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She’d decided on pancakes and had just put the first four rounds on the griddle when Dex shuffled out of her bedroom. He wore only his jeans, the fly only about half buttoned, and Kelsey’s mouth went dry as she watched him approach. His hair stood up messily in every direction and he was a bit bleary-eyed, but those signs of his comfort in her apartment only enhanced her attraction.
“Good morning!” she said, trying not to sound too perky. She was a morning person and had been told more than once that her generally good mood at the top of the day could be annoying before coffee.
Speaking of which … “There’s coffee. Can I make you a cup?”
He took a deep breath and stretched a bit as he let it out. “Yeah, thanks. And good morning.” As he perched on one of her bar stools he added, “Are you doing okay this morning?”
“I’m doing great. How about you? How do you take your coffee?”
“Black, and I’m good. Just want to make sure you don’t have any regrets, or I didn’t do anything to make you feel bad.”
She pushed a cup of fresh black coffee across the bar. “No regrets. And you made me feel the opposite of bad.” His doubts threatened to add a little grey to her outlook, so she flipped the pancakes over and decided to say something scary.
Kelsey’s personality was more naturally inclined to being quiet. She was social but had never been a woo-hoo girl. She’d rather do dinner and a movie with Maisie, or have a few people over for dinner, than go out to a bar and get wild. In relationships, she was more comfortable being the askee than the asker, and she hated to argue with anyone, especially people she cared about. But she’d also been taught to stand up for herself and not to allow a reluctance for confrontation to cause a problem where forthrightness could have offered a solution.
She’d been taught to acknowledge fear without bowing to it, so right now, though it made her queasy, she said to Dex, “I want to understand what’s happening between us—and if that’s even the right way to say it. Is something happening, or did something justhappen.”
He sipped his coffee before he answered, and when he set the mug down he nodded at it. “That’s good.”
“Thank you,” she said, putting the potential for her impatience into her tone.
“You’re asking if we just had a booty call or started a relationship.”
“That’s what I’m asking, yeah.”
“And you’re sure you want a relationship. With me.”
Very tired of their little circle dance, Kelsey pulled out an expression she rarely used. She’d learned it from her mother, who had plenty of cause to deploy it with at least two of her children and, occasionally, her husband. It said OH MY GOD ARE YOU KIDDING ME HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO HAVE THIS SAME TALK. She figured she should keep it in her arsenal for when she had children herself. Or for when her man was being aggravating.
Dex laughed. “Okay. Okay. Sorry. I’m being a pussy about it, I know.”
“Do you want a relationship with me—and I’m burning your pancakes if you say something about not wanting to hurt me. Please just answer the question I asked.”
“I do, yeah. I really do.”
“Good! Yay! That’s settled.”
“Can I ask you to do me a favor, though?” he asked.
As she plated the pancakes, she nodded. “Sure.”
“Talk to me, okay? If I do something you don’t like, or something about me scares you, if I hurt you, call me on it. Right away. Okay?”
She set his plate in front of him and her own beside him. “One thing I learned while I was with Greg was how fast little things can become big things, and how letting the little things slide makes the big things harder to see for what they are. So yes, I will call you on it.”
“Good. Thank you.”
She set the butter and syrup on the bar between their plates, gathered up some silverware and two cloth napkins, and came out of the kitchen, around to the dining room, to sit at his side.
For a minute or two, they simply sat and ate their breakfast. Then Dex washed a bite down with his coffee and asked, “Can I ask some questions about Greg?”
The bite in Kelsey’s mouth turned to paste, but she got it down. “I guess, yeah.”
“If it’s too nosy, just say.”
“Okay.”
