For a moment Cora was confused about where she was. When she heard Robert's snoring, she remembered. They had stayed in his Westminster apartment. He had made love to her in a way that she would never have imagined was possible. It was gentle and hard at the same time. Thinking about it made her body tingle again. She looked at the clock, it was only seven in the morning. She should try to sleep some more, but she felt right awake. She got up, trying not to wake up Robert.

She found a sweater on a chair and threw it over her head. She did not want to shower and change for the day yet. The sweater was too big, but it smelled heavenly. It was a mix of Robert's scent and the perfume he used. She found the way to the kitchen, last night he had carried her to the bedroom, and she had been too involved with kissing his neck, that she had not paid attention whereas in the apartment they were.

In the kitchen she looked at the coffee machine, it looked as if she needed an engineering degree to understand how that one worked. Next to it was a kettle and she settled for tea. That would please Robert, she knew that. When she walked into the living room, she saw that there was a big terrace on this floor too. It was enormous, so much space was not something she could ever imagine having in the city centre.

It looked cold outside, so she decided to sit in one of the big armchairs. She found a blanket which she wrapped around her. Before she sat down, she took her phone out her back. That was still standing in the same spot as she left it yesterday evening. There were some text messages and missed phone calls. All from the same sender, her mother. It gave her an unpleasant feeling, did something happen? Quickly she opened the first text: 'I cannot believe that you are ignoring your mother. I should have never allowed you to go back to London. You have not finished a new book. What are you doing that is preventing you from writing.'

The second text she read: 'Still ignoring me. I guess I will have to tell you this way. This Christmas I expect you back in New York. No ifs or buts, you will celebrate Christmas with your brother and me.'

Cora stared at her phone. There were four more messages, all with kind of the same message. Her mother complaining about her not picking up the phone, no finished book yet and Christmas. She did not want to celebrate Christmas in New York. She did not know what Robert's plans were, but she had hoped to be together with him. She was not planning on going back to New York, without a clear plan. She did not want to get stuck again.

"How long have you been up" Robert's fingers raked through Cora's curls.

She angled her face up and forced a smile.

"What is wrong?" Robert said while lowering himself next to her. He rested his hand on her arm.

Cora shook her head.

"You do not need to tell me, but if I can help can you let me know?"

Cora sighed. "It is my mother."

"Ah the old story of our mums being annoying. What has she done?"

Cora turned towards Robert. "She wants me to come to New York for Christmas."

Robert now took her hand in his and softly brushed over her hand with his fingers. "We did not discuss Christmas, if your mother really wants to see you, maybe you should go?"

"But it would be our first Christmas together," Cora said timidly, she had not expected him to suggest this.

"Darling, I know, but we will have more Christmases ahead of us. And we do not want to make your mother angry?"

"She is already angry because I have not finished my second book."

"You are working on it; does she expect you to write that book in two weeks' time?"

Cora chuckled. "Apparently." She raised her hand and touched his jaw. "But what do we do with Christmas?"

Robert leaned in and kissed her. "I do not know; I have to think about it, and I cannot think with an empty stomach."

This made Cora jump up. "I am sorry. I could have made breakfast already."

Robert also stood and grabbed Cora's arm. "I was not saying you have to make breakfast." He pulled her closer. "Since we are in my house, I should be the one making breakfast." He kissed the tip of her nose.

He walked towards the kitchen and Cora followed, suddenly he turned around, making Cora bump into him. "You do look very sexy in that sweater."

Cora wrapped her arms around him. "I should wear it more often than!" She pressed herself against him and she felt his body react.

Robert moaned. "If I was not this hungry, I would have done something else with you."

"We could have a little dessert before breakfast?" She said in a low voice.

Robert kissed her lips. "I normally do not have dessert after breakfast."

Cora wrinkled her nose. "We could start a new tradition."

This made Robert laugh. "For today I prefer to have that dessert after breakfast."

Cora had her hands on his stomach, and she felt it rumble, she laughed. "I can feel your body is conflicted. But let us have breakfast first."

"Oh, I forgot." Robert sighed when he opened the fridge.

Cora looked up, she had sat down on one of the barstools and was reading a magazine that was lying there. Robert had made a new cuppa for her and one for himself.

"I do not have anything decent in this house to make a proper breakfast."

"What do you have?"

"There is one egg left, some toast and milk."

"Do you have cinnamon powder and butter?" Cora asked.

"I do, but why? That will not make a proper breakfast?"

"Do you trust me?"

"We are talking about breakfast. Why change the subject?" Robert was agitated because of his empty stomach.

Cora got up and walked to the counter. "Sit down and I make you breakfast with what we have."

Ten minutes later Robert got a plate in front of him. "I must admit this smells delicious, what is it?" He asked.

"French toast. Did your mother never made that when you were younger?"

Robert chuckled. "My mother has not cooked a meal in her life. But the cook made a typical English breakfast each morning, sometimes alternated with fruit and yoghurt."

"I remember waking up to the smell of French toast. To be honest, I am not sure if my mother ever made breakfast or if she had a cook when we were younger. I guess we also had a cook because I remember her from later in my life." She sat down herself. "This is so easy to make. Some egg, milk and cinnamon and you have a delicious-tasting bread. Enjoy."

Robert was already halfway through the second slice. "This is amazing. That must have been a real treat as a little kid when this was brought to the table."

"It still is a little treat. It was a long time ago that I made this."

Robert waited for Cora to clear her plate and started to clean up.

"Can you explain how your coffee machine works? I am dying to have a decent cup."

This made Robert laugh. "What do you mean? Since when is tea not decent?" He said it in a joking way.

"Oh, for you as a Brit I bet you can wake up with loads of tea, but even though I like tea, I need coffee in the morning."

"Why did you not make yourself one?"

"I could not figure out how your machine worked, and I gave up and settled for tea."

"I will make a real English lady out of you." He had walked back to her, slid his arm over her back and kissed her temple.

"You can try, but coffee will always be my go-to drink in the morning." She leaned against him. "As you needed breakfast before having more fun, I need my coffee."

Robert tickled her. "Your coffee is coming Milady."