Binding 13

37

It's your birthday

Sha

I spent a solid twenty minutes wrapped up in Joh

Finally, when I didn’t feel like I had another tear left inside of my body to shed, I pulled back to look at him.

His blue eyes burned with sympathy as he watched me carefully.

"Hi," I sniffled, feeling embarrassed.

"Hi," Joh

"Thanks," I croaked out, resisting the urge to press my cheek into his hand.

"For what?" he asked thickly, tucking loose strands of hair behind my ears.

"Holding me and not letting go," I offered weakly.

He smiled sadly. "Anytime."

"Do you want me to go now?" I asked, feeling uncertain. "Now that I've drenched your shirt and neck?"

Joh

"You do?" I sniffled, tightening my hold on his neck.

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, I do."

"Okay," I whispered, heart racing violently.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked then, blue eyes burning holes in mine.

I quickly shook my head, knowing that I wanted to block it all out and concentrate on the one good thing in my life.

Him.

Joh

"I want to forget about it," I confessed. "I don’t even want to think about it. Not at all… at least until I have to go home and face it."

"If that's what you want, then that's what we'll do," Joh

I sagged in relief.

This boy.

God.

"Are you hungry?" he offered then, releasing my hips, and removing the comforting feeling of his hands on my skin.

My stomach growled at his offer as I reluctantly climbed off his lap.

"I'll take that as a yes," Joh

Shaking his head, he stood up and helped Sookie off the bed before turning to smile down at me. "Come on, Sha

On shaky legs, I trailed after Joh

I had to fight the smile threatening to break free when Joh

Smiling, I followed after them.

"Arthritis," he explained in an embarrassed tone when he caught me staring. "Old age." He set her down carefully when he reached the ground floor and watched her waddle off down the hall before adding, "But she's young at heart."

The minute my bare feet touched the cold tiles, I yelped and jumped back onto the carpeted step.

"God," I squeaked, shivering. "The floor's so cold."

"Hang on," Joh

He handed me the socks and I sat down on the step to slip them on.

"Thanks," I whispered, pulling the huge black socks on my feet.

Low and behold, they were Nike brand socks.

And not the fake ones either.

"No problem," Joh

"It's okay," I assured him, pulling them up to my calves before standing up. "I, uh…" I shrugged helplessly and gestured to my bare legs, covered only at the thighs by his boxer shorts. "I couldn’t keep your pants up."

His lips twitched in amusement. "No?"

I shook my head, cheeks burning. "I'm too small."

"That's okay," he replied gruffly. "I like it."

"You like it?"

"I mean I –" He shook his head and exhaled a sigh. "I mean I don’t mind."

"Will your parents mind?" I tucked my hair behind my ear nervously. "I mean, they won't think…"

"No," Joh

"Are you sure?"

His gaze roamed over me then, making my skin flood with heat. "No, it's, uh, good."

My brows shot up. "Good?"

He blushed, causing me to blush a much deeper shade of red.

Oh god…

"It's just us," he added with a cough. "Ma won't be back until the morning."

"Oh, okay."

"So, what are you in the mood for?" Joh

"I'm not fussy," I mumbled, following him down a long hallway to the door at the end.

I hovered in the doorway, admiring the beautiful, modernly designed kitchen in front of me.

It looked nothing like the rest of the house that was traditional and majestic.

"Thank god," Joh

"I can cook?" I offered shyly.

"What–no," he quickly dismissed, giving me a rueful smile. "You're my guest. You're not cooking for me."

"I don’t mind," I replied.

"Well, I do," he told me as he tossed his phone on the counter and gave me his full attention. "Toasted sandwich good for you?"

I smiled brightly. "Sounds great."

"Good choice," he chuckled. "Because it was sandwiches or cereal."

"We can just have cereal," I offered. "I don’t mind."

Joh

I didn’t protest.

I was more than happy to hoof down whatever was put in front of me.

"Do you drink tea?"

"Only by the bucketful," I replied with a smile. "Barry's Teabags with two sugars and a small drop of milk."

He chuckled. "So you're a tea girl, not coffee."

I gagged. "Ugh. I hate coffee."

Joh

"Sit down," he instructed as he moved to the cupboards and began to dig around. "I'll throw the sandwiches in the toaster and we can have the cereal while we're waiting."

"Thanks for this," I said quietly.

"For what?" he asked as he prepared the sandwiches in record time.

"Cooking for me," I replied, watching Joh

He was wearing a grey t-shirt and the fabric of his shirt stretched gloriously over the span of his broad back.

"I'd hardly call a ham and cheese toastie cooking for you," Joh

"Well, no one ever cooks for me, so I appreciate it," I told him, still hovering in the doorway. "I do most of the cooking at home."

"Yeah?" He sounded surprised. "Why's that?"

"Because I'm the only girl," I mumbled. "And most of the housework falls on my shoulders."

"So?" Joh

"That's a healthy way to approach life," I told him, thrilled by his words.

"That's the only way to approach life," he corrected. "We're in the twenty-first century," he added. "Not the eighteen-hundreds."

He placed the sandwiches in the toaster and swung around to face me.

"You can sit down, Sha

"Uh, okay?" Padding over to the island, I moved for one of the stools only to flame in embarrassment when I couldn’t hoist myself up.