The Reality of Everything - Rebecca Yarros Page 0,112
the expanse of the table. “I was studying in my room that day in Afghanistan when Will walked in with a shit-eating grin and a bag of strawberry cheesecake cookies, asking if I was ready for his area orientation flight. That’s all it was supposed to be. A quick, easy flight.”
Chapter Twenty
Jackson
“You can’t be serious,” Morgan drawled as she settled against me on her couch. She fit under my arm like she had been made for that exact spot.
“It’s a modern classic,” I argued, barely hiding my grin as I hovered the cursor over the buy button on Morgan’s TV. Man, I freaking loved teasing her.
“I am not watching Sharknado on the only night I get you alone. Nope. Not happening.” She shot me a look that said she meant business as the microwave dinged.
“Come on, Kitty. It has it all. Action, suspense—”
“Sharks falling from the sky?” She got off the couch and headed for the kitchen, and I quickly followed after her, shamelessly checking out her ass in those tiny blue shorts. She wore a sweatshirt that hung off one shoulder, and with her hair twisted up into a knot, I got a sneak peek at her purple bra strap. There was nothing sexier than when Morgan was fully relaxed at home. Her home. My home. I was game for either.
I told my dick to behave, but it wasn’t really interested in listening. It had one status when Morgan was in the room, and that was erect.
She reached into the new microwave and pulled out a freshly popped bag of popcorn. “Grab the M&M’s.”
I lifted a rather skeptical brow but did as she asked, then slid the package across the gray granite that had been installed in the kitchen almost two weeks ago. Hard to believe it was already the middle of June and even harder to think that I’d only known her for three months. She was a fixture in my world now, and every minute I spent around her only convinced me more that she was a permanent one.
I hadn’t just fallen for her—I was head over heels in love with her. I’d known it in the hour it had taken Josh to tell her the story of how Will had died. She was the strongest woman I’d ever known, even if she didn’t think so. I loved everything about her, from the way her face formed the expressions of the characters in whatever book she was reading to the determination with which she attacked each day. Hell, I even loved the colorful lesson plans she spent her days constructing, getting ready for the school year to start. I couldn’t think of a single thing I didn’t love about her.
She dumped the popcorn into a bowl, then poured the M&M’s over it. I wasn’t about to argue with the woman’s choice of snacks, but it was definitely one of the odder things I’d seen.
“What can I do to help?”
She flashed a grin. “Just stand there and look pretty.”
She’d been doing more of that since her friends had come—smiling and teasing. I wasn’t going to go as far as to say that she was healed, and it wasn’t for me to say, anyway, but she had definitely taken a stride in that direction.
A slim, silver tape recorder caught my eye toward the back of the counter. “What’s this for?” I asked, picking it up so I could show her what I meant.
She looked up, blanched, and the bowl slipped out of her hands, rattling on the granite for a few seconds before it came to a stop. “It’s for therapy. Please don’t press play.”
“Okay.” I set it back down carefully. “I wasn’t going to, I promise.”
“Thank you.” She shook it off and forced a smile. “So, about Sharknado?”
I laughed, then picked up the bowl. “We can watch whatever you want, Kitty. After all, stay in and veg out was your idea for date night, remember?”
“Hmmm.” A devilish gleam sparkled in her eye. “What about Jane Eyre? Or Pride and Prejudice?”
I grimaced but nodded. “Like I said, anything you want.”
“You’re only saying that because there’s a storm going on and you can’t drag me out to go jetpack surfing or whatever.” She took a couple of pieces of popcorn from the bowl with an M&M. “Open up.”
I obliged her and then groaned as the mixture of salty and sweet hit my tongue. “Okay. I take back my earlier thoughts and doubts. That’s amazing. And I’ve never heard of jetpack