The next morning

I groaned as I woke up, my eyes cracking open. It took me longer than it should have to realize I wasn't alone in the room. Gavin stood, wrapped only in a towel, in front of his dresser. He was holding some clothes and looking at me like he had just been caught by his parents looking at porn. "Ahh, shoot. Sorry, I was trying not to wake you. Just needed clothes for work."

"Don't gotta pologize," I mumbled, pushing my face into the pillow as I did. "'s your room."

"Still," Gavin said.

I turned over and looked at the clock. 6:42. "God, you wake up early, huh?"

"Only when I need to," he said, still rifling through his clothes. "Need to get to work early and set some things up. Big meeting." I watched him through bleary eyes as he searched for clothes, trying not to focus on the fact that he was only wearing a towel. "I'll be outta your hair in a minute."

"Eh, it's fine," I said. "Once I'm up I can't get back to sleep. Don't hurry on my account."

"Well now I feel even worse about waking you."

"Don't, it's fine. Really. It's your room."

"Yours too," he said.

I took that in, then just nodded. What was I supposed to say about that?

"There's coffee on in the kitchen, if you'd like some."

Sitting up, I considered for a moment then nodded. "That sounds great." I stood and hurried out of the room, leaving him to get dressed, and then made my way to the kitchen. The coffee machine must have just finished, so I poured myself a mug and, after checking to see if he had one, poured another for Gavin. He came down a few moments later, saw the mug and smiled as he grabbed it. He raised it and said "thank you."

"No problem. Almost literally. You made it."

"Still, very thoughtful," he said. He took a sip, then he nodded. "So, I think the Warren's are planning to stop by around 6. I hate to ask since you're still adjusting to everything and all, but I don't have a lot here to make. Could you possibly run to the supermarket and grab some things?"

I considered for a moment. I didn't really want to do anything that would be playing into Warren's hand. Honestly, I didn't really want to do it because it would also be playing the part of the nice little wife, wouldn't it? But, considering what she could do...? "I should be able to manage that."

"You're the best. I can, uh... I can text you what we need?"

"Sure," I said. "Oh, I guess we should exchange numbers, right?"

"Probably makes sense," he said, smiling. It was an easy smile, like it was his default expression and it took effort for him to not. We grabbed our phones and exchanged numbers. He nodded and checked the time. "I should have time to send you a list before the meeting at 9:30, so hopefully that gives you plenty of time. I need to get going." He approached and leaned down, kissing me quickly. I could feel my face growing warm as he finished. It seemed to take a moment for him to realize what had just happened. "Oh, shoot. I'm sorry. That was..."

I shook my head, trying to put my thoughts in order.

"I shouldn't have just done that. It was just, you know, we were being all homey and..."

"No, no, it's fine. It's cool. Don't worry about it." I **** a smile, and when he still hesitated I shrugged. "Really, it's fine. And you need to go, right?"

"Shoot, damn, yeah. I really do. Uh, sorry. I'll send you the list."

"Okay," I said, watching him grab his things and then leave. I touched my lips, then shook my head and went back to drinking my coffee.