Kelly

WITH ONLY THE NEON LIGHT FROM THE green numbers on the clock illuminating the dark room, I squint in the direction of the lump on the bed next to me. Sutton moans softly in her sleep, something I've come to learn she does when she's sleeping deeply and dreaming.

According to the clock, I have a few minutes before I'm supposed to get up. I turn off my alarm, and then give my attention to my sleeping girlfriend, eyeing all the curves hidden under the blankets—the blankets she religiously hogs, leaving me with only an edge every single time.

I slowly peel the blankets down her body, leaving them around her ankles; and she whimpers, throwing an arm out in search of them. Instead, I scoot closer to her, molding my body around hers, allowing my warmth to replace the blankets. When she sighs, I smile, my face buried in her hair. I take a few moments to soak in the way her body feels cradled in mine, spooning her from behind. Our legs are a tangled mess in the blankets, my arms a protective embrace around her.

I only meant to get my Sutton fix in the form of cuddling before starting my busy day, but the moment she moans in her sleep, her butt brushing against my hard cock, my innocent thoughts are instantly replaced with dirty ones.

I trace my finger over her bare nipple, already hard from the cool air. She responds with a breathy sigh. I feather my fingers down her stomach until I reach the band of her panties, pausing briefly when her eyelashes flutter. Brushing my nose across her exposed neck, I whisper a husky good morning, ignoring her grumbled protests.

"Why do you even bother with these?" I whisper as I slip her panties down her legs. "They just get in the way."

She tries to roll away, but I hold her hostage with my leg draped over her body.

"Kelly," she grumbles in her sleepy voice that is pure sex to my ears. "It's too early."

She squirms enough to rotate her upper body toward me, her eyes only halfway opened, as if she's fighting being awake with the last of her control. She beeps my nose like it's a button and uses the sleepy voice again to announce, "There. I snoozed you. See you in 20 minutes."

Pulling her body flush against me again, I tease my hand near her pussy and gruffly whisper into her ear, "Oh, you're snoozing me, are you? So you don't want me to do this?" I ghost my fingers over her inner thigh, moving slowly inward. When she arches into me, I remove my hand, kiss the top of her head with a loud, exaggerated smack. "Sleep tight, baby girl."

Before I even get an inch away from her, she grabs my wrist and puts my hand back between her legs. "Never mind," she says, her voice huskier but still in the sleepy rasp. "Cancel the snooze."

I laugh into her hair as I settle my body back against hers, my hard cock nestled between us, twitching against the soft skin of her back. "Morning, baby girl," I whisper as I rub her clit until she's soaked and writhing for more. Once I can tell she's close, I slide into her from behind and we groan in unison, the connection feeling so familiar and so mind-blowingly good.

"Fuck," I curse, pausing a moment to get my bearings before I start moving in and out of her in unhurried, languid movements.

She buries her head into the pillow, her moans of pleasure muted against the puffy cotton. I still until she finally looks over her shoulder at me. I quickly peck her pouty lips. "Don't hide your sounds from me, baby girl."

I grin when she rolls her eyes, apparently waking up enough to be a brat, and I resume moving inside her again. I grunt as I rut into her, not the least bit shy for her to hear how she makes me feel, and she reaches around to grab my ass in an effort to make me move faster.

"I want to see you lose control, baby." Her words are a whispered demand, her nails clawing into my sensitive skin.

"No fucking way until you do first."

I palm her pussy, and she grinds into my hand as I pump into her from behind. "That's it, baby girl," I whisper into her neck. "Get it. Make yourself feel good on my cock and hand."

I pinch her nipple with my free hand and then wrap it around her throat with a light squeeze. Her moans egg me on and I grind my hand over her pussy to match her movements, helping her get there faster, not sure how much longer I can hold out; and she throws her head back onto my shoulder, her body arched as she succumbs to the pleasure and comes loudly and unabashedly.

Without waiting a single beat to catch her breath, she turns her head to look at me and declares, "Your turn." She smirks before biting my bottom lip.

Grabbing her inner thighs for leverage, I pump into her from behind, biting her neck and grunting loudly. My movements are wild and uncoordinated, taking advantage of the green light to lose control. I come on a curse, burying my head in her hair.

Unlike my girl, I need a few minutes before I can talk again, but finally I curse, "Fuck, baby girl. What are you doing to me?"

"Me?" she asks with mock sweetness. "I was just sleeping. You're the one who woke me up with your big dick stabbing me in my back and grabby hands undressing me. I should still be sleeping."

With a chuckle, I reach over her to grab her phone off the nightstand. "Go back to sleep then. I'll set your alarm." I'm about to ask her what time she needs to be up, but I pause when I see the picture on her Lock Screen. With my upper body crushing her to the bed, I show her the phone. "Is this Lexi?"

"Yeah, duh." Again, she rolls her eyes at me.

I give her more of my weight in retaliation for her bratty tone. "But why do you have my dog as your Lock Screen?"

She blows out a breath, the warm air tickling my face, and I can tell she's fighting the urge to look away from me. Instead, she maintains eye contact as she admits, "Because it can't be you, Kelly."

The admission makes my stomach sink, and I smooth the flyaway hairs off her face with the softest of caresses. "I'm sorry, baby girl," I apologize against her shoulder as I place a kiss there.

Suddenly, I flop onto the bed, taking Sutton with me. I hold the phone in the air and quickly snap a picture, encapsulating us with our heads side by side on the pillow, all flushed cheeks and messy hair. I hand the phone back to her. "Save that. Soon, I promise, baby girl. Then you can make that your Lock Screen."

She studies the picture as I crawl out of bed; and I linger in the doorway to the ensuite bathroom, looking at my girl over my shoulder. She catches me staring and shoos me away. I leave, but the sour taste in my mouth stays with me all day.

-

I PUSH MY DOOR CLOSED WITH MY FOOT, balancing the grocery bags in my arms as I walk through my dark house, cursing how early the sun goes down this time of year. Flipping the lights on in the kitchen, the room comes alive, and I immediately notice something out of place on the island. I hoist the bags onto the counter next to the awkwardly shaped orange pumpkins and peel the yellow Post-it note off one of them. I smirk as I read my girlfriend's curly handwriting.

Meet Jack & Jackie O'Lantern. They're very excited to join our little ole family this Halloween.

Chuckling softly, I set the note aside and work on putting the groceries away, but I find myself lingering over Sutton's words again, fingering the part about our family. Fuck if that doesn't sound good.

In the fridge I spot another Post-it note stuck to the carton of milk.

Drink up. Milk makes the body good. And I really enjoy your body.

This one makes me harrumph, the sound loud in the quiet room. Soon, I hear Lexi's nails clicking against the hardwood floor, woken from her slumber. I pet her head a few times before crossing to the door to let her outside.

A yellow blob catches my eye, another note on the sliding glass door.

You're such a good dog daddy. Even if Lexi likes me more. Who wouldn't?

Guilty. I'm definitely guilty of that crime.

Peeling the paper off the glass, I carry it with me back to the kitchen, shaking my head at my girlfriend. Ever since Sutton discovered my stash of Post-it notes the other day, she's made it her mission to use the entire stack on senseless notes. I find them in my pockets, in my truck, tucked away in my tools, stuck to mirrors and cupboards and anywhere else she can possibly dream up. And they never fail to amuse me. They're like little nuggets of Sutton littered throughout my day.

I run up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and rush through a shower. Although there isn't a note to be found in the bathroom, the fogged-up mirror displays a message. Sutton must have drawn on it after her shower this morning, the picture fading away only to reappear in the steam. I stare at the heart with the "K+S" encircled in the middle. It's the closest we've come to muttering the three words I'm nervous to finally admit, even to myself.

I don't want to tell her I love her until our relationship is public. She deserves more, hearing them while we're hiding like a dirty little secret feels wrong. But fuck if I don't feel that way.

"Hello!"

Sutton's greeting precedes her, but soon I hear her clomping up the stairs. I'm running a towel over my damp hair when she enters the bathroom, her eyes immediately raking over my naked body. "Well, hello there." Her voice is teasing, dropping into a husky cadence. "Did you miss me or is that big guy there just excited for no reason?"

I nod toward the drawing on the mirror that is fading in the cool air. "Doodling, I see."

She grins as she leans against the doorframe and shrugs. "I get bored."

Discarding the towel on the floor, I stalk toward her, dipping down to take her lips in a tender kiss while I absently finger the small heart pendant she never takes off. "And the notes? Are those because you're bored, too?"

She palms my naked ass, tugging my body flush against her, and I close my eyes against the feel of my hard cock against her. "Nah," she says nonchalantly, pretending to be oblivious to her effect on me. "I just didn't like seeing that lonely notepad. Its cheery yellow color beckoned to me."

"Beckoned to you?" I arch an eyebrow, my hand circling her neck.

"Mmmhmmm," she mumbles, her fingers tickling over the damp skin on my back.

I drop my lips to hers again, driving my tongue greedily into her mouth. She rises on her toes, hooking her arms around my neck for support, and gives into the hunger as we kiss with abandon. Before we can take it too far, I pull away, scooting her body aside so I can exit the bathroom.

"Jack and Jackie O'Lantern?" I asked over my shoulder as I pull on a pair of gray sweatpants. She hasn't moved from her position in the ensuite doorway, but she's turned to face the bedroom, her eyes tracking my every move.

"Mmmhmmm," she mumbles again, worrying the heart necklace between her fingers. "Cute, right?"

"Depends," I say before my head disappears as I throw a hooded sweatshirt on. I'm pulling it in place as I walk toward her. "Does this mean I'm meant to carve these newest members of our little ole family?" I repeat the words from her note, once again feeling the warmth of them.

"You get to carve Jack. Jackie is all mine." Her lips curl up as she smirks at me from her perch in the doorway. I tug her away from the doorframe, lightly pecking her lips before leading her out of the room.

"Fine," I sigh. "Let's get something to eat first."

She cheers and I fake groan. Truth is, there's not much I wouldn't do for this girl. Even carve a damn pumpkin.

-

SUTTON TRACES THE NEW SERIES OF DOTS on my inner wrist, her face scrunched up in the cute way it does when she's thinking. I can almost hear her thoughts, and I chuckle to myself. We're sitting on the front stoop, admiring our handiwork, Jack and Jackie all lit up on the steps next to us.

"I don't suppose it would do any good to ask what this means again for the eleventy millionth time?" Her blue eyes meet mine in a silent question.

I glance at the incomplete tattoo, her dainty fingers feathering over the black ink. I don't bother to respond since I know she already knows the answer. Instead, I tuck her under my arm, resting my cheek atop her head.

Carving the pumpkins was more fun than I thought. The disaster still awaits us in the kitchen, the gunky guts and seeds all over the counter and floor. Sutton insisted on seeing how they looked with candles before we cleaned up the mess, though, so here we are on this cool fall night. My girl and I snuggled up like a regular couple, not even trying to hide, possibly feeling brave under the cover of the darkness, only the streetlights as a faint spotlight.

"Kell?" Her voice is soft and I hug her tighter in my arms.

"Yeah, baby girl?"

"I like this. Us." Her clarifier—the us—shoots straight to my heart, and I almost confess that I more than like this—us.

I kiss the side of her head and sigh. "Me, too, baby girl. Me, too."

The candles flicker in the pumpkins on a chilly gust of wind and then blow out. We take that as our sign to get up and tend to the disaster left in the kitchen. Right before closing and locking the door, though, I look at the two pumpkins sitting side by side on the front stoop, now shrouded in darkness; and I fight the intense urge to relight the candles in some sort of silent declaration.

Look at us. Here we are.

"Kelly?"

My girl's voice beckons me, and I turn away, following her into the house.