Where Would I Be Without You - By CJ Hawk Page 0,24

it towards me, almost knocking the lit candle over. We both started to laugh at my quick reflexes to grab the shirt in midair with my left hand while catching the lit candle in my right. I blew both candles out and watched him turn back around to the sink. As soon as he did, I held his shirt up to my nose and breathed in deep. His cologne scent of something fresh was on it mixed with the smell of his skin that intoxicated me. Without him turning, he talked to me with his back to me.

"I saw that in the window reflection." Then he turned to me, soapy dishcloth in one hand, chocolate-covered fork in the other, and a very nice set of muscular abs and chest muscles that made me swoon. Through his window was one thing, in my kitchen doing dishes, I was in trouble.

"You look busted." He joked.

"I feel busted. That's not me. A normal me. Smelling your clothes." Then I paused. I might as well warn him now. "Ok. I... I have a secret." I raised one eyebrow and looked at him with my head diverted down but my eyes slightly looking up at him with my head tilted. He seemed to be waiting patiently for my secret. I finally got out the words. "I don't always do the common sense thing. Sometimes I do really stupid things. Maybe even immature." The last word eked out of me slow and long.

He shrugged his shoulders and tossed the fork in the sink. "Who doesn't." Then he walked over, motioned for me to stand. I did, and then he picked me up while I started to giggle, and he carried me to the kitchen countertop. He set my butt on the counter and stood between my legs with my head in his hands. "Where would I be without you right now? Sitting on my couch watching the game? Trolling on the Internet for a girlfriend? Fixing some old farts whatever that is broken? Instead, I am here with you, and you are the most mature thing I want to think about. I've done a lot of stupid things in my life, ask my father. The night I put you to sleep naked in your bed after watching you do whatever it was that you were doing; I couldn't stop thinking about you. You are real, and I like what is happening here."

I said it as I felt it. "Gulp."

"Sorry too much, too soon." He sounded worried, but I wasn't. What he just said made a hell of a lot of sense. We were two lost souls looking for our mate, and fate put us across the building from each other. I would have wanted the first time he met me not to be a drunk naked passed out stupor, yet he didn't hold that against me. I needed to tell him everything, about Steve, my mom's control and inability to love me just as I am, my need to have Marion in every part of my life, which meant he would have to love her just as much, and my crazy aunt, my perfect sister, all of it. For now, I grabbed his head, slammed my lips against his, and began kissing him with all the craziness I felt deep inside of me; that feeling caused tangling tongue and heavy breathing.

It took several minutes before I realized that things were going to progress too far, too soon, and we both knew that taking this a bit slower was better for making something out of this. I felt his excitement, and I knew my own was off the charts molten mess. We both seemed to pull away at the same time, and we pressed our foreheads against each other while breathing hard. I finally found the words to speak up.

"I think I should be the one to question, where would I be without you? My common sense doesn't become me. It takes me for a joyride from time to time, and I end up in a lot of trouble. I have a confession to make."

He laughed at my reference. "What is it?"

"Well. You may not like this. Ok. Here it goes. Tomorrow, after I am officially thirty, I need to act more grown up. Be responsible. Take a college class. Volunteer. Do things that are thought through and not spur of the moment, 'hey that seems like a great idea'. I think you might find me rather