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Garrett
“You can’t possibly be hungry after inhaling three stacks of pancakes.” Jade stretches up on her tiptoes, trying to sneak a peek over my shoulder at the display of ingredients on the counter. I haven’t told her that I invited Aurora over. Considering that the cooking lesson I offered up are supposed to be a secret, I’m not entirely sure how to explain this. I was actually hoping Jade would be too dead on her feet after a long day waiting tables to heckle us.
“I didn’t eat them all at once.”
“Oh, I forgot. You hung out at the diner for myentireshift. Don’t you have better things to do on your days off than hover over your baby sister?” I’m secretly relieved to hear the snark in her voice. A sign that moving home and away from her shitty husband was exactly what she needed.
I resist the urge to ask about the divorce and focus on more pressing issues. “Someone had to protect you from Mom.”
Jade lets out a heavy sigh. “I’m headed over there now. If you don’t hear from me by midnight, send a search party?”
“I can go with you.”
Jade pats me on the shoulder. “I’m not spoiling yourdate.”
“It’s not a date.”
“Whatever you need to tell yourself,” Jade teases, swiping car keys from the hook beside the back door. I’m foolish enough to think that’ll be the end of it. “You’re allowed to be happy again, Garrett. You know that, right?”
My shoulders stiffen and I nearly destroy an egg in my grip as I transfer it from its carton to a bowl. I go to great lengths to keep the past in the past where it belongs. Vera’s the last fucking thing I need to be thinking about right now. “Drop it,” I warn.
“I’ve seen the way the two of you look at each other. You and Aurora. Why fight it?” The back door closes before I can spin around to catch my sister with a glare. Jade’s always been the type to call things as she sees them, especially with me. If only I’d listened to her back then, I might’ve avoided one helluva heartbreak.
The doorbell echoes, catching me off guard. The front door is used so rarely I nearly forgot I had one. I live on the very outskirts of the city limits. Those who know how to find me know to use the back door.
My pulse doubles as I move through the living room, remembering what nearly happened only a few hours ago. If Rose hadn’t interrupted us, I might’ve gone against my better judgment and kissed Aurora Gray right there in back of the diner. God knows I wanted to tug her into my arms and press her curvy body against mine. To feel those tits shoved up against me as I devoured her pretty mouth without mercy.
“Hey,” Aurora says, both hands curled around her purse straps.She’s nervous.
“Hey.”
“I have to warn you,” she says, rocking on her heels and looking everywhere but at me, “I’m pretty much a lost cause.”
“I’m up for the challenge.” It takes incredible restraint to keep my gaze from settling on her glossy lips. I’m suddenly wishing Jade had stayed in tonight. Aurora hasn’t even stepped over the threshold and the air between us is already crackling. How the fuck do I keep my hands to myself without a chaperone?
Because you’d never ask for something that wasn’t freely given and she’s not into you.The truth and the lie churn in my gut as she glances past me and into the living room, her lower lip caught under a nervous nibble of teeth I can picture sinking into my shoulder.Fuck me.
She’s not into you.
I double down on the lie and step back, opening the door wide to let her in.
“Have you done a lot of cooking before?” I ask curiously, leading her back to the kitchen, pretending not to notice how she studies everything in my sparce living room. The worn couch that needs replacing, the coffee table that’s all scratched up from kicking my boots up on it, and the rug with its fraying edges and threadbare walking path. The only thing new is the TV. None of this bothered me until now.
“Any cooking I’ve done has ended in disaster.”
I offer her a drink, and she accepts a Caribou Creek Amber. The simple graze of our fingertips as I hand her the bottle is all the warning I need to keep my damn distance. I force myself to focus on the conversation, though I suspect getting to know Aurora is going to make it even harder to put her out of my mind after the lights go out at night. “Did your sisters do the cooking when you were growing up?”
“I didn’t spend a lot of time with them back then. I was in Anchorage with my mom. Let’s just say her cooking style was takeout.” Aurora takes a pull of her beer, her lips curled into a smile when she lowers the bottle. My half hard dick is mocking my efforts to pretend I’m not jealous of that fucking bottle. “I’m very handy with a microwave.”
A rusty sound that resembles laughter leaves my throat.
“Look at that.” Aurora pokes a finger into my shoulder. “Youcansmile.”
“I smile,” I argue.
She folds both arms over her chest, pinning me with her playful gaze. “When?”
“I smile.”
