Rooftops and Invitations 6
Two weeks later, Monday evening
"I don't see why we have to learn all this crap," Stephanie muttered under her breath. "I just don't get it."
Warm pinkish-gold light set the king-size white sheets aglow as the sinking sun peeked in through the west-facing window on its way to bed. It was only six-thirty and the overhead light was already on. Dusk was coming earlier as September passed, and even though the days were still warm, nights were cooler. It was official—fall had come to Point Pleasant.
Carlos looked up from his textbook, the corners of his mouth quirking up just a smidgen. He and Stephanie were seated across from each other at the dining table in the room on Ocean Avenue, books, notebooks and papers littering the space between them.
"Statistics?" he asked.
"Yeah." The sun illuminated the wild tangle of chestnut curls around Stephanie's head, and glints of gold sparkled as she raked her hands through her hair again. "I'm hopeless. I'll never understand this stuff."
Carlos pulled his chair around so he was next to her. "Let's see, Babe."
Fifteen minutes later the light bulb went on in Stephanie's head. "Ohhhh… I get it now." She swung her leg over Carlos and ended up on his lap, straddling him, the old kitchen chair wobbling. She took his face in both hands and pressed her lips hard against his. "Thank you so much, Batman. I'd never have figured this stuff out on my own."
It had been the best two weeks of her life, Stephanie thought as he took control of the kiss, even better than the summer. Like a dream. She and Carlos had settled in together. And it wasn't just coincidence that their room was almost all bed.
"Oh." Stephanie tore her mouth away from Carlos. "You keep kissing me and I keep forgetting."
His grin was wicked. "Can't help myself. It's your lips, Babe. They're just so kissable." He leaned into her again.
Stephanie released a short laugh as she pushed back. "Just hold it a second. I've got a proposition for you."
His eyes darkened and his lips parted, and the next thing she knew he was on top of her on the big bed, their arms and legs entwined, his lips on her throat. She arched her back, pressing her breasts against his chest and thrusting her pelvis against the steel I-beam in his pants.
"So about this proposition…" Carlos lifted his head so he could look in her lust-blinded eyes, a full smile on his gorgeous face. It was both fun and arousing the way her body responded to him.
"Huh?" Stephanie's mind was as blank as her face, and she blinked at him, open mouthed. After a few seconds the light dawned and she frowned, her bottom lip pooched out. "You do that on purpose, don't you? Just to mess me up."
"Guilty." Carlos nipped at the pouty lip, his affection for her written all over his face. "So what's up, Babe?"
She cupped his cheeks, holding his head back so he couldn't kiss her for a minute. "Mary Lou and Tina are quitting work at the restaurant after next weekend and giving up the apartment as of October first."
She dropped her eyes from his, tipping her head down so her face was shadowed, unreadable. "I was just thinking, uh… Since my name is on the lease, too, I have the option of keeping the apartment. I know it's more expensive than this place, but it's a lot nicer, too. It's got the bedroom… And a real kitchen so we could maybe save some money by cooking instead of eating takeout all the time… And the rent's going down for the winter starting in October, so it wouldn't really be that much… And maybe when the restaurant closes I could pick up a weekend job somewhere else so I could pay part of the rent… And, well…" Her eyes came back up to his. "Do you want to move over there?"
Carlos took her wrists and guided her hands to the back of his neck, his mouth covering hers, tongue teasing. A small moan escaped her as his hands began to move over her body.
Half an hour later, naked and sweaty, they lay side by side crossways on the big bed. When her mind came back from the Land of Orgasm and she could breathe again, Stephanie said, "So, about the apartment…"
Carlos got up and crossed the room to the table where his books and papers were piled. What a beautiful sight, Stephanie thought, admiring the smooth mocha skin, the rippling muscles, that amazing ass. Extracting a stapled document from the organized chaos, he brought it back to the bed and held it out.
"What's this?" Stephanie sat up, crossed her legs and took the paper, reading from it. "Lease agreement for 335 Green Street, Apartment 2B…" She looked up at him. "When did you get this?"
"I stopped in after work yesterday." Carlos sat down on the bed opposite her, crossing his legs as well.
Stephanie looked back down at the lease. "Tenants, Stephanie M. Plum and Carlos Manoso… Term, six months. Six months?" Her eyes were huge, their blueness blazing as they caught his. "That's a pretty long commitment. Are you sure? Because they'd probably agree to a month-by-month just to keep the apartment rented for the winter. That's what we signed for September."
A quick smile warmed Carlos's chocolate eyes. "Don't want to give you a chance to get away, Babe. I'd have gone for longer, but the summer rent is so much higher I thought we should wait and see what our financial situation is in the spring before we make a decision."
We, thought Stephanie, her heart ballooning in her chest. We're a "we." We're signing a lease together.
A small seed of doubt sprouted at the thought of her parents. They wouldn't approve of her moving in with a guy. And Carlos was so different, so not Burg. But he's wonderful, just perfect, she thought, and I love him so much. And he loves me. How could they disapprove?
Her thoughts turned to ways to introduce him to them, maybe bring him home for dinner some evening. Her mother had been nagging at her to come home for a weekend and she'd used the excuse of work at the restaurant to avoid it. But once the restaurant closed she'd have to go.
She'd take Carlos with her, she decided, at the first opportunity. Once her parents got to know him, they were bound to love him the way she did. Decision made, the doubt withered and the happiness bloomed.
Carlos watched her face, reading the emotions, the surprise, the joy, the doubt. When the happiness won out and her smile appeared, he leaned and reached a long arm over to snag a pen from the table, scrawling his name on the lease in bold, slashing strokes and handing the document to Stephanie.
As she scribbled her signature she thought that it wasn't possible to be this happy. She'd never been happier and she feared she'd never be this happy again.
TBC
