The Sweetest Summer

Chapter Twenty - Banana Pancakes

You know when you wake up first thing in the morning and you need to pee so bad, but you don't want to get up. Imagine that feeling, amplified times a million, because wrapped around me that next morning was Elijah West, and his strong body, and his even stronger morning wood...

I snuggled my head down further into my pillow, his arms tightening around my stomach until I seriously contemplated my bladder bursting. Peeing all over Eli was surely worse than just getting up and going to the damn bathroom.

I huffed and slowly extracted myself from his grip, smiling to myself as he moaned in protest. He was impossibly better looking first thing in the morning. His dark brown hair was tasseled perfectly across his forehead, almost reaching his ears on the side, and his tan naked skin made the black satin sheets look positively sinful.

I padded as quietly to the bathroom as I could, trying to ignore the way my makeup ran down my face as I sat to pee. I hadn't ever had a chance to wash it off last night, and as a result, my mascara sat along my cheeks and my lipstick stained my chin. I winced as I wiped, noticing a bright red streak of blood on the toilet paper.

"Ouch." I breathed, praying that I hadn't bled in the bed too. They said back in medieval days that was how the royal families would know if they had, in fact, married a virgin - sending a spy in the next morning to check for blood on the sheets.

I shook my head, deciding to start the shower. This wasn't The Tudors and Eli wasn't Henry the VIII, waiting to destroy me the same way he had destroyed my virginity. I washed my face under the rainfall of the massive modern shower without a door. The eucalyptus body wash was a nice touch and I lathered my body with it, careful not to touch the space between my legs for too long. I was no longer a virgin. My first shower as a non-virgin.

I turned off the hot water, snuggling into the black fluffy towel that was likely more for decoration. I had never seen a penthouse that was fully stocked and not lived in like this. I wondered how close Eli was to buying the place. I imagined pretty damn close to have the seller go to these lengths.

I quickly walked from the shower to the sink, pleased to see the clown makeup was now gone, but my hair was a different story. My short golden strands stuck up in a million different directions from the mountains of hair spray and Bobby pins shoved into it last night. There was no way I could get the men's comb on the counter through it, so I opted to tie the birds nest into a tangled knot on the top of my head, while simultaneously running a complimentary toothbrush over my teeth. There. Good as new...

Except for the fact that I still stood completely butt ass naked, more ashamed to be seen in the bright light of day with the stretch marks on the insides of my thighs, stripes that none of the actresses Eli bedded in Vancouver had...

I pulled the towel around me like a shield and was both relieved and annoyed to find Eli was no longer in the bed. "Eli?" I called.

"In the kitchen." He responded and I could hear the opening chords of Jack Johnson's Banana Pancakes. One of my favorites. "Come join me."

"Okay. Just a sec." I called back, searching for something to wear. The walk-in closet was surprisingly well stocked in men's clothing and I carefully selected one of the plain white t-shirts and a pair of navy blue boxers that swallowed my waist and legs. I couldn't picture these on Eli, wondering if they had been a staging snafu.

"Hurry up, kid. I'm getting hungry in here." Eli whined.

"Are you always this bossy after sex?" I joked, but his eyes lit up taking in my menswear outfit.

"Are you always this gorgeous after sex?"

"I wouldn't know. This is my first morning." I giggled and he pulled me into his arms. Dancing with me in the kitchen, singing at the top of his lungs along with the lyrics. Sounding adorably...terrible.