Page 47 of House of Scarlett
So I grab one giraffe head and tap some of the contents into my hand. Salt. Excellent. Now I just need pepper.
That’s when I spot them—a cowgirl and a cowboy on the bottom in the center. I recognize the busty cowgirl from the diner a few blocks from the club.Dolly’s.
Huh.Did my good girl steal salt and pepper shakers from a restaurant? I don’t know why that thought makes me so fucking happy, but it does.
I put the giraffe back and grab the cowgirl and her man and pop them on the tray. The red shirts don’t look all that great with the pink napkin, but I don’t care. I bring the entire tray into her bedroom to find the mug of tea on the nightstand and Scarlett lying back against the pillows with a small smile on her face.
“Breakfast is served.” I carry the tray to her, but pause. I need something to set it on.
“I have a stand thingy. It’s under the bed. I know, not a great storage space, but that’s where it fits.”
I nod. “Good call. Hold on.”
I set the tray on the dresser near the door and drop to a knee at the side of her bed. There’s a frilly white lace skirt around the bottom that I lift up, and sure enough, there are clear tubs beneath it holding holiday decorations ... and something wooden sits on top of them.
“Got it.”
I set it up on her lap and then grab the tray to slide it in front of her. “If you want anything else for your toast, I can get it. I forgot to ask.”
But there’s no sound from Scarlett. I tilt my head to get a better look at her face, and her lower lip is slowly dropping.
“Oh my God.”
“Is something wrong?”
She shakes her head and lifts a hand to her mouth. “This is ... no one has ever done anything like this for me before.” Scarlett looks up at me, and her gray eyes shimmer through unshed tears.
“Please don’t cry. I’ll never cook again. I swear. Just, please, don’t fucking cry.”
She presses her lips together and swallows before blinking a few times. “Dammit, Gabriel. You really do know how to surprise a girl.”
The widest smile I’ve ever seen on another human’s face, including Bump’s on the day we got Roux, appears across Scarlett’s lips.
“You’re so fucking beautiful. Just like this.”
Her eyes lift again, and this time the tears threaten to spill over. “You picked Dolly and her cowboy. And you put my yogurt in a bouillon cup. I don’t even know what to say.”
“I don’t know what a bouillon cup is, but I’m glad you like it.” I settle on the edge of her bed. “But you gotta tell me about the salt and pepper shakers. Because I’m willing to put money on the fact that you stole them from Dolly’s.”
Twenty-Eight
Scarlett
I’min complete shock that a man who is rumored to be as brutal as Gabriel Legend would put my yogurt in abouillon cupand spend time picking out my salt and pepper shakers. That’s on top of the awe and wonder caused by him cooking me breakfast himself.
He’s full of surprises in the absolute best way possible, and I am in serious danger. My heart can’t take many more gestures like this without me falling harder and faster.
Even though he said he was going to show me, I wasn’t counting on it. Not this much, this soon. It hurt a hell of a lot to put myself out there and get rejected. Buthe used a bouillon cup.
Deep breath.Don’t read into it. It’s fine.
But I’m certain of one thing—Gabriel wanted this breakfast to look pretty for me, and it means a lot. More than he’ll ever know.
“You pleading the fifth?”
His question yanks my mind back to where it needs to be. The salt and pepper shakers.
“I didn’t steal them.”
