picture off to him. He slides his hand around your waist and places a kiss to your temple.
"Everything alright?" you ask him when he pulls back and he gives you a strained smile and a nod.
"We'll talk later tonight." he tells you before he leans down to press a kiss to your lips before taking off after Lex who was trying to climb up the nearest apple tree in order to reach one. You hear a distant "Daddy, you're suppose to twist not pull" when your phone vibrates in your hand. You open the text from the man who was now twisting the apple from the branch with his daughter situated on his shoulders. A smile breaking out onto your face at the picture of you and Lex from the beginning of the day, she had gripped you around the neck and planted a kiss to your cheek before taking off down the nearest line of apple trees. A simple I love you follows the picture and you find that you're staring at it with a large grin on your face, only looking up when you hear her screech out your name. You can see her waving at you from Luke's shoulders, the man sporting a grin that matches your own as you propel yourself forward.
"Can we get apple cider?" she asks from his shoulders and you look up at her and smile.
"Who goes apple picking and doesn't buy cider?" you ask her as you reach to take the bag of apples from Luke's hand, laughing when he tightens his grip on the handle.
"Dad, he hates cider." She says, patting her hands onto the top of his head. You look over at him and laugh, picking a leaf off of his chest and letting it fall to the ground beside you.
"We will have to forgive him, Lex," you say as you look back up at her, shielding your eyes from the sun. "But that just means that there is more cider for us!"
The sun was setting later that evening as Luke drove you all back to their house. The silence settled between the pair of you only punctuated by the heavy breathing of the small child in the backseat of the vehicle. You look over at him and smile taking in the sculpted lines of his jaw and remembering the feel on his stubble scraping against the top of your chest.
"What're you thinking about?" He asks, reaching out to bring your hand to his lips as his eyes flicker up to check his mirrors as he continues driving.
"This morning," you reply, keeping your face forward knowing that you're not brave enough to face the smirk that was sure to be gracing his lips.
"That good huh?" He asks while chuckling as he turns onto his street, the headlights from the truck sweeping over the front lawns of his neighbors as they slow down in preparation to pull into the driveway. You turn to him with a red tint to your cheeks and give his shoulder a shove, telling him to shut up. You notice his face contort in confusion quickly as he guides the truck into his parking spot, Esther still parked in front of the house, but the addition of another car is what caused the look on your boyfriend's face. You look away from him in order to step out of the truck before walking to the backseat to unbuckle the sleeping child. "You'll be okay here?" He says and takes off after you nod, you stand and watch him walk over to the dark sedan parked behind your car before turning your attention back to Lex.
"Lex, we're home," you say while jostling the girl awake. She reaches out to wrap her arms around your neck and you let her climb into your arms, pressing a kiss on her forehead as she lays her head on your shoulder and closing her eyes at the contact. When you look back at Luke he's standing near the car with his arms folded over his chest, a darkened look painted over his face. He looks up at you in this moment before holding out his hand to the person in the car and jogging over to unlock the front door for you. He stops you on the doorstep, placing his lips against Lex's head and yours before telling you that he'll be in as soon as he can. You nod, letting your eyes follow him back to the car as he resumes his position. "Let's get you in bed," you announce more for the sake of hearing your voice than anything else.
You enter her room and flick on the lights, noticing that the girl slept like her father did when the harsh light didn't rouse her from slumber. You grip her to your chest with your left hand as your right reaches out to pull her blankets down before you lay her on the mattress. You untie her pink converses placing them with her other shoes in her closet after settling the blankets around her shoulders. Leaning down you place a kiss to her forehead, bidding her good night before walking over to the window in order to close the blinds. Curiosity getting the best of you as you look out the window to see Luke arguing with a tall woman with brown hair that fell in soft curls to the middle of her back. Currently the woman was pointing frantically at the house and stomping her foot while Luke stood with his arms still crossed over his chest, a look of thinly veiled anger splashed across his face. You realize you've never seen that look before and you realize that you never want to see it again. Reaching up you twist the blinds shut before checking on Lex for a final time. You take a deep breath and exit the house, letting Roxy out into the front yard as you prepare to walk over to Luke and the screeching woman. Luke turns to you once you prepare to step off of the curb, his body and face softening as he walks over to help you down.
"She's asleep," you tell him jingling your car keys in your hands and looking between him and the other woman.
"What're you the baby sitter?" She asks, her voice nasally and cutting through you. You connect your eyes with her and notice the beautiful shade of blue that they were and shake your head.
"She's my girlfriend," Luke interjects before you can respond to the woman. "Not that it's any of your business."
"If she's putting my daughter to bed it is my business," the woman says and your head snaps back to her direction, the intense surge of anger coursing through your body causing you to clench your keys in your left hand.
"My daughter," Luke corrects, "You gave up the right to call her that, seven years ago when you left her on my fucking doorstep, Robin." The woman looks between the pair of you with a glare.
"So what, you've got blondie over here playing mommy to my kid?" she asks causing Luke to sigh before turning back to you.
"Stay, please," he asks you and you find yourself nodding your response before turning away from the pair of them to let them continue their conversation.
"Watch out honey, he asked me to stay once too," she yells after you once you stepped back onto the curb. You pause taking a deep breath before turning back to the woman. You realize how short you are in this moment as you walk up to her and you find yourself wishing you had that damn purple flower that Lex was currently attached to.
"Robin is it?" you pause for effect, not expecting her to nod but she does anyway, "You're embarrassing yourself. Luke and I are going inside the house, we're going to lock the door and shut off the front light. You, you are going to get in your car and drive away, and if you want to be an adult about this situation you can call in the morning. Do not show up here, unannounced, again." You finish reaching your hand out behind you to clasp Luke's hand in yours, giving it a gentle tug as you guide him back to the house. Roxy looked up from the bottom step as you both approach, bounding up the steps ahead of you. He opens the door, letting you enter the house first before he locks the deadbolt and turns off the light.
You pause as he stops by Lex's room watching as he scoops the girl into his arms and carries her down the hall to his bedroom, settling her in the middle of the mattress. Silently you both get ready for bed before sliding under the covers. He reaches over to curl his fingers into your hip, drawing both you and Lex closer into him as he stares down at the top of his daughter's head.
"I wasn't prepared for this," he whispers as the sun continues setting and you nod, reaching out to run your left hand over his face. His eyes remain trained on Lex as he lets out a ragged breath and you can feel his fingers dig deeper into your side. Sliding your hand down his arm you lace his fingers between yours and give his hand a reassuring squeeze.
"I'm here," you tell him as you close your eyes when the sound of his soft sobs reach your ears. "I'm not going anywhere."
A/N: This is being posted for Teyamarra. She did amazing in her competition today!