There was a bright side to having a boyfriend who was a lawyer like her. Jen knew that the circumstances under which she and Matt had met were unusual, but what about it, huh?! Every couple has its story. And at least Jen got a good "How I met my boyfriend" story. But beyond that, having a partner involved in the world of law, just like her, had its advantages.
Matt had taken on a particularly complicated case this week. A high-society businessman from New York was being accused of murdering his girlfriend, Betty Glenn. The victim's mother alleged that he, and his mistress, orchestrated the murder in order to gain access to the woman's assets. There wasn't much evidence, but the narrative and the order of events favored the case for Betty's family. Jen didn't usually take criminal cases, she tends to focus on her super people cases. Now that she was living in New York though she had even more work since, apparently, New York has a high concentration of super people. But when Matt asked for her help, she couldn't deny it. And it was refreshing to help in a criminal case, especially since she would be working with Matt...this time to defend the same side in court instead of opposing sides.
Thinking of solutions and arguments became a strange hobby for Jen and Matt. It was interesting to note how their minds work together, almost in perfect sync to create a convincing case for the jury, which would be in a few days. Their thoughts were constantly completing each other and they were finishing each other's sentences more often than before. To the rest of the world they must have been annoying, but to Jen it was satisfying to feel that she had a partner for the first time. Partners against crime, Jen thought. That sounds good.
Tonight they were once again working together in the kitchen of their apartment. For the past week their evenings had consisted of Jen and Matt sitting in the living room or kitchen, each with a generous cup of some hot beverage (they vary their drinks menu to keep things interesting). Jen was wearing short shorts with a long-sleeved blouse and her hair was curly and loose as usual. Matt wore a pair of black sweatpants, hanging dangerously low below his waist, with a black short sleeve t-shirt matching his black hair...so dark and mysterious her double life man.
Today in particular Jen was noticing that Matt was more restless than usual. After a few months in the relationship Jen could already pick up on some of his mannerisms, and restlessness could mean several things. But since he had been working so hard this week, along with his nervousness because jury day was approaching, plus the fact that he didn't have a very good sleep routine as he was always busy with his lawyer or vigilante business, Jen concluded that he was tired. Maybe not physically, but psychologically for sure.
"Hey!" Jen called Matt's attention.
"What?" Matt replied without even taking his attention off the laptop.
"Is everything okay?"
Matt promptly opened his mouth to answer, but stopped himself. As much as Jen never forced Matt to talk about how he was feeling, or just about feelings in general, he was learning to feel comfortable with her. So Jen knew that if he wanted to talk, he would.
"Do you want to do something else?" Matt asked.
"Something else how?"
"Something else" he repeated "You know when you can't think about anything anymore, so the best thing to do is just do something else? Then when you come back your head will be clearer..."
"And the solution will come more easily?"
Matt smiled.
"Yes, exactly that."
"What do you want to do, Matthew?"
Jen asked, closing her laptop and organizing all the papers inside the folder to clear the space. Within minutes there was no trace of work left between the living room and the kitchen.
"Uhm...do you want to have dinner?"
"I think it's a little late to find a restaurant..."
"Dinner at home," Matt clarified. "Like...what do you call that again? I'm sure there's a name for when couples have dinner dates at home made by themselves"
"Oh, a homemade dinner? You want to have a homemade date?"
Jen smiled openly, happy at his idea. They had never had a date in their own home, but whenever Jen saw about it on instagram she thought it was nice. In an intimate and comfortable way.
"Yeah. That must be the name."
Matt stood up and walked over to Jen passing his strong arms around her, pressing her against his chest.
"What do you say? Do you want to have a homemade dinner?"
"Of course I do! But, Matt...I can't cook."
Matt's eyes widened and after a while a smile began to appear on his lips.
"Who said you would cook?"
It was Jen's turn to widen her eyes. She would never...Matt never....Not that she thought he was incapable! She was fully aware that Matt was capable of doing extraordinary things...but cooking? He had never given any indication that he could cook.
"Since when do you cook?" Jen asked genuinely curious.
"Since I moved out on my own, Jennifer."
" And why didn't you ever think to tell me this, Matthew?"
"Err, everyone has their secrets"
Jen laughed amused by the situation. She slipped her arms around his neck bringing their faces so close that she could smell more clearly the smell of soap and coffee cream that he exuded.
"And I'm sure no one has more secrets than Matthew Murdock." she murmured around his ea.r
"That's a good guess."
That man would still be the cause of Jen's death. She leaned in to overcome the subtle height difference between them, taking his lips for herself. Matt's lips were still warm from the tea he had just had, which brought a calm, cozy feeling to Jen. She could still feel the subtle notes of chamomile and sugar in his breath that mixed with the taste of lavender tea still present in Jen's mouth. A different combination, but still a perfect match.
Jen brought one hand to the back of Matt's neck, letting her fingers run through the silky strands of his hair. She tugged lightly on his hair, eliciting a weak, low moan from Matt from deep in his throat that she knew indicated pleasure. Matt used the cue to tighten his hands around Jen's waist, purposely letting one of them rest under Jen's ass, where he squeezed using his strength to bring her closer to him, her breasts now brushing against his broad chest. The only barrier between them were those few layers of clothing they wore...for now.
Kissing Matt was perhaps Jen's favorite activity. He could tune each kiss to suit the mood of the moment, never too rushed, never too soft, always just enough to not ruin the moment. Matt was good at reading people with his enhanced senses, but Jen liked that she was learning how he reacted to her even in simple kisses like this. When Matt in the middle of the kiss took a subtle bite, sucking on her bottom lip, Jen knew they could take things further. Unfortunately Jen's stomach seemed to have other plans and chose exactly that time to manifest itself. Maybe a normal guy wouldn't have even heard...but that was Matt and of course he did.
Jen turned away from him ready to hear a little joke, but when she opened her eyes very slowly letting her body drift away from the intoxicating feeling that was being so close to Matt, she only found Matt standing there. He still had his hands on her hips, but his eyes remained closed. His cheeks were slightly flushed and, as much as Jen didn't have super hearing, she could notice his gasping breath and his chest that rose and fell in a rhythm that was not too fast, but faster than normal. His usually well-combed hair was a mess and his pink lips were still slightly ajar. He is gorgeous, Jen thought.
A mess? Certainly. But the most handsome mess she had ever seen.
Even when he opened his eyes, Matt did not move away from Jen. But he tilted his head slightly toward her. Exactly as he did on the roof of the building when they were about to rescue Luke Jacobson.
"Are you hungry, Jennifer?"
The voice in which he spoke was thick and low, as if he were telling a secret. Only then did Jen notice the duality of the question.
"Starving, Matthew."
Matt smiled. Scoundrel.
"I'm gonna make dinner. What do you want to eat?"
He had to be kidding her. Jen's blood went all to her cheeks and she had to bite her lower lip to keep from responding truthfully.
"Are you blushing?"
"How can you tell?" Jen gasped, surprised.
Those senses would still be the death of her.
"A hunch." Matt shrugged.
He walked smilingly out to the fridge and began organizing the ingredients on the black marble countertop next to the stove. When she had recovered, Jen went into the kitchen and sat down on one of the stools.
"Do you mind if I stand here and watch?"
"Uhm, no. You can stay."
Jen propped her chin on the palm of her hands and concentrated on watching as Matt showed off his cooking skills. He was methodical, Jen noted. But she didn't know how much of that was choice and how much was necessity. Matt tended to keep everything organized and separate at all times. Since he couldn't see, keeping things in the same place was the way that made life easier for him, since that way he could know where things were without having to abuse his other senses in order to figure it out. He was also in no hurry to chop the onion and mince the garlic. All his movements were calm and precise.
"But seriously, did you learn to cook by yourself?" Jen asked him.
"Yes, I learned on my own." Matt stopped quickly and put on a song to play.
Jen didn't know what song it was, but the beat was reminiscent of some classic rock from the 90’s.
"Actually, I always knew how to do the basics of cooking even before I got blind" Matt continued " It wasn't often that my dad was home to cook and buying food for diners daily is not a very cheap habit, so sometimes I had to make it by myself."
"Wow...sounds like it was a rough childhood."
"It had its good and bad moments," Matt pondered. "But it made me a good cooker"
"The secret skills of Matt Murdock.”
The kitchen smelled deliciously of sauteed onions and garlic, which mingled with the smell of tomatoes cooking in a pot plus the aroma of thyme and parsley. That apartment had never smelled so good. That delicious smell of home cooking, the soft classic rock music playing in the background, the cold wind that blew in through the living room windows but didn't leave them with a freezing feeling because the kitchen was warm, her handsome boyfriend kneading dough on the counter...Jen allowed herself to stop and just enjoy that moment. She never imagined that she would actually get the life she had always envisioned. When she thought about a relationship, she didn't imagine that she would find someone to share her life with. Not after all the idiots she had met on Tinder. But yet here she was. And no, nothing about Matt and Jen's relationship had turned out the way she had envisioned when thinking about a relationship years ago. It had all been so much better and more interesting.
"And I don’t wanna tell you…anything about me…’cause everything about you…"
Matt's voice humming the new song that was taking over the house woke Jen from her thoughts and brought her back to reality.
"Is speeding up my heartbeat... "Jen completed the lyrics singing along with him.
"Your heart is indeed beating fast, Mr. Walters" Matt joked and they laughed together.
"Do you want to come make the drinks?" Matt asked
"Sure."
Jen picked up the ingredients to make lemon bubbly mocktails. Normally she would drink a wine, but Matt was not a fan of wines, "I'm not comfortable with rich stuff" were his words.
Drinks and pizzas ready, Jen and Matt sat down to dinner. She had to admit that she hadn't expected him to actually cook that well, the pizza was delicious and much tastier than the ones they would order at any pizza place when they were lazy to prepare dinner. Matt explained to her that much of the different taste is because the ingredients are natural and not industrialized, and that this directly affects the taste. The way he talked about the flavors and textures with such rich detail made Jen wonder if her other senses were as acute as her hearing. Jen made a mental note to discuss this with him another time.
Dinner finished and dishes washed, Matt returned to the living room already heading towards the desk to get the case papers they were working on earlier.
"Hey!" Jen interrupted him, taking his hand. "We can finish this tomorrow."
Matt was unresponsive for a moment, but Jen knew he was considering how to proceed. Finally, he relented and put the paperwork aside. Matt used his hand tied to Jen's to pull her to him, trapping her in his arms so that he was hugging her from behind.
"If I remember correctly," Matt began, whispering close to her ear, "I still owe you another meal.”
He brought his lips to her earlobe, taking a gentle bite. Jen closed her eyes and smiled.
"Time for dessert then.” Jen said and then they went straight for the room.