AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?” she said. “Gonna spoon me to death or something?”
Brendan lowered his piece of cutlery and rolled his eyes at her. “Maybe.”
“Well, thank God I’ve got a big strong man around to protect me. I can sleep easy knowing that if an intruder breaks in, you’ll go after him with your spoon.”
“Glad I’m contributing,” said Brendan.
“Uh-huh.”
Nicole strolled around the kitchen as he scooped his eggs out, making toast for herself and getting ready to make coffee.
“You want one?” she asked, nodding at the mugs.
“Sure,” he said, kind of surprised that she was offering. She hadn’t done anything like that before, offering him a little kindness like making him a cup of coffee. It didn’t help how inexplicably flustered he’d gotten all of a sudden. He tried not to stare at how different she looked in her tank top and pajama pants, her hair a mess and hanging around her face. Apparently, he hadn’t done a very good job, though.
“You all right?” she asked, handing him a mug and taking her toast to the kitchen table.
“Yeah,” Brendan lied. “Just tired, I guess. Maybe a little stressed.” He shrugged.
The smile Nicole gave him across the table was closer to a smirk. “Not exactly the easy life, is it?”
Brendan huffed a breath out of his nose, but didn’t have it in him to be insulted by her sarcasm. She was right, after all.
“No. No, it’s not,” he admitted. Maybe Nicole had been needling for an argument after all, her face shifting back to the perplexed look she had when she was trying to figure him out. Apparently, his admitting that it was hard wasn’t what she had been expecting.
“Just don’t have an aneurysm, okay?” she said, picking up the still-hot toast and taking a bite. “That’s why you hired me to stay, remember?”
“To avoid an aneurysm?”
“To avoid drowning in inexperience, if you want to get technical about it.”
Brendan nodded. Nicole was about as comforting as a brick wall, but she was right.
“I’ll get the hang of it,” he bluffed, not all that confident in his own words. “I’ll have you teach me your ways, oh, wise one.”
She shrugged. “Not all that wise if I had to sell the place, am I?”
“You can be wise and unlucky.”
Again, she pierced him with that calculating look. He could practically see the gears turning. Maybe she was actually a robot underneath that blond head of hers. That would certainly make a lot of sense.
“Why do you look at me like that?” Brendan asked before he could stop himself, curiosity getting the better of him.
Nicole straightened up as if she was a kid caught with her hand in a candy jar or something, mouth half full of toast.
“What look?”
“You get this look on your face like you’re trying to figure me out.”
She shrugged. “I guess Iamtrying to figure you out.”
“There isn’t much to figure out, if I’m honest,” he said, maybe a little too self-deprecating to be healthy.
Nicole just took another bite of her toast. “Well, I need something to puzzle over during the day — may as well be you.”
“I’m honored,” said Brendan raising a solemn hand to his chest.
“You shouldn’t be. It’s quite the mess up here.” Nicole tapped her finger against her temple. Brendan choked a laugh, which only made her give him that confused look again.
