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Fucking perfect.
“I finished my day” —she paused, eyeing him— “Tied up some loose ends.”
It was cryptic, and he was about to ask, but she dropped her arms and turned toward the door. She stared at the boxes for a few seconds.
“Figured you didn’t want them in the garage.” It was waterproof, but they were expecting a few days of rain, and he didn’t want to take the chance of a leak.
“I don’t,” she whispered, glancing over her shoulder. “Can we burn them in the fire pit?”
Jekyll steeled his reaction. He’d assumed she wanted to keep them, but it was clear Imogene was getting rid of her past. He gave a curt nod.
“I’ll do it after dinner.”
She looked back at the boxes and nodded. It was years of her life wasted on a man and a lie. She’d forever be scarred, but it was a good sign that she was trying to move forward. He walked up behind her, wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and turned her toward the kitchen. On the dining room table was a platter of cupcakes. He had no idea when she’d made them and hadn’t discovered them until she left for work.
“Thanks for the cupcakes.”
She glanced up, grinning. “So vanilla was a hit?”
A huge fucking hit. He’d eaten six of them in one sitting.
He brushed his lips against her mouth. “Yeah.”
Jekyll never paid much attention to the small things in life. Until Imogene.
“Go get changed and meet me out back. I’m grilling steaks.”
“Okay.”
Thirty minutes later, he heard the back door screen creak as she opened it. He expected more of a discussion about her dad. That’s not what he got.
“I wasn’t snooping.”
Jekyll stilled, glancing up from the grill. That denial almost sounded like a confession. There wasn’t much she’d figure out about him without hearing it. Unlike some brothers, he didn’t have any worldly possessions. He’d spent most of his life living out of a backpack. It always carried the necessities. There was never any space in his bag or life for anything special.
“Alright. So what did you find when you weren’t snooping?”
Her cheeks pinkened, and she rocked back on her heels, glancing down at her feet. “The book I gave you when you got released. It was on the shelf.” She peeked up. “The binding is broken in, as if you read it.”
Jekyll had made a few things a priority when he’d first arrived home. The book wasn’t the first, but it was in the top ten. He’d started and finished the book by the end of the first week. It was good. Great plot, lots of action and twists. It kept his attention throughout, and it wasn’t ’til the very end when he figured out the villain of the story. But that wasn’t why he’d read it so soon. It was a gift from her, and her favorite. In some way, it kind of connected them. He liked that.
“I did. A few times.”
Her lips spread into a wide smile. “So you liked it?”
“Yeah.”
She rounded the grill and stopped a few feet from him. “I can recommend more if you want.”
“Alright.”
She grinned. He was learning quickly, it didn’t take much to make her happy.
“Maybe we can even read in bed sometimes. That’s kind of sexy, right?” She lifted her brows.
No.
“Or we could fuck.” He countered.
