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“No sex—unless you want, then I’m always willing.” I grinned like I didn’t know she would avoid my bedroom. “But no, I have a lot of work to do, but I also want to spend time with you.”
She pushed her tangled brown hair out of her face. “I’d love to, but I have the never-ending pile of laundry.”
Her laundry was no joke. I thought I went through a respectable amount of detergent for a single guy. I worked outside and with animals. That sometimes required a few more outfit changes than an office job. Add in towels after cleaning myself up and all the rags I used for work, and my washer and dryer were never neglected.
Emery could lose a couple of kids in her laundry pile.
“I need to get groceries and make our meals for the week too.” Her regretful expression eased the thought of going home alone. I had my work to do, and she had hers.
“Okay. Go shower, and I’ll show you that I make killer pancakes.”
She paused. “Pancakes?”
“If you have frozen fruit, I’ll even make homemade syrup.”
Delight lit her eyes. “You can do all that?”
“I can, but I won’t make a chocolate chip smiley face for you like I did for Nora.”
A wistful look crossed over her face. “I would’ve loved to have a sibling like you.”
“Yeah?” Nora appreciated me, but she never said it. I didn’t need to hear it either, but I couldn’t deny that it was nice to be acknowledged.
“Yeah. It’s one reason why I kept agreeing to more kids.”
I waited for her to continue, but when her gaze strayed to the bathroom, I got it. She wanted privacy. “Pancakes coming right up.”
I left her in peace while I started on breakfast. I made the pancakes from scratch. The same recipe I used to make for Nora each weekend.
I thought Emery would take longer than ten minutes. She entered the kitchen with her damp hair brushed off her face. On a wave of sweet peaches, she passed by me. “Smells good.” She kept going to the basement door. The laundry.
In a few minutes, she was back. She set the table for both of us. I was flipping pancakes when she appeared at my elbow. “Ooh, did I have strawberries?”
“Not frozen, but I found some strawberries and blueberries in the fridge.”
“You’re resourceful.”
I gave her a wink. “Thought you knew that by now.”
“In the bedroom.” She slid her arms around my waist. “And with the grill. But not in the kitchen.”
I took the cooked pancake off the skillet and poured more batter one-handed. This was domestic bliss. I could imagine the kids roaming around while we prepared breakfast. Maybe the TV would be going or music filtering through the house. Riley talking. Avery and Afton arguing over sharing their toys. Landon rattling on about football or his Hot Wheels.
I hadn’t let myself want this for so long, I almost stopped and envisioned what it would look like in my house.
Emery tipped her face up. “What are you thinking about?”
I hadn’t noticed I was smiling. I didn’t hit her with complete honesty. We’d come this far in a relatively short time. I couldn’t scare her off. “Just thinking about how nice this is.”
She chuckled and released me to stir the simmering berries. “That’s only because it’s just the two of us.”
“No, I was factoring the chaos in. It’s nice. It would be nice.”
She concentrated on the syrup a little too hard. “Yeah.”
I studied the bubbles forming on the top of the pancake I’d just poured. “Our house was always pretty quiet, and it was Nora and me. I didn’t realize how much I missed cooking for more than me.”
“I like the quiet. But by tomorrow, I’ll be glad to have them home.” She spun away from the stove and opened the fridge. “Score. I have whipped cream.”
