Lexi slowly began to feel herself being pulled out of her sound sleep. As she started to open her eyes, she looked up to see Josh sleeping soundly, and because of this she assumed that she must have been dreaming. She rested her head back on his chest, as if she were enjoying the dream while it lasted, but she then recognized that this was very much reality. Once she realized this she couldn’t go back to sleep, no matter how badly she wanted to.
After laying there thinking for about 25 minutes, she finally decided it was time to get up, but she didn’t want to awake Josh in the process. She began by cautiously removing her hand from underneath his. That was the easy part. Next, she had to move her entire torso from the touch of his body as well as moving his hand off of her shoulder. When she did both of these things successfully, she rolled of the bed, stood up, and went into the bathroom.
She gingerly washed her face, being especially careful to her sore cheek. As she dried her face she stared at herself in the mirror. How did all of this happen? Her cheek still hurt, but thankfully it had lost most of it’s initial redness. Thank God she thought. Now I can at least cover it with make up.
Lexi exited the bathroom and closed the door normally totally forgetting that Josh was still sleeping. She softly gasped in fear that he would wake up, but he simply changed positions. Josh had told her that he slept a lot, but he never mentioned that he did it so soundly!
Lexi went downstairs, picked up the newspaper from the front doorstep, and sat down in the breakfast area. As she sat there scanning over the newspaper print, her mind went back to JC. There has to be something I can do to pay him back for doing all of this…even if it’s miniscule.
The idea popped into her head, and she immediately went to work.
JC began to wake up and went to reach for Lexi, but she wasn’t there. In almost a state of panic, he bolted to the window to see her Eclipse still parked in its place. As he emitted a deep sign of relief, he smelled something. He opened the door, and went downstairs. The site he saw truly amazed him.
“I didn’t know that you could cook,” JC said smiling.
“Well good-morning to you too!”
“I’m sorry, good-morning! What is all this?”
“I figured that I had to repay you somehow…”
He cut her off. “Lexi, you never have to repay…”
“I know, but I thought that this was a good thing to do. Repaying you or not.”
JC was sincerely touched. The littlest things can mean the world sometimes.
“Well, it smells great…what is it?”
Lexi laughed as she walked over two the over and pulled out to prepared plates.
“Mushroom, cheese, and onion omelets, home fries, and there will be bagels if ya give me a couple minutes. I cooked all this about 35 minutes ago. I didn't know what time you would wake up, so I put it in the oven to keep it warm.”
“Are you sure you didn't order all this stuff from some type of breakfast delivery service?”
“No!” Lexi answered sarcastically insulted. “I made it all myself.”
“I believe you; I just didn’t know that I had all this stuff in my house!”
“It’s only eggs, mushrooms, cheese, potatoes, and a bunch of spices. Besides, if you can read you can cook.”
JC nodded in agreement as he went to sit down where Lexi placed the food. A moment later the bagels were toasted, and they began to eat.
“So, I have an Entertainment Tonight interview at about noon today, so I should be gone for a couple hours.”
Lexi wondered why he was telling her this. Well, not so much why he was telling her this, but why he was telling her how long he’d be gone.
“Oh, ok…well, I guess when you leave I’ll go home too. I’m touring three prospective ‘houses’ today at three.”
“ By yourself?”
“Look, Josh, I know you’re worried, but I have to go home sometime.”
“I know, but I’d really feel better if you waited her until I got back. Your appointment with the real estate person is at three?”
“Yeah.”
“Ok, I should be back here no later than two. I could follow you in my car to your place, then once I know that everything’s ok I’ll leave you to your appointment.” JC paused for a second. “Look, I know this sounds really protective, but I won’t be able get through that interview if I didn’t know you were safe.”
Lexi stared into the azure eyes that were gradually wearing her down and sighed.
“Ok, you win again.”
For the next hour JC and Lexi talked about different topics, but mostly music and their duet. Everything was going great until JC realized what time it was.
“Jesus, it’s almost eleven! I’ve gotta be outta here by 11:30 at the lastest!”
“Oh, damn. Go get ready. I’ll take care of cleaning up.”
“Lexi, I don’t want you to clean this up…”
“Go!” Lexi yelled while pointing her finger toward the stairs.
“Yes ma’am!” JC saluted jokingly.
Twenty minutes later, JC came down the stairs ready for his interview wearing a gray sweater and khaki pants.
How can one being possess so much attractiveness?
Lexi snapped out of her hypnotic state and smiled at JC.
“Very sharp.”
“Thanks. Well I’m off. If you need me you have my cell number, and please don’t be afraid to use it. I’ll see ya in a few hours.”
Lexi hugged Josh goodbye as she inhaled the scent of his cologne.
Omigawd…
Scolding herself for thinking such things, she let go of him and said goodbye. After the door closed she collapsed into a nearby chair. She didn’t think that she could take much more of this.
Chapter 14
Home, home on the range...