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He glanced back at me with a grin, then opened the door. When he returned to the bed a few seconds later, he carried a dark wood tray filled with a mountain of breakfast food—two cups of fresh coffee, cream and sugar, a pair of pistachio croissants, a small bowl of sliced fruit, and two servings of cheesy scrambled eggs. Landon balanced the delivery in an open space on the duvet and regarded it. “Looks delicious.”
“It’s more than I normally eat in the mornings.”
“Me too.” He met my gaze. “Of course, I can think of a few things I’d like to have alongside this breakfast.”
“Oh really?” I arched my eyebrow, understanding his implication and feeling the heat warm the space between my legs.I can think of a few things too...“Maybe, if you ask nicely.”
Landon picked up one of the coffee cups and sipped it as he stared back at me, not bothering to add cream or sugar. “No, not right now,” he said after a moment. “I think I’ll wait. Delayed gratification. I need to get better at that, anyway.”
I laughed. “You do seem to be a man who’s used to getting what he wants.”
“Part of the lifestyle.” He returned his coffee to the spread and offered me the other cup. “You should try it; it’s really good.”
I followed his suggestion and took the serving from him. Landon was right, the flavorful coffee was one of the better ones I’d tasted. I regarded the pastry, then decided to take a bit of that too. “Delicious.”
“Good.” He stared at me for a long moment. “So, what do you want to do today?”
I shrugged and replaced the croissant on the plate. “I honestly have no plans.”
“Well, it’s Saturday.” He glanced at the gauzy curtains covering the large window on the opposite side of the room. “What would you normally be doing?”
I hesitated. “I usually visit my parents today.”
“You do?”
I nodded. “Once a month. Usually on the first Saturday.”
“That sounds lovely.” He drank some more coffee. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to come with you to see them.”
“Well—” I broke off to look at the window, as if I expected to find my next words there. “I mean...”
“What?”
I returned my gaze to him. “It’s not like they’re at their house or something. They are...they’re over at Spring Grove.”
“Spring Grove?”
“The cemetery.”
His jaw slackened. “Oh.”
“Yes.” I set my mouth into a hard line. Even though the accident happened over five years ago, I still found it hard to talk about, awkwardness filling the room whenever the subject came up in conversation. “They died in a car accident.”
Now his eyes widened. “Oh my God.”
“It was a long time ago.” I waved a hand, as if to dismiss whatever embarrassment he might have felt about it. “And I mean...it doesn’t hurt as much anymore, yet, it does. Make sense?”
He nodded.
“I don’t expect you to know about it...I mean...it happened...it’s just...”
“Howdid it happen?”
I paused because it had been a long time since anyone asked me about it directly. Olivia knew, of course, and I still ran into my parents’ friends from time to time while making the odd visit to the grocery store or on a Target run, but I didn’t talk about the accident often. And I was a little surprised Landon, or his team, hadn’t uncovered this in the undoubtably extensive background check before inviting me to write the article. After a deep breath, I pressed onward.
“They were coming back from The Greenbrier resort. It was late at night, and they were out on Route 32. A driver was going the wrong way and hit their car. They died, and he did too.”
“Wow.” Landon moved a little closer to me on the bed. “I didn’t know any of this. I didn’t realize.”
