Joe's POV

We go into the kitchen, I take out the eggs and bacon, while she starts going through my cabinets, looking for pots.

"They're right here baby." I say pointing to the cabinet next to the stove. Baby? Let me not say that again.

It's easy to slip back into the husband roll. I have to watch myself, and it's hard because that's what I was for the last 15 years of my life. I need to learn to dial it back.

She pulls out two skillets and sits them on the Stove.

We cook the eggs and bacon together. Her cooking the eggs, and me the bacon. After we were done, I sat down at the kitchen table to eat, she followed but she sat on my lap.

I laugh, "What are you doing?"

"I want to sit on your lap." She says quickly, then closes her eyes. I'm assuming she was blessing her food.

I wait until she's done, then I speak, "How am I supposed to eat with you sitting on my lap?"

"So you want me to move?" She asks, and I can't tell her no, that'll just be rude. Plus, I don't want her to move anyway. I like her here.

"Not really." I wrap one of my arms around her, and start eating a piece of bacon with my free hand.

"So, are we going to get to know each other or what?" She asks

"Say what you want?" I say nonchalantly

"Just answer my question. What do you want?" She says

"I'm cool with whatever you want. Look, I just got out of a 15 year relationship. If you just want to fuck, I'm cool with that. If you just want a friend, I'm cool with that too. I'm chilling right now. It's nice to have someone around, but if that's not what you want, then say that, and if you want to stick around, say so. I'm trying to adjust to this new life, and I want an uncomplicated fling, relationship, fuck buddy, whatever."

"I hear you." She says

"So?"

"I swear you've put me on the spot like 3 times since we've met. I don't like it, but I see why you're doing it." She eats another piece of bacon.

"I don't like indecisiveness. Either you want me, or not." I say, "And if you just want my dick, let me know. We can discuss an arrangement." I say, laughing. "Because I know you want it."

"I want to know how you feel. I was the first person you've had sex with since your divorce. That's kind of a lot of pressure on me."

"But you didn't have to stick around. You came back, and that shows that you want to be here...and yes, you were the first person since before my divorce, you're also the only other person I've had sex with in 15 years." I somewhat correct her.

"More pressure."

I laugh, "You were great, both times. I liked it a lot, and I want to keep doing it."

She laughs, "This is the thing, and I'm a little embarrassed by saying this, but from the time we've spent together, I can tell you're sweet. You're so sweet and there's a connection between us. You're also very protective and those two things alone, attracts me to you. I don't want to move too fast because of your situation but I would like to get to know you."

"I'm cool with that." I say

She turns and kisses me, "Good. So now tell me what you do."

I bust out laughing, "Why do you need to know right now."

"Because you made me promise you I wouldn't google you and all that made me do is want to do it." she laughs, "You have this house, with three cars in your garage. You're making a lot of money, so you have to be doing something big."

"I'll tell you soon, I promise. I'll let you know when you can google me." I laugh and kiss her cheek.

"Whatever." She says with a smile on her face.

We had small talk until we finished eating our food. We literally told each other everything about ourselves. I swear she basically knows everything about me now. It's crazy how I just spilled my guts to her. I just feel comfortable with her, and she didn't judge me when I told her about things that went down with my ex. She earns major points with me for that.

We talked about her family. She's an only child, parents still together but she doesn't talk to her mom. Her mom is/was on drugs and she had to cut her off. She still has a relationship with her dad. She didn't seem to want to talk much about it, so I just changed the subject.

"I know you're tired, it's 6 am. Why don't you go upstairs and get in my bed. Get some sleep."

"You too."

"Nah, I have to go to workout. Just go up, I'll be done in a couple of hours."

"Okay."

"I'll clean up." I say, as she stands up and leaves out of the kitchen.

I clean up the kitchen and make my way out to my gym for my workout.

*******************

It was around 8:30 am when I finished my workout. I headed into the main house and up to my bedroom. I walk in and my eyes automatically fall on my bed and I see a sleeping Ammika. Beautiful sight, but she's in my spot. I stop and stand there for a minute, looking at her.

I have a woman, a random woman in my bed, four months after my divorce, this is bad. This is going to look so bad for me. Galina is going to flip her shit when she finds out about this. Everyone is going to look at me crazy, like I've been seeing her all of this time. I don't think I know what to do. I think I maybe moving too fast, especially with her. I think I need to slow down, and think this through. Yeah, that's what I need to do...but that's all I've been doing, is thinking, trying to take things slow. I think I got myself in a situation, I need to backpedal a bit.

I sigh out loud, shaking my head. I walk into my bathroom, and turn on the shower. I take my hair out of the bun, then I take off my clothes, throw them into the hamper, and I get in.

I stand under the water, letting it run down my body and my mind fell on her again. What. The. Fuck.

"But I don't feel like I'm moving too fast." I say to myself. If I felt I was out of my mind, and moving reckless, I would stop myself. That's just me. But I don't feel like that.

There's something about Lobo, I haven't figured it out yet but I feel a little protective over her. I met her like two seconds ago, and I feel this way. It's weird. We have a connection, I know she's feeling it too but I just don't know why we've connected like this. We barely know anything about each other, but I'm not worried about that. I know we will, but I shouldn't be having this relationship talk with myself about her just yet.

I shake off my feelings, shower, and wash my hair, then I get out. I wrap a towel around my waist, and I grab another towel to dry my hair. I walk out of the bathroom and look over at her and she starts moving. I quietly walk over and get some boxers out of my drawer and walk back into the bathroom, I don't want to wake her, she needs to sleep.

I close the door, but I don't latch it, so it was cracked. I dry off and put on my underwear. I'm going to lay down and get a couple of hours of sleep. I have to pick the kids up from school today, and they'll be with me for the rest of the week, so I need to get some rest. I put on lotion, and I was standing in front of the mirror, about to brush my hair and the door opens.

"Hey!" I say looking at her walk in. "I didn't wake you did I?"

"You did but that's okay." She walks over to me and I notice she's wearing one of my shirts, and not the one I gave her earlier. What's absolutely hilarious about this, is she has on a "Roman Reigns" shirt, not knowing that I'm Roman Reigns. She has no clue.

"I see you changed shirts?" I say

"Yeah, I took a shower and stole one of your shirts. I hope you don't mind that I went through your drawers, trying to find one."

"Nah, mami. It's perfectly okay." I say smiling down at her.

"This is my first time seeing your hair down. I love it." She strokes it a few times, "Can I brush it?"

"Yeah." I hand her the brush and she gets up on my counter. "What the hell are you doing?"

"You're tall, I can't reach the top of your head." She says laughing, starting to brush my hair.

I can't believe this girl is standing on my counter, brushing my hair. This is funny, but at the same time, it's cute. It's little cute things like this, that gets to me.

"You should wear it down more. I like it like this." She says

"Really? I think I wear it down enough, but if you want to see that, I'll think about it."

"No, you'll do it." She says, and I kind of look at her sideways. Is she telling me I will wear my hair down?

"Really?"

"Yup!" She says

I stare at her for a few seconds, then I back down. "Okay." I turn around, "Hop on." I say

She gets on my back and I take her back into the room. I sit down on the bed and we get in. She moves over to my spot, and I need to address this, that's where I sleep.

"You're in my spot." I say

"My spot now." She smiles

"But I like it over there."

"Me too." She says pulling the blanket over her. "You've made it comfortable for me."

"So you're just going to steal my spot like that?"

"You can steal it back." She says

"Okay." I get on top of her and start kissing her. We get into it for a few minutes, then I roll over on my side.

"Oh, you're slick." She laughs

"Good night!" I laugh, and pull the blanket over me.

She lays down, facing the opposite direction. I don't know if she's mad or not. I'm assuming not but she's acting like she is. I'm going to give in, just because I want to cuddle. I miss that part with someone sleeping in my bed.

I turn over and pull her into my arms. "If I Let you have my spot, you have to cuddle with me whenever we're in bed."

"Okay, we can cuddle, but I don't want your spot. I was just messing with you." She kisses my chin.

"Cool." We fell silent for a few minutes. I found myself enjoying it, while rubbing her arm. "Do you want kids?"

"That's kind of a random question." She says

"I know, but I think it's a valid question, seeing how I have kids and all...."

She sits up, and looks back at me. "The short answer, is no. I don't want kids, but the long answer is, I don't know. The explanation is because I feel like I am not in a position to have kids right now. Yes, I have a job, yes, I make good money, I have my own place, and I am paying all of my bills, but I have some things going on that I don't think a parent should be going through, or dealing with. And being that I've dealt with those things when I was little, I just don't want to bring a child into the world, having to deal with the things that I went through as a kid." She says.

I'm just watching her as she explains this, and it seems like this is something that really bothers her. I begin to rub her leg, trying to offer some type of comfort.

"So it's not that I don't like kids, or that I just flat out don't want them, I just think I have a lot of things that need to be taken care of before I can even think about anything like that."

"Okay. I understand, and thanks for breaking it down for me."

"And the fact that you have three kids, doesn't bother me at all. But you should know that I'm a little awkward when it comes to kids." She says and we both start laughing.

"You'll be fine. That's something we really don't have to worry about right now. I just wanted to know." I say

"So, are we about to have this honest talk about our pasts, and get to know each other a little?"

"Briefly, but we can."

"Okay. I'll start off by saying, I've only been in a couple serious relationships. They didn't work out, I'm not completely comfortable with talking about that at this second but however, I do feel very comfortable with you and it's something that's new to me, so I'm adjusting to that, just like you are adjusting to your situation. I'm not an open person, and I don't like to feel vulnerable but somehow, you....."

"I know, and we don't even have to get into all of that. Just know, based on what was just said, everything is understood. Say less."

"Okay."

"Just to get this over with, what happen with my ex was we just grew apart and I was fed up with living that way. I wanted more, I wanted more for myself, I wanted to more out of my life and more out of my relationship. Yes, she's a little bitter about it but she has to live with the decisions that she made. I personally think she got to comfortable and didn't want to do the work. I'm always gonna try, especially with somebody I was with the 15 years, but I just simply got tired of trying. When we had a talk about it she didn't want to bother with the divorce. We had many talks, and I waited for a few months and there was no movement going on, so I went ahead and did it myself. She cried and did some messed up things to me but I fought through it for my kids. She knew how to get to me and that was through my kids. She knows she hurt me, and she continues to to this day."

"I'm sorry you have to go through that, babe. That's not right." She says and I begin to tear up a little.

"I gave her everything she asked for, and she still treats me like this. I don't know what else to do, so I just take it." I wipe a little tear away before it falls. I need to hold it together, I can't fall apart now.

"I'm sorry." She wraps her arms around me and hugs me.

I exhaled a little, it felt good to be in someone's arms. I honestly just wanted to stay that way forever. Honestly, I've just been an emotional wreck these last four months. I hold it together very well. I'm used to having to stay strong for everyone, so it comes naturally, but I'm home by myself, and I don't talk to many people about what I'm going through. I don't need to be strong for anyone anymore, well at least all the time, so it's kind of a big deal that I'm talking to her. She's easy to talk to and that says a lot about her.

What did you think about this chapter? What do you think of he characters so far??