Chapter 25
KELSEY
When I walk out of Sutton’s bedroom in just one of his flannels, something about it feels oddly normal.
I thought I’d be weirded out by spending so much time in Grandma’s old house, but it’s been the exact opposite.
Even if the place has changed and been remodeled, it still feels so natural to be here inside these walls.
The man cooking me breakfast in the small open kitchen might have something to do with it too.
I hear the sizzling pan on the stove. I’m hit with the delicious smell of bacon and what I sincerely hope is maple syrup.
Most days, I’m so crunched for time that I just eat pastries at the coffee shop or some yogurt and granola. This already feels like an indulgence that I can’t wait to enjoy.
What really has my stomach doing flips is the way his eyes track my movement across the room.
They never leave me and I see his tongue dart over his lips when his shirt rides up my thighs.
I think the feeling is mutual though because he’s only wearing a pair of gray sweats.
It’s either brave or stupid considering he’s standing in front of a sizzling pan of bacon.
Either way, I relish in the sight of his toned upper body and that dusting of chest hair running down to the defined V that disappears into his waistband.
I remember exactly what those muscles feel like under the pads of my fingers.
I fell asleep with my hand resting on his warm body while he pulled me into him all night.
I know I have to be at work soon, but part of me wants to indulge in him right now because he’s breathtaking to look at.
While I’m busy eyefucking him, something in my path hits my shin and I stumble over the rug in the middle of the room. I get my arms out just in time to catch myself before I hit the rug face first.
“What the—”
At my feet, Oscar is curling herself up. Sutton and Felix both bound over to me like the loyal ones they are.
Sutton kneels at my side and his eyes search mine. “Are you OK?”
I nod and start to stand, but his big hands wrap around my waist as he helps me to my feet. “I was fine until this fussy little thing tried to off me.”
His eyes fall to Oscar before he looks back at me. He brushes my hair out of my eyes. Once he’s satisfied that I’m alive and in one piece, his lips pull up into a grin.
“She’s just jealous that I like you.”
My heart flutters in my chest. “I sort of like you too.”
“Good. I’m glad we’re sort of on the same page.”
We look into each other’s eyes for what feels like far too long—in fact, I know it’s far too long, because smoke on the side of the room snaps us out of our trance.
“Shit. The bacon.”
I giggle and point at the smoking pan. “Why don’t you go handle that, Chef? I’m just going to go put on some real clothes.”
“You know this is pretty good for being burnt. I guess that’s the real sign of a world class chef.” I crunch a bite of bacon, sitting at the kitchen island across from Sutton.
He quirks a brow at me. “Well, I don’t normally cook with an erection, so I’ll take that as a compliment. Also, the maple glaze sort of covers up the burnt flavor.”
My lips part. “Sutton Sterling, that sounds like it could be a health code violation.”
He crunches a spoonful of cereal. “Good thing Jimmy doesn’t inspect my apartment’s kitchen. I just need to make sure I find all those buttons behind the bar before Rich shows up and I’ll be good.”
I laugh and fork a bite of my spinach and pepper jack omelette. “You’re right. I’ve known Jimmy since high school. He’s a sweetheart, just compliment his hair and you’ll pass.”
Sutton points his spoon at me. “I’ve learned it’s his belt buckles that will get you the easy A. Not that I don’t keep Gloria’s spotless, but it’s best to stay on his good side.”
“So he’s never found melted gelato and random buttons strewn all over the bar counter before?
” I smirk at him trying to project confidence, but I can’t hide the way that my cheeks heat just thinking about last night.
Even if I’ve got a touch of sunburn from spending days on Monica’s balcony this summer, I know he can still see the flush creeping over my face.
“Nope. I can’t say that’s ever happened before.” His lips curl into a mischievous grin. “I’d like it to happen again though.”
His eyes flicker with a hint of that intensity from last night and now I know my skin is red.
As tempting as getting back into bed with him sounds, I don’t know what’s really going on between us right now.
Thanks to Monica’s meddling and cajoling, I had just gotten to the point where I was willing to entertain giving him a chance.
But I never actually got far enough in that plan to think about what that would look like.
Instead I went for plan B and jumped his bones behind the counter, just like I told Monica.
I meant it as a joke, but here we are and if she ever found out, I would never hear the end of it.
“Hey. Where’d you go?” His deep, raspy voice softens and I snap out of my mini spiral.
I drop my head and sigh. “What are we doing here?”
“I’m watching a beautiful woman in my kitchen eat the breakfast I made for her.”
I look up to see him smiling at me and his sky blue eyes nearly melt away all of my misgivings.
“I meant you and me.” I quirk a brow and gesture a finger between us. “What’s going on between us?”
He hops onto the kitchen counter and leans back, shrugging like nothing bothers him because nothing probably does.
“Whatever you want. I just know I’d like to see more of you. Even when you glare at me at the coffee shop or refuse to let me hold a door for you, seeing you is the best part of my day.”
I quickly take a bite of my omelette so that I don’t spew out something insane because no one says things like that to me. Outside of Monica, no one chooses me. The fact that he still does when I’ve been so cruel to him for so long means he’s either crazy or sees something in me I don’t.
I finish chewing and find him still eating his cereal and watching me.
“I don’t know what I’m looking for. And even if I’ve forgiven you for my grandma’s house because that wasn’t actually your fault and I actually see what you bring to the community and people around you, I still don’t really know you. ”
Somewhere deep down though, I feel like I do know him. That’s what makes everything with him so easy, but so complicated. I don’t have a filter to begin with and when I’m with him, I swear he can see right into my spiderweb of thoughts.
He chuckles. “Then let’s make this easy. Finally go on that date with me. I’ve been waiting for two years.”
There’s something about the way he says waiting that gets to me. After he told me that he hasn’t been with anyone else since me, it feels like it has a different meaning. It feels like something I don’t want to unpack right now.
“Date you? You want me to date you?”
He nods slowly and smirks. “Yeah, Shadow. That’s kind of the point of going out on a date, to get to know the other person.”
“Fine. We can go on a date.”
He flashes a blinding, toothy smile that puts those dimples on full display.
I laugh, trying to hide how that smile makes the butterflies in my stomach do acrobatics. It’s starting to feel good to say yes—to do things for me, to have someone look at me the way he is right now.
He leans forward, propping his chin up on his fist. “When are you free?”
“I’m not sure.” I pick up a piece of the maple glazed bacon and take a small, crunchy bite.
“I’m supposed to meet my parents for dinner in Rodgers tonight after work and I’m going to stay at my apartment there.
I’ll be back at the coffee shop tomorrow morning, but I was thinking of picking up a shift with Rich. ”
“Then let’s do tomorrow night.”
I look at him in confusion. “Don’t we have to work? I just said I was going to pick up a shift with Rich.”
He shakes his head. “I can make sure I’m off tomorrow. I need to give my sous-chef some time on her own to grow anyway. Plus Rich should be able to cover things with one of the other bartenders.”
I wobble my head back and forth. “OK. I guess if you say so.”
I try to sound calm and not overly excited, but it’s hard to control that rare sense of optimism creeping out of the back of my mind. He really does like me and I wish I would have accepted that fact earlier.
“I like this trend.” Monica walks to my side at the oven in Cowgirl Coffee’s small kitchen.
I slide in the tray of chocolate croissants and shut the door. “What trend?”
She grins. “You getting to work before me.”
I huff a laugh. “You mean because there’s less work for you to do when you get here?”
“I like it because it means you stayed in town last night, and you’re less scowl-y.”
I say nothing because I have no comeback for that.
“So… did you see him last night?” She shimmies her shoulders with a pleased hum. “Is that why you’re less scowl-y?”
I turn to face her and fold my arms over my chest. “You’re getting awfully bold with your assumptions, Mon.”
“Maybe, but you didn’t answer my question.” She leans against the cabinet with a look that says she knows she’s right.
I’m not going to give in that easy, even though part of me wants to tell her everything. I did exactly what I joked about. I hooked up with Sutton in the middle of his restaurant last night. More importantly, it felt so good to give in and do something impulsive for myself.
She clears her throat and raises her brows. “Well, did you?”
“I worked at Gloria’s last night and so did he. So yes, I saw him.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.” Her lips curl up into a knowing smile. “Did you guys do anything else?’
My mind goes right to the sight of his head buried between my thighs and the way he feasted on me. My core clenches and I feel heat creep up my neck at the thought of how hard he made me come.
“Maybe,” I squeak out.
I walk past her into the front of the shop and start organizing the syrup bottles on the counter in an attempt to hide my now very bright red face. I hear her practically skipping right back to my side.
She leans against the counter, forcing me to look at her. “Are you going to tell me more or am I just going to have to make more bold assumptions?”
I shake my head, but secretly I love that she know me so well—maybe even too well.
“We…” I pause and squint, thinking about how to put this. “We had dessert.”
Her nose scrunches with a confused look. “Dessert? That’s boring.”
The image of gelato melting down my chest pops into my mind and I remember what it felt like when his tongue lapped it off of me. Boring is not the word I would use.
“He made it just for me. So yeah, last night was good, and he made me breakfast this morning.”
“Oh,” she says with a flirty, intrigued tone. “You saw him last night and this morning?”
I groan in exasperation because I know she won’t let this go. “Yes, and since I know you’re going to ask, we have a date planned for tomorrow night.”
“Yes!” The squeal she makes is so loud I’m positive my ears are going to ring for hours. She claps her hands together and bounces up and down. “Finally, you two can figure out whatever this thing is between you. I swear, it’s been infuriating to watch you ignore it.”
I scowl at her. “Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?”
“Oh, I am always going to be your ride-or-die, that doesn’t mean you’re always right.”
I shake my head and sigh. As much as I’d love to argue with her and tell her I thought I had a good reason to be mad at him, she’s got a point—I was wrong.
So instead, I ignore her and take a sip of my iced Honey Badger I’ve been waiting for all morning. When that cinnamon and honey laced coffee hits my lips, my body melts and I let out a whimper. Sutton was right—I’m hit with all the flavors that he mixed together on my chest last night.
She quirks a brow at me. “Are you OK there? Did our coffee get better overnight?”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
She rolls her eyes. “Well, I’m going to get started brewing some more coffee for the carafes.
” She stops and her eyes linger on me for a second before her mouth curls into a soft smile.
“But I’m happy for you. Whatever is going on with you and Sutton, just try to give it a chance and enjoy it this time. ”
I nod. “Sure, I’ll try.”
She pats me on the shoulder and walks to the other end of the counter.
I start to fill the creamer and milk carafes for the self-service station when my phone buzzes in my pocket.
My heart skips a beat at the mere chance that it might be Sutton.
I set down the carafe and pull my phone out.
Felix walks over to me from his bed and sits in front of me, his cue that he probably needs to go out for his post breakfast walk.
“One second.” I pat him on the head and he leans into my legs.
I look at the notification and my heart sinks when it’s not Sutton. I try to ignore how much I was hoping it was him.
Instead it’s an email from my landlord. Maybe he finally fixed the light in the parking lot that’s been flashing outside my window for the last month. My heart sinks again when I open the email.
This is I was dreading. My rent definitely is going up, even more than I thought.
Of course this is how my life goes. When something starts to go right, something else goes horribly wrong. My eyes stay glued to my phone screen and I try to wrap my head around how to cover that much more rent each month.
“Hey, you alright?” I look up to see Monica watching me with a concerned look. “Please tell me he didn’t already fuck up again? Because if he did, I will personally go beat his ass this time.”
“No, it’s fine. Just still trying to get my landlord to fix that stupid light.” I shake my head. This is one of those things that I prefer not to talk to Monica about. I know she would try to help me in some way even though I feel like her and Jason, and even Sandy, do so much for me already.
I tuck my phone away and put on a forced smile. “Let’s get this place ready to open.”
She studies me for a second before shrugging, and I breathe a sigh of relief that I don’t have to have that conversation right now. As much as it felt good to accept help from Sutton and give him a chance, my dynamic with Monica is just different.