“You want me to go get you some coffee?” she offered with a grin.
“Hero’s calling. Answered,” he muttered as he pointed at her. He stumbled into the bathroom without another word, and the shower came on.
She flipped her head upside down and quickly blow dried her hair, waiting to curl it and do her makeup until she returned from her quest. Down in the lobby’s continental breakfast nook, she filled two to-go containers with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, muffins, mini croissants, and mixed fruit that was mostly underripe chunks of white-green honeydew. She tossed two yogurts on top, then closed the lids and moved on to the coffee bar.
“Mojo!”
Jo grinned to herself. “Beefcake!”
From behind, Trey kissed her hair. She heard him smack his lips and turned to see a vaguely grossed-out look on his face. “Mmm, fruity.”
“Shut up, at least I showered,” she fired back.
Trey fell in beside her with a playful bump of his elbow. His locs were pulled back into a thick ponytail at the base of his skull today, and he wore a hunter green T-shirt with a stylized MnM logo. They made their coffees, and Jo dug through the bowl of mini creamers until she found a few vanilla ones.
“Felix joining us today?” Trey asked, a bit too casually.
“That’s the idea,” she replied.
He picked up his coffee and took a sip. He made a face.
“What? Too fruity?” Jo asked.
“If only.” He added more cream and sugar. “Aida told me why he didn’t join us last night.”
She blushed. “Actually, I was wrong about that. Kind of. It’s… we worked it out.”
“Yeah?” Trey asked, giving her a hopeful look.
She nodded.
“I’m glad. You know I’ll beat his ass if he messes you around, right?”
Jo unleashed a loud laugh and patted Trey on the shoulder. “Oh, beefcake. I would love to see you try.”
The elevator dropped Trey off on the fifth floor, and he got out with a wave and a promise to see her soon. The whole group was meeting in the lobby at eight-thirty to walk over to the con, where the games kicked off at nine o’clock sharp.
On her floor, Jo jostled the to-go containers and coffee cups but found she couldn’t manage them and the keycard at the same time. She kicked her door twice.
“You out of the shower yet?” she called. “Can you get the door?”
“Yeah, hang on,” Felix called back.
When the door opened, she almost dropped everything she was carrying. Felix had one hand on the doorknob, and the other was busy pulling a burgundy waffle-knit Henley shirt over his torso. She got only a glimpse of his abs and the trail of black hair that ran down their center, but that was more than enough to send her reeling.
“Jesus Christ,” she said out loud.
Felix, freshly shaved and grinning, winked at her. Vain bastard knew exactly what he was doing. He held the door with his hip and took the coffees from her. Jo told him which cup was his and offered him first pick of the assortment of breakfast foods as they set everything on the desk in the corner.
“Thank you for getting this,” Felix said. He bent as if he were going to kiss her. Then froze.
“I wanted to talk about that,” she said breathily. It was getting harder and harder not to be breathless around Felix. Especially when he did things like that.
“I’m all ears,” he said. “Can we talk while we eat so we’re not late?”
Jo agreed. Felix ripped off the top of one of the to-go boxes and used it as a plate, picking and choosing food from both. Including the cherry yogurt, damn him. Jo, stuck with the inferior peach yogurt, made a plate for herself and sat in the desk chair. Felix settled in the armchair in the opposite corner.
“I realized,” she began, “that I never really responded to some of the non-sex things you said last night.”
“The non-sex things?” he repeated and sipped his coffee. “Hey, you got me vanilla! Thanks.”
“Not as good as Lita’s, of course.”
“Still good,” he said with another sip. “Sorry, please go on.”
She stared down at her makeshift plate, too nervous to start eating. “I mean the part about you caring for me and having feelings for me,” she continued slowly. “You said ‘everything I want to have with you.’ Maybe we should talk about what that means?”
Felix swallowed his bacon and regarded her seriously. “It means I want to be with you, Jo. Not just have sex with you. I want more than that. I want to be yours, and I want you to be mine. I want all of it.”
Jo’s heart was lodged in her throat, making it very difficult to speak. How inconvenient. She pushed the words out anyway, expressing what she’d resolved in the shower to tell him. “I want that too, Felix. I want all of it.”
He was on his feet and across the room before she could say another word. He dropped his plate onto the desk and gripped the arms of her chair, caging her in. And there she was, breathless once again. He hovered over her, and they stared at each other.
Not a hesitation, but a confirmation. A shared are we really doing this?
And then the answer.
Yes.
