Under Different Circumstances

Chapter 27

The blue eyes of my reflection stared back at me as I brushed my teeth in front of my bathroom mirror. I was lost in thought, thinking back on the day.

After we had packed up our things at the shooting range, Jay had returned the earmuffs and protective glasses to Dave on our way out. The faint twitch in one of Dave's eyebrows and in the corner of his mouth had left me convinced that he really had seen us on the surveillance video.

The ride back to my place had been simultaneously too short and too long for my liking. I'd enjoyed the excitement I'd felt on the back of that motorcycle so much that I hadn't wanted the ride to ever end, but at the same time, I'd longed to finally get home. The door had barely fallen shut behind us when Jay and I had picked up where we'd left off at the shooting range. Without the surveillance cameras watching, we'd given our bodies and emotions free rein and had settled onto the couch in the living room. The bedroom had seemed too far away at that point.

I watched a flush and a slight smile creep onto my reflection's face as I reminisced. I didn't know how long I'd been absentmindedly brushing my teeth, so I rinsed my mouth out and left the bathroom.

"That's where my shirt went!" Jay called out from the bed where he was lounging and watching TV. "I've been looking for that."

My brows drew together, and I brushed my hands over the soft fabric of his shirt which I was wearing. "Why?" I asked perplexed. "I can't think of a single solid reason why you would need it."

"I was cold?" he chuckled.

"I can help with that," I announced and walked over to the bed, climbed onto it, and settled down on top of him, snuggling my body against his.

Jay hugged his arms around me and rested his cheek on the top of my head. "Yes, my own, personal, little radiator. Better than any T-shirt on the market," he murmured.

"That's right," I agreed with the side of my face pressed up against his chest.

We stayed like that for a while. The smell of his cologne, the warmth radiating off our skin, the steady rise and fall of his chest underneath me, and the comforting pulse of his heartbeat lulled me into a meditative state. I listened to his breathing and heard the noise of the TV in the background.

"Why are you watching the kid's channel?" I wondered a few minutes later when the theme song of Dora the Explorer came to an end.

Jay's laugh jolted me on top of him. "I wasn't. I think you changed the channel when you crawled onto the bed."

"No, I don't think I did," I protested playfully and raised my head to look at him. "I think you just don't want to admit that you like Dora."

"I was actually watching the news, and if I gave this to forensics," he pulled out the remote from under my leg, "they would find a perfect imprint of your knee on it."

"Maybe. But that doesn't prove anything since it's my remote. That piece of evidence wouldn't hold up in court."

"I could tell you what the news lady was wearing before you changed the channel to prove that I was watching her," Jay suggested, glancing down at me.

"You could have stopped by the news channel and memorised her outfit to have an alibi in case I caught you on the kid's channel," I objected.

He sighed and switched the TV off. "I think we may have reached a deadlock here. Neither of us can prove our version of events."

"The case shall remain unsolved," I concluded as Jay rolled us over until I lay on my back and he was propped up on his side next to me.

He brushed a few strands of hair away from my face. "Today was an amazing day. I'm so glad that I got to spend it with you."