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“I can’t wait,” he began, tracing his fingers along the side of her neck—“to eat it”—his lips pressed a light kiss right under her ear—“all up.”
He nipped her skin, and she moaned softly, forgetting for a moment that they were supposed to be just friends.
“Okay, you two are super quiet in there,” Daisy said. “So I’m giving you to the count of ten to get your clothes back on before I come in to get glasses. One . . . ”
“Your sister reminds me of mine,” Dean said, stepping away from her.
Self-consciously, Violet pulled on her ponytail, as if Daisy might be able to see where he’d kissed her and she needed to cover it up. “An evil devil’s spawn put on this earth to torment you?”
“Exactly.”
Violet grabbed the plate of bacon, avoiding Dean’s reaching hands as he tried to steal another slice. “I bet your mother banned you from the kitchen while she was cooking.”
“How did you know?”
“Ten!” Daisy opened the swinging door just as Violet was ready to come through. She stalled long enough to whisper to Daisy, “Remember that I know where Mom kept all the baby pictures.”
“So? I was adorable. Bring it, sister.”
“Not during your bowl-cut phase, you weren’t,” Violet said.
“You’re all talk!”
“We’ll see.”
DEAN SAT BACK in his chair half an hour later, rubbing his stomach with a groan. “I think I might explode.”
“You and me both,” Daisy said with a laugh. “Violet’s pancakes are the best. I could eat them forever. I keep telling her to quit school and open a restaurant, but she won’t listen.”
“It’s a bad time to start a business, and besides, even if I was interested, I don’t have the experience. I’d end up bankrupt in a year,” Violet said.
“Such bullshit. The only time I’ve had cooking like yours is when we went to that little place in Placerville. What was it called?”
“Sweetie Pies,” Violet said.
“Mmmm, that was good.” Daisy turned to Dean. “Don’t you think my sister could have her own successful eatery?”
“I would definitely be there for every meal,” Dean said.
“See! You sell yourself short, Vi,” Daisy said, taking another bite of her pancakes.
Dean grinned at Violet from around the vase of flowers she’d set in the middle of the table. He liked that she hadn’t stopped smiling since he’d taken his first bite of her breakfast pizza and hummed with appreciation. Right now, she was easy to read; she liked taking care of people and being appreciated. He got the feeling she didn’t get praised very often.
“Well, thank you both. Dean, you’re going to have to take some of this home with you. We’ll never finish all this before it goes bad.”
“I’d be happy to take some of it off your hands.”
“Those pancakes are mine,” Daisy said.
“I’ll arm wrestle you for half,” Dean countered.
“Not fair! You have arms the size of tree trunks.”
Dean couldn’t remember the last time he’d sat around a kitchen table with anyone other than his own family and laughed so much. The Douglas girls were definitely good for him.
Who says you’re good for them, though? They don’t need another man in their lives who is just going to abandon them.
But last night after Martinez had left, Dean had sat on the couch and thought about his options. While Casey was at Alpha Dog, Dean would still bump into Violet, whether he tried to avoid her or not. And if he was being honest, he had stopped wanting to avoid her, even if it was for both of their sakes. He liked being around Violet, and if he got deployed again, did that really mean they had to end this thing before it even got started?
