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Her honesty made a small smile play at his lips. “Okay. How ‘bout some breakfast?”
“Do you know how to make pancakes?” she asked, her voice now loud enough he could hear the subtle challenge in her tone.
“I think I can do pancakes,” he replied, grinning now. “Will you help me?”
Her eyes lit up as she nodded enthusiastically.
“Okay. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
Without another word, she scurried from the room.
Still smiling, Lawson looked down at his sleeping beauty. He hated to leave her, but he hated to leave Evelyn waiting even more. He was in her home, and he owed her the respect she was due. He pressed a gentle kiss against Nora’s bare shoulder, then quietly slipped from between the sheets to get dressed.
She was coxed from a deep slumber by the sound of little girl laughter. There was no sweeter sound in the world. Pulling in a deep breath, Nora slowly blinked open her eyes and felt herself in bed alone. It was when she heard the low rumble of Lawson’s voice that she gasped and shot upright. Immediately aware of her nakedness, she scrambled out of bed and hurried to her dresser. She pulled out another t-shirt and threw it on—the de-ja-vu she felt undeniable. Rather than a pair of panties, she opened a different drawer and pulled out a pair of leggings before jumping into them, tugging at the waistband as panic beckoned her toward the sound of voices.
She had a vague awareness that her sex mused bedhead was a mess as she raked a bit of it out of her face, but that was the least of her worries as her legs carried her quickly to the kitchen. Except, as soon as she caught sight of them, her entire body was brought to an abrupt halt.
“You ready?” asked Lawson.
“Yeah!” Evie cried.
“Are you sure? I don’t know if you are,” teased Lawson.
This made Evie laugh. “Mr. Lawson, do it again!”
Evie was sitting on the counter beside the stove, her legs dangling over the edge, a single, half-eaten pancake in her hands. Lawson was standing beside her, manning the stove. AtEvie’s command, he jerked the skillet in his hand, sending a pancake flying. When it landed back in the pan, Evie laughed as if it was the most hilarious trick she’d ever seen. Lawson chuckled with her, her joy extremely contagious.
“Evelyn—how about instead of you callin’ meMr.Lawson, you just call me Lawson?”
“Mommy wouldn’t like that,” she replied innocently, kicking her feet. “You’re a grownup.”
“That’s true, I am. But what if I tell your mommy it’s okay? I like my friends to call me Lawson.”
“Maybe if you’re my friend it’s okay,” she chirped.
“Can we be friends?”
Without hesitation, she replied, “Yeah. You make yummy pancakes.”
As Nora-Jean watched them, her panic melted away, dissolving into nothing as the warmth at the center of her chest began to spread throughout her body. She’d been afraid of the trauma Evie might experience waking up to a man in her home—something Nora had endured time and time again throughout her childhood and adolescent years. But her over-protective mom brain had completely neglected to factor in the character of the man she had invited into her bed.
None of the men Earlene let pass through her revolving door had ever offered to make Nora breakfast; any request of friendship was dripping in disgusting inuendo; and they certainly never made her laugh the way Lawson made her precious Evie laugh.
Fact of the matter was, she and Lawson were in uncharted territory. They’d agreed to give their relationship another chance, but they’d never been a set of three before—not Nora and Lawson, or Nora and Evie. She knew her little girl would have questions later, but if Nora had her doubts before, it was quite evident she needn’t bother to hang onto them now.
She’d admitted to still loving him—but the snapshot in front of her was proof she still had room to love himmore.
Coming unstuck from where she stood, Nora slowly ventured around the corner toward the kitchen’s narrow entrance. Lawson sensed her presence first and turned his head in search of her. He really was a gorgeous specimen of a man. His shirt was only buttoned halfway, but she didn’t need to see beneath it to remember how much his body had matured in all the best ways in the past six years. The dark stubble he let grow on his face was sexy; and even though he was in desperate need of a haircut, his rough-around-the-edges look did, admittedly, make her a bit weak at the knees—especially when he looked at her the way he was.
“Mornin’, songbird,” he hummed in a low voice, extending an arm in silent invitation.
“Mornin’.” Accepting his invitation, she closed the distance between them and tucked herself into his side.
As she did so, Evie brightened even more at the sight of her and exclaimed, “Mommy, we’re makin’ pancakes! He can flip them withno hands.”
“Oh, yeah?” asked Nora as Lawson pressed a kiss against her temple. “That sounds so cool.” Reaching over to tuck a bit of Evie’s wild sleep-tangled hair behind her ear, she inquired, “Did you have fun with Miss Jay last night?”
“Mmhmm,” she replied, taking another bite of pancake. Her mouth still full, she held out what was left of her breakfast treat and asked, “Want some, mommy?”
