His bare feet slid over the hardwood floors and her skin prickled as he inched closer. Jade wasn’t at all surprised when his arms banded around her midsection and buried his face in the crook of her neck.
“I didn’t expect you to make me breakfast,” he murmured. His warm breath tickled, and Jade leaned slightly into him. “I would’ve been happy with those baby shower cakes.”
Jade slid the bacon off onto a paper plate lined with paper towels to absorb the grease. “We can have breakfast dessert,” she told him as she removed the second batch of eggs.
“I like how you think, Red.”
She glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “Why don’t you pour the coffee?”
He smacked her lips with his, then swatted her rear end. “Don’t you typically run in the morning?” he asked.
When he started searching for mugs, Jade pointed to the cabinet closest to the fridge. “I do, but some things are worth missing a good run.”
As she set the two plates on the kitchen table, Cash laughed behind her. Jade turned and saw him holding up two coffee mugs.
“I know these aren’t your style,” he said with a smirk.
She laughed at the witty sayings. “No. Those belonged to Livie’s dad. He had quite a few of them. We also found T-shirts and hats with equally offhand pilot humor.”
When they sat down to eat, Cash kept the mug with an image on the front of a plane that said, “Large Cockpit” and she ended up with the one that said “Pilots: Looking Down on People Since 1903.”
“You may not get me to leave if you’re going to cook.” He scooped up a bite of eggs and followed it with bacon. “But I don’t do those green smoothies, so don’t try that with me.”
“I bet I can convince you of a great many things,” she told him, extending her leg and sliding her bare foot up his leg. “You may just fall in love with my green smoothies.”
He didn’t smile like she thought he would. Instead his eyes darkened as his lids lowered just enough to remind her of that moment just before he let go completely in bed.
“Maybe it’s not the smoothies I want to fall in love with.”
Jade’s heart thudded heavily in her chest, her breath caught in her throat. Cash didn’t move, didn’t look away. He simply sat there staring at her as if he was waiting on some reply . . . and she didn’t have a clue what that would be.
She’d been venturing into these feelings of love, but that had all just been inside her own head. She hadn’t known what he was feeling or where he stood really. They’d been so careful not to mention such things.
And now that he’d thrown out that large chunk of his thoughts, Jade didn’t know what to do. This was all well and good when it was just sex. Then everything progressed into a little more, then a little more. Now they were sharing breakfast at the kitchen table like it was the most normal thing in the world . . . only it wasn’t.
She’d never shared breakfast with anyone. Not even growing up. They didn’t do family meals unless there was a party.
There was so much to take in with Cash looking at her like he still wanted her to say something. She had too many words, but none of them seemed right. Maybe because now that she knew how he felt, she wasn’t quite ready to admit it. Because everything had changed and Jade was absolutely terrified.
“Cash—”
The doorbell rang, cutting off her thoughts.
“Ignore it,” he insisted.
On one hand, she welcomed the interruption because she wasn’t quite sure what she’d been about to say. On the other, she wanted to ignore the surprise visitor. Jade didn’t want the outside world to interrupt . . . not now, when this was quite possibly the most important conversation they’d ever have.
Not to mention they were still secretive, and she wasn’t expecting anyone at noon on a Sunday. Unless it was—
Jade jumped up. “What if that’s Livie?” she exclaimed. “She wanted to talk last night. Maybe she’s checking on me. I left my phone upstairs. If she texted and I didn’t answer . . .”
Cash reached for her hand. “Ignore the doorbell,” he repeated. “You don’t have to answer it.”
The ring pierced through the house again.
Jade pulled her hand from his. “I’ll sneak and look out the window. You stay here.”
She turned from his disappointed gaze and tiptoed down the hallway. Jade didn’t even care how ridiculous she probably looked, sneaking through her own home wearing nothing but Cash’s T-shirt.