“Good morning. It’s 7:00 a.m. and the weather in Malibu is 70 degrees, with scattered clouds. The surf conditions are fair with waist-to-shoulder high lines. High tide will be at 1:36 p.m.”
A groan escaped her lips as she tried to shift, but the encircling arms squeezed her tighter. Kendis froze, her heart ramping up in her chest. As she was on the verge of using a wandless spell to retrieve her wand, Kendis remembered where she was and who was with her.
“Shit! What did I tell you about early morning wake-up calls?” She heard a familiar voice murmuring behind her.
“You okay there, Glinda?” Tony asked, his voice husky and low with sleep. And God, she felt a rush of heat go straight to her cock.
“I’m fine.” Kendis’s grip on Tony’s hands eased, allowing her to look into his eyes. His hair was a mess, his eyes were sleepy, and he had a soppy grin on his face.
“Really?” Tony lifted an eyebrow.
“I had a little scare, but I am fine,” Kendis insisted as she ran her fingers through his hair. And, goddamnit, the man’s hair had no business being so soft. Tony closed his eyes and hummed.
“I’m going to be jumpy for a while.” Kendis shrugged.
“Understandable with everything that’s going on.” Tony gave a nod, took her hand in his, and kissed her palm.
Kendis felt her heart pound in her chest, warm with a feeling she now knew was love. Somehow, over the last few weeks, Tony had gone from being a stranger who annoyed her to someone she would do anything to protect.
“Glinda?”
Kendis leaned across the small distance between him and kissed him. She knew herself enough to know that if she hadn’t pressed her mouth to his, she would have blurted out those words.
And Tony had already done so much for her that the last thing she needed to do was to project her feelings onto him.
Kendis had fully expected Tony to pull away because they both had the case of morning breath, but his lips still moved against her with slow, intoxicating movements.
This man kissed her as if he didn’t have a worry in the world, and she would only admit to herself that she could spend the rest of her life kissing this man and still not be satisfied.
Tony pulled her naked body against him, her breasts pressed against his hard chest as both of their morning wood rubbed against each other.
Then suddenly, her stomach gave a loud, embarrassing growl.
Freezing, Tony ended the kiss and raised an eyebrow. Kendis looked away, her cheeks once again heating from embarrassment.
Tony burrowed his head in her shoulder and chuckled.
Kendis huffed in annoyance, but couldn’t keep her lips from twitching even though Tony was laughing at her own expense. She pushed him playfully away for her. “Let’s get breakfast.”
Tony caught her hand as she tried to get up. “How about we order in and finish what we started?” He wiggled his eyebrows, and Kendis snorted.
“No bloody likely,” Kendis shook her head. “I prefer to cook.”
”I’m going to get some sleep while you are getting your Martha Stewart on.” Tony waved her off. ” He flopped down on the sheets and closed his eyes.
Kendis was tempted to make him help in the kitchen, but considering his lack of sleep and her generous mood, she decided not to.
Kendis rolled her eyes, and her gaze traveled around the bedroom. Much like the rest of the mansion, it was furnished in a postmodern style with a large platform taupe bed. Its headboard sat against a pale oak panel wall, and she could see the faint glow of lights reflecting from the top and bottom.
Just like in her guest room, the nightstands were built into the wall and had lamps seated on top of them. And on the wall between the nightstands, she saw a photo of Rhodey, Pepper, and Tony smiling cheekily into the camera, with Tony throwing up the peace sign.
On the other side, she noticed a sepia-toned photo in a gold picture frame, sitting on the nightstand. She picked it up and saw that the woman was beautiful with long blonde hair, tan skin, and dark eyes. And it was that familiar smile that told her this photo was of Tony’s mother, Maria.
Kendis had expected Tony to look like his father, but she could see from the shape of his eyes, nose, and smile that he had a lot of his mother in him as well.
Tony muttered something in his sleep and turned over, but didn’t wake up. Kendis shook her head and carefully put the frame back. As she padded on the wooden floor that was a shade lighter than the bed, she noticed a very expensive telescope standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows. Then her gaze landed on two narrow doors. Kendis opened the first door, and she found a palatial bathroom. It had Italian marble white floors, a light oak and marble counter that stretched the length of one wall, a vanity mirror with lights inserted on the side, and round lights in the ceiling. They were nothing like the flat fluorescent lights in her bathroom. One side was a large tub, easily big enough for a Quidditch team, and a glass-enclosed shower.
Kendis took a shower first, even though Tony had made sure to clean off any evidence of last night’s activities from her body. He had even changed the sheets before they finally fell asleep, tangled up together.
But she still didn’t feel quite clean, so she padded into the bathroom and got into the shower. Sitting on the bench built into the shower was a basket of products, and Kendis was relieved to find a shower cap. Because her cornrows were on their last legs and Hortense wasn’t around to rebraid her hair. Besides, all her products were still tucked in her bag in the guest room.
Kendis hadn’t planned on spending the night with Tony, but she didn’t regret it. In hindsight, as she looked at the path that had brought her to this point, sleeping with Tony again had seemed inevitable. And Kendis knew she had been deluding herself that she could resist him.
What she hadn’t expected was for her to fall so fast. Kendis sighed as she longed for a good, long Kiki with her friends. However, she still hadn’t told Hermione and Ron that she had gotten married. And although Hortense and Isiah knew something had happened between her and Tony, they didn’t know more than that.
But Kendis knew she would spill all of her secrets to them the moment she saw their faces in the talking mirror. And that meant telling them how bad the situation with Chester was.
She had fully expected another one of his black envelopes to show up, but none had. However, Kendis knew Chester would never give up. And if she told her friends how bad the situation had gotten, she knew they would be on the first portkey to Los Angeles or, even worse, insist that she returned home to England.
While she stood alone in the shower, she could admit how ashamed she felt. Kendis, the defeater of who must not be named, had been minutes away from being raped in her bedroom.
She could admit how ashamed she felt as she stood alone in the shower.
Kendis shuttered and forcibly shoved those thoughts away. She would not let Chester ruin her good mood. She took one good look at all the dials and buttons on Tony’s shower and shook her head.
“Jarvis, can you turn on the shower?”
“Of course, Mx. Black,” Jarvis replied, and then water fell from the ceiling. Kendis did her best to enjoy the good pressure of endless hot water and not dwell on her feelings.
Half an hour later, Kendis stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. Using a drying charm would be faster and easier, but she’d already wrecked enough of Tony’s tech. Kendis sighed as she dried herself and then wrapped the towel around her waist.
On the counter, a small section of the wall slid apart to reveal another one of the tiny helper bots. It held out to her a green toothbrush still in its wrapper. Kendis patted the bot on the head as she said, “Thank you.”
Excited, the bot wiggled, then quickly scurried back into its hole before the wall closed.
“Jarvis? Does Tony have any lotion?”
“Under the cabinet, Mx. Black,” Jarvis replied, and the cabinet under the sink opened by itself. Kendis was used to ridiculous magical places, so it didn’t faze her.
Chuckling, she examined the vast collection of skincare items that put Draco’s collection of tonics and creams to shame. During their eight-year relationship, they had shared a bathroom, and his skin care products had taken up most of the space.
Kendis laughed and grabbed Tony’s bougie vanilla scented lotion before sitting on the bathroom toilet and slathering the stuff on her skin. She loved how smooth her golden brown skin felt.
Kendis left the bathroom and found Tony sprawled on the bed. He was lying on his stomach, sunlight hitting his amazing back muscles as they moved with each breath.
Kendis was tempted to move the sheet and show her appreciation for that fantastic arse with her teeth and tongue.
She looked down at her cock that had gone down during her shower, but was now trying to make a valiant attempt to rise to the occasion.
Kendis grumbled, ”Behave,” then sighed and ducked into the closet.
This wardrobe’s bigger than most people’s apartments! Growing up in a cupboard, Kendis was blown away by the wardrobe’s size.
Kendis ran her hands over the designer suits, which were organized by designer name and color, before she studied the shoes on the shelf.
Even when she was presenting as a man, this was never her style. In her masculine appearance, Kendis didn’t give a shit about what she wore as long as her body was covered up.
After her transition, Kendis had finally embraced fashion. But to both Hortense’s and Draco’s utter despair, her style only vacillated between Avril Lavigne and Joan Jett, as she only wore black clothes.
That morning, however, Kendis found herself gravitating towards a row of white button-down shirts that she was pretty sure cost more than her house.
She grabbed one and held it up to her face. There was a trace of Tony’s expensive cologne on the shirt; Kendis could smell it. Before she knew it, she was unbuttoning and putting it on.
Kendis turned as she heard footsteps and found Tony leaning against the door, completely nude; the shameless wretch.
“You look good in my clothes,” Tony said as he looked her up and down.
“Thanks,” Kendis replied with a shy smile before she crossed the distance between them and pressed her lips to his.
Tony hummed as he broke the kiss, ”I can get used to this.”
“Go take a shower and get dressed.” Kendis shook her head, but couldn’t help giving him another brief peck on the lips. “I’m going to get started on breakfast.”
Kendis made a quick pit stop to the guest room to grab the Stark phone Jarvis had loaned her and called Dr. Lan to check on Alke. He assured her that Alke was recovering well and that she would probably stay at the clinic another day before she could pick her up.
With a disappointed sigh, Kendis made her way to the elevator and down to the ground floor, where the kitchen was.
She was amazed to see that, somehow, in the last 24 hours, the kitchen was stocked with tons of English food like blood pudding, her favorite Jammy Dodgers, and Batchelor’s beans.
Kendis held out the can of beans. “Did you do this, Jarvis?”
“Yes, I took the liberty of ordering something that might better suit your palette,” Jarvis replied.
Kendis had lived in America for over a decade and only took brief trips back home to keep her friends and family from dragging her back to England, kicking and screaming. She was now used to American food but couldn’t help being touched by Jarvis’s thoughtful gesture.
“Thank you, Jarvis,” Kendis said with a happy smile.
“Pleasure Mx. Black,” Jarvis replied.
Kendis grabbed what she needed from the pantry and then took out a pan. She first started with frying the bread because she was in the mood for an old-fashioned English breakfast. It would be a shame to let all of Jarvis’s thoughtful gifts go to waste.
By the time she heard Tony make it downstairs, she had finished frying the bread, the eggs, the sausage, and the blood pudding. All that was left were the baked beans. Kendis was singing along to Love and Happiness by Al Green, pausing occasionally to dance and click their fingers as she stimmed, when the music got turned down suddenly.
Kendis was singing, dancing, and excitedly stimming to Al Green’s “Love and Happiness” when the music was suddenly cut.
She turned to find Tony watching her with an amused smile. Luckily, he wore a white ”Engineer I’m Not Arguing Just Explaining Why I’m Right” t-shirt, ripped jeans, and white Prada sneakers. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m so lucky I got a spouse who loves to cook.”
“Still not June Cleaver,” Kendis said with a stern glare, but couldn’t repress the small smile on her lips.
“You are way better,” Tony said as he kissed her cheek. “Now put me to work. What do you need?”
Kendis directed Tony to cut up the tomatoes, and by the time he was done, the beans were ready. Tony went to grab the plates, and she put the beans on toast, eggs, sausage, blood pudding, and then tomato slices.
“This smells so good,” Tony said as he carried the plates to the island. “This brings me back to that weekend I spent in London a few years back.”
“Thanks. Jarvis bought the ingredients, and I couldn’t resist.”
“You did good, Jarvis.” Tony looked up at the nearest camera.
“Thank you, sir,” Jarvis replied.
Kendis wondered for a moment if this was how it would be if they were a real married couple, with her waking up next to Tony every day, making him breakfast, and sharing kisses with him in the kitchen. The only thing that was missing was Alke.
She bet Tony could charm Alke in no time.
Though Kendis loved Alke and missed her baby, her dog couldn’t completely fill the void. Even with friends, Kendis still felt desperately lonely, and she always secretly desired the kind of love her parents had.
Kendis always thought that type of love wasn’t in the cards for her. Her relationship with Josefa was the closest she ever came to it. Yet, even that was snatched away from her.
In the end, this thing between her and Tony was just a short interlude before she went back to normal life. But for the first time since Kendis had woken up in that hotel room in Vegas, she wanted to be married to Tony Stark.
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