Chapter 45

Rolling over, Cilla reached for the far side of the bed, dragging the pillow close. Sleep had eluded her yet again. Hugging Jon’s pillow to her chest she inhaled deeply, catching a hint of his scent still clinging to the linen. She sighed and sat up; she might as well get up if she wasn’t going to get lost in her dreams. As she was about to throw off the covers, her phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Sweets, it’s me.”

Cilla lay back against her pillow, the phone cradled to her ear. “Jonny, how are you?” Her voice was soft and Jon smiled at the use of his nickname. He loved how it sounded off her lips. “I’m okay Sweets. How are you?” Cilla sighed, “I’m all right. Did you get your surprise?”

He nodded, even though she couldn’t see him. “We all got them. Thank you very much. That was very thoughtful albeit unnecessary. You’re going to make us all fat by the end of this leg of the tour you know.” Cilla laughed, just as he had hoped. “I can send fat free or sugar free cookies, would that be better?” He laughed, “what would be the point of that? We could just eat the box, it would probably taste the same.”

She chuckled, “it probably would, but if you want to be healthy, I can do healthy. Oatmeal, granola, bran, no chocolate. How would that be?” Jon sat on the edge of his bed and laughed, “the guys would kill me if that happened. Just do what you do best Sweets.”

As their laughter subsided Jon could hear rustling in the background. “Where are you Sweets, what time is it there?”

It’s just after 6 in the morning here and I’m still in bed.” She shifted again, “my bed seems so big now.”

Jon closed his eyes and very nearly swore. He could see her, her hair mussed and tumbling over her shoulders, eyes heavy with sleep, and he was sure the answer to this next question was going to cause him some discomfort. “What are you wearing Sweets?”

Cilla glanced down at herself, she had crawled into bed the night before in her camisole and underwear, nothing especially sexy. “My camisole and lace boy shorts.” Jon gripped his phone harder, his knuckles white, “what color?” He remembered the pink from the day she snuck back upstairs to be with him and wondered if it was the same.

“Blue” her voice dropped to a near whisper, “pale blue.”

Jon fell back on the bed, trying to get comfortable, trying to make the tightness in his jeans bearable. “Sweets," he groaned, "do you know how to use the camera on your phone?”

She heard his breathing increase and his voice change slightly with the question and she nodded as she answered, “yes, why?”

“Take a picture for me, please?” He had meant to snap one before he left and with the way they had said goodbye in her kitchen, it had been the furthest thing from his mind at the time.

Before she could lose her nerve, Cilla pushed the blankets off, held her phone up and snapped the shot. With just a few clicks she had saved it and sent it to him.

Hearing the beeping in his ear he pulled the phone away and opened her message. Sucking in a breath he put the phone back to his ear, “baby, you look amazing. Thank you.” She looked exactly like he thought she would. “Can you do one more thing for me?”

Cilla closed her eyes, “I am not getting naked for you.” He laughed, “well maybe not this time, but we’ll talk about that later. What I want is your e-mail Sweets. Do you have e-mail on that new computer of yours?” She pulled the blankets back up, “of course I do. You ready?” He grabbed a pen from the night table and proceeded to write on his hand, “shoot.”

“It’s queencilla@gmail.com. Should I ask for yours?”

Jon thought for a minute, “well I could make you wait until I send you something and make you figure it out, but I won’t. You ready?” She grabbed her paper and pen from the night table, “go ahead.” Jon rattled off his address, blueeyedguy@hotmail.com.”

When they hung up Cilla got out of bed, feeling slightly better now that she had talked to Jon and now she at least had e-mail to look forward to at some point along with the phone calls. She showered and headed down to her shop. She had a cake to deliver and then she had paperwork to take care of if she was ever going to get the expansion for her shop okay-ed by the City Council.

Closing his phone, Jon stroked his hand down the front of his jeans. Between hearing her voice and the picture that she sent, he was ready to burst. Next time he would see if he could talk her into a little phone play but for now, he would have to take matters into his own hands. His eyes drifted shut as his hand popped the button on his jeans and lowered the zipper.