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“Right,” she huffed. “It’s fine. I appreciate today either way. It was a nice diversion.”
Neither Shade nor I said anything as she busied herself around the kitchen getting dinner together. My focus zeroed in on her ass as she bent down to pull out the chicken from the oven. Curling my fingers into a tight fist, I tucked them behind my back to keep from reaching out and slapping a palm against the round cheek.
“Are you saying you don’t want to be friends?”
My heart sank like a thirty-pound weight in my chest at Shade’s low tone. Fuck. He hadn’t even known this woman twenty-four hours and had already formed an attachment to her. Romantic feelings or not, it was a big deal for Shade to show any interest in someone other than me or our close group of friends. He didn’t let anyone in, and I’d be damned if this woman walked away when my best friend had already gotten attached.
“What?” she asked, turning from the stove with a steaming pot of noodles grasped between her hands. She blinked at him, lost, before her features pinched. “Shit.” She rushed to the sink, cursing the whole way.
Shade and I both were at her side in the next heartbeat. The full pot slammed to the bottom of the sink, water sloshing over the side and toppling the strainer that was ready to drain the noodles. I worked one threadbare oven mitt off while Shade did the same with her other hand.
Angling it toward the overhead light, I inspected the red line cutting across her palm. With a featherlight touch, I brushed the tip of a single finger along the hot flesh. She hissed and jerked her hand, but I held it tight.
“I’ll get the first aid kit. There’s some burn ointment in there.” Shade stormed out of the kitchen, taking his imposing presence with him.
“It’s fine,” she whispered, gaze riveted on where my thumb stroked along her inner wrist. “Really, it’s not that bad.”
“It won’t be bad if we get some burn ointment on it now.” Hand wrapped around her side, I guided her to the table and pulled out a chair, gesturing for her to sit. “I’ll finish dinner.”
“I’m so confused,” she grumbled behind me.
“About what?”
“Why you’re being so nice. Why you want to be friends with me in the first place. I’m no one.”
I shot her a dark look over my shoulder. “Say another negative thing about yourself and I’ll flip you over and spank that ass.” Her eyes went comically wide. Ignoring her confusion, I turned back to the sink and finished draining the noodles. “And did you stop to think that maybe we saw that you needed someone, a friend at the very least, because it’s something we see in ourselves?”
“What does that mean?”
Shade walked into the kitchen at that moment, Grace hot on his heels.
“Later,” I muttered. Forcing a wide grin like I always did to help lighten the mood, I grabbed a plate from the counter and held it out to Grace. “Did the duck cake win?”
“Kind of. She moved on to the next round.”
When she gripped the plate, I held on to it, not letting her take it from my hand. “Can I watch the next episode with you?”
Pale green eyes lit up like I’d just given her the world. “You want to watch a cake show? With me?”
“Well, yeah. That show looked cool.” After putting a large helping of noodles and sauce onto a plate, I sliced a piece of flattened, breaded chicken in half and placed it on top. Depositing it in front of Georgia, I turned back around to face Grace. “Would you be open to starting from episode one? I hate jumping into a show. It’s best to get all the personalities from the get-go.”
“Sure,” she said, tone relaying how excited she was at that thought. “No one ever wants to watch my shows with me.”
I cut my eyes to Georgia, who was staring at her plate while Shade wrapped her burned palms.
“What does your mom watch?” I asked while handing Grace her plate.
Grace sat in the chair opposite her mom and dug into the food. “Crime shows. But she says I’m too young to watch them with her.”
“You don’t need that in your head,” Georgia responded.
Grace huffed. “I’m almost thirteen.”
Georgia winced at that. Shade caught my confused glance across the table.
“When do I get my phone back?” Grace asked.
Georgia sealed her lips together in a tight line.
