Page 91 of Big Dill

“You did work up an appetite,” he teases, nudging me lightly.

I bite into the slice and moan, eyes closing in pure delight. Brody catches me, eyebrow raised.

“What?” I laugh.

“Moan like that again, and you won’t be able to finish that slice,” he warns, voice low and playful.

I push Elise out of my mind. Honestly… even if I remind him of her, even if he’s using me to untangle his past, does it really matter?

I’m using him for the sex. So if I can help him work through his demons along the way… well, that’s a bonus.

“Good?” Brody asks, lifting a slice of pizza in mock seriousness.

“Yeah, good,” I reply, even though he’s talking about the food.

I’m fine.

Everything is fine.

Everything will remain fine… as long as I don’t fall for him.

A man who’s still in love with his ex.

Light flares through the front window, and Brody gestures with a nod. “Jaxon is home.”

We both tense, shifting slightly. I smooth my hand through my hair, trying to look like I didn’t just crawl out of bed, or worse, like I wasn’t sprawled across Jaxon’s bed with his roommate.

The door bursts open, a cold gust spilling in. Boots thunk against the floor, the closet door opens and closes, and heavy footsteps approach.

“Hey,” Jaxon calls as he finds us in front of the TV, pizza in hand. “I thought you two would be in bed by now.”

Heat zings through me, and I bite into my slice, praying my cheeks aren’t giving me away.

“Help yourself,” Brody murmurs, nudging the box toward him.

Jaxon grabs a slice, takes a big bite, then sinks into a chair, feet landing on the coffee table.

“Damn, this is good,” he says, gaze flicking between Brody and me. Then he frowns. “But why is it so cold?”

21

Jami

“It’s been a hell of a week, huh?” Brody says, glancing at me as we navigate the narrow, snow-packed road. If you could even call it a road. Snow clings to the trees, bending branches toward the ground, and the headlights cut through a foggy haze that hovers over the frozen earth.

I rub the sleep from my eyes, trying to shake off the early-morning grogginess. He’s right. It has been a crazy week. Between my morning yoga classes, running the daycare in the evenings, and sewing my new clothing line, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends.

Add in the social—now swarmed with a wave of new customers—and the fact that both Brody and Jaxon have been going all out, juggling work and daily pickleball practice, and I feel like I barely have a moment to breathe. Sneaking in a few pickleball games myself has been my only small victory, and I can’t lie—I’m actually proud of how much I’ve improved.

“Yeah, so why couldn’t we just sleep in this morning?” I groan, flopping back against the seat. For some reason, Brody thought we needed to rise before the crack of dawn to drive to his cottage. My brain is still half in bed, and my body is staging a full-on protest.

He chuckles, the sound low and easy, brushing against me like a caress. “I wanted you to see the sunrise.”

I lift my phone, the modern-day security blanket. “There’s this thing called Google. You can literally watch sunrises all over the world from your couch.” I tap the screen, only to realize I have no signal.

“What the heck?”

“Middle of nowhere, remember?” he replies, smirking.