Talia's Torment

Chapter 18: Morning and still alright.

                The morning light filters in through the curtains to light the room and Talia can feel its warmth through the thin sheets.  Slowly she turns over from her side to look at the man behind her afraid that he might be gone and last night was just a really good dream.  Smiling when she sees him she reaches out to move the corner of his pillow down so she can take him in while he is still unconscious.

                It hits her that she is hoping that last night will not be a one-time thing.  She also has to acknowledge that waking up in his warm embrace may just be the best morning she has experienced.  Slowly reaching out she traces the line of stubble on his jaw that leads to the type of beard he likes to sport, vaguely remembering him telling her it was a goatee.  She laughs to herself when she remembers that conversation and how she had thought he had said goat ee.  He had not been amused when she had asked him why it was called that and if he liked goats so much why he didn’t actually have any.

                To say that his jaw had hit the floor was an understatement; the man had been floored by her response.  He then explained that he did not choose his facial hair to imitate a goat and that the name of it had been goatee not goat ee.  You would have thought she had just suggested that they go and get hot pink furniture for the kitchen and throw away his beloved grill from the back yard.  It really wasn’t that big of a deal but she had not been able to convince him of that so she had just goaded a pouty Tanner until the man had decided to start cracking jokes again.  Thinking back now she had to stop herself from actually laughing out loud at the memory of his sullen face, like a five year old boy who had just been told he couldn’t have those plastic army soldiers.

                “I was thinking coffee in the morning would be great, but if you want to keep touching me I’m good with that too.  Just saying,”

                Talia almost jumped straight out of the bed at Tanner’s voice.  She had been so deep in thought that she hadn’t realized her hand was now tracing the muscles of his arm, or that his breathing had changed.

                “You just scared the crap out of me!”

                “Give a girl some warning will ya?”  Talia was staring at him with her hands in the air when she realized that he was looking at her with a wistful expression and eyes darkening with lust.

                “If scaring you in the morning gets me that kind of view I’m all for it.”  Tanner said to her when he finally lifted his eyes to hers.

                Realization dawned on Talia along with a surge of heat spreading up her neck and across her face.  It had taken her a moment to remember that she had not been wearing any clothes when she woke up and was now standing before Tanner in her birthday suit with the morning light shining as bright as can be.  She quickly grabbed the sheet of the bed to cover herself only to find that Tanner was also in his birthday suit.  She yelped in embarrassment and turned her back to him.

                “You do remember that I have touched all of you now right?”  Tanner told her, his voice holding all the humor that she couldn’t see on his face but knew was there.

                “Yeah, in the dark, when we couldn’t see anything as brightly as right now.  Maybe in the daylight I look different?”  Talia knew it was just words and that what she was saying truly didn’t make sense, but it was what tumbled out of her mouth when she opened it and now it was too late to take it back.

                Tanner laughed, from what she could tell it was the huge body shaking kind of laugh but she was much too nervous now to turn and see it.  After all she still had the sheet around her and since it was the only blanket that had been on the bed she knew what he would be wearing.  The image made her want to turn and look but she couldn’t very well do that and admit that she had been as nervous as a star struck teenager to look at him.  It wasn’t as if this was her first boyfriend, or even her first roll in the hay, but for whatever reason sanity had taken a back seat in her brain the moment he had woken up this morning and what had happened last night had come knocking.

                Next thing she knew she heard the bed springs groan and Tanner must have been moving on the bed.  She tensed, waiting to see him shift around her, and then she felt his warmth radiating from behind her.  He slowly moved up against her, the sheet a barrier between them allowing warmth without the skin to skin contact, wrapping his arms around to hold her loosely in his embrace.  Without hesitation she leaned into him, all the tension leaving her as his warmth seeped into her skin along with the sun’s.

                He leaned his head down to her neck and she tilted her head to the side to give him room.  Giving her a tender kiss on her neck where it met her shoulder he gave her a gentle squeeze and whispered in her ear.

                “I thought you were beautiful before last night, last night, and even more so this morning.”  He turned to look at her as he said it, as if he wanted to make sure she registered his words.

                “I thought last night was amazing.  I hope it was not a one-time thing and I am definitely not regretting it or disappointed in it.”  Tanner gave her cheek a quick peck and then walked into the bathroom closing the door behind him.

                She felt her face flush at seeing his backside and then a huge grin stretch her lips as his words registered with her and settled around her heart.  She shook her head and pulled on her favorite lazy morning clothes of a sports bra, cotton shorts with pockets and a tank top.  Heading out into the kitchen to make coffee, her only passable food attempt, she realized that those words not only had been exactly what she was needing to hear but had firmly cemented the man in her heart at the same time.  Yeah, it was the morning after letting her walls down and Tanner in, it was the morning after and she was still alright.