Page 65 of Heartbreak & Cupcakes
“You didn’t.” Technically, I hadn’t slept. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, my dad always said it was a good thing I’m hardheaded since I hit it all the time,” she chuckled.
I crossed the dimmed kitchen and when I reached her, I inhaled the sweet scent of strawberries. Yesterday, when I’d stepped behind her while she spoke to her dad on Facetime, her hair had smelled like smoke. Today it smelled like a fresh, summer day.
“Can I?” I asked as I lifted my hand.
Her wide eyes locked with mine as her chin dipped in a nod.
Every cell in my body was alive and on high alert as I lifted my hand and ran my touch over the back of her head. I didn’t feel any lumps. All I felt was soft, silky hair. My fingertips grazed her scalp and I watched as Sadie’s eyes fluttered shut. “Is this tender?”
“No,” she responded with a shaky breath.
I dropped my hand and took a step back before I did something stupid, like bend down and press my lips to hers. Her eyelids flew open at my sudden movement and the flush on her cheeks deepened.
We both stared at one another in silence. The energy between us crackled with such intensity I found myself at a loss of what to say or do.
Normal. I just needed to be normal with her. She’d been through a traumatic event and was staying in a stranger’s house. A strangeman’shouse.
“Is your room okay? Do you have everything you need?”
“Oh my gosh! Yes! More than I need! You didn’t have to...the doggy bed and the cat tree... and all of those beautiful clothes...and the patio…it’s bigger than my studio. It’s amazing. Thank you.”
“No, thank you.” I wasn’t sure what I was thanking her for. Yes, I was thanking her for agreeing to move in and help with Lexi, but it was more than that. For existing, maybe. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too.” Her eyes dipped and I realized I wasn’t wearing a shirt, just sweats.
As her eyes scanned my upper body, my chest rose and fell in shorter breaths. Her stare left a trail of tingles across my torso.
“You look…photoshopped,” she mumbled.
That was a new one. “Photoshopped?”
Her eyes widened to the size of half dollars and her hand flew up covering her mouth. Her words were muffled behind her palm as she asked, “Did I say that out loud?”
My cock twitched.Fuck me. Why was her being so damn adorable even more of a turn on?
“You did.”
She dropped her hand. “Sorry, it’s a line from my favorite movie,Crazy, Stupid, Love. Emma Stone says it about Ryan Gosling. I was thinking it, but I didn’t think I actually said it. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…looked. Or, I mean…you know…commented about it…about you…about your…”—she waved her hand in front of my chest and abs—“…your situation.”
I couldn’t help but grin at the direction this conversation had taken. I’d been so concerned about making her feel uncomfortable from my attention and it seemed the tables had turned. It was endearing.Shewas endearing.
“Mysituation?”
Her eyes shot up to mine. “You know what I mean.”
I did. She had quite the situation herself, but there was no way I was going to point that out. The Sadie Situation had taken on an entirely new meaning.
“So, um, when does Lexi wake up?” Sadie bent down and picked up the pan that had fallen when I’d scared her. When she stood back up, all I could think about doing was picking her up, setting her on the counter, and kissing her senseless.
What the fuck is wrong with me? This woman had just been through a trauma, she’d agreed to come live with me and the thoughts I was having were totally inappropriate in nature.
She held up the pan as if it was exhibit A. “I was going to make breakfast.”
“I wake her up at six and you don’t have to do that. I make her breakfast.”
She blinked up at me and I realized how harsh my response must have sounded. I was frustrated with myself, not her.
