Page 21 of Back To Our Beginning

I scowled. “Starving is more like it.” I turned and hustled toward my kitchen and had the box open by the time he got there. I was basking in the scent of meat and cheesy goodness. “What’s in the bag?”

He set the sodas on my counter and dumped out a plethora of Hostess products onto my counter. “The cherry pie is mine. I need my fruit after all this meat and cheese.”

“What did you do, rob the local Weigel’s?”

“Bite your tongue. I have better taste in gas station pastries. I purchased this at Pilot Flying J.”

I let out a laugh before I could stop myself. He helped himself to plates from my cupboard, and what was creepy was that he knew the exact right cupboard to look.

“You have forks, right? Or do you eat all your food like a feral racoon, with your fingers?”

“Hey, my car is better than a diner. Utensils are a luxury.”

His expression softened a little, but thank God, he didn’t give me any big brother or boyfriend type of hogwash. He just handed me a plate with two pieces of pizza and nudged me out of the kitchen toward the dining room. “Eat. You’ll feel better.”

I was too tired to argue. I pushed my satchel out of the way and sat down at the table. Beau came and set down silverware, root beer, and napkins. Then he took the chair across from me. His legs were so long, his feet touched mine.

My root beer was already open, so after I swallowed my first two bites of ambrosia, I took a long swallow and looked up to find Beau staring at me.

“What? Did I drip sauce on my chin?”

“Nope. Just watching you. Is that a crime?”

I shrugged and took a smaller bite and peered up at him under my lashes. He was looking at me as if I were some kind of puzzle. It was like we were on a date. It was too intimate. I needed to break the moment before I noticed how good his attention felt.

I pointed my slice at him.

“No deep thinking tonight. This is going to be one of the easy-breezy nights.”

“Why?”

I frowned. “There doesn’t have to be a reason for easy-breezy. They just are.”

“I would be down with that. I really would, but I see the dark circles under your eyes. Despite your Twinkie jokes, I see pain in your eyes.”

“You’re making that shit up,” I protested.

“And to top it off, one of your shirts and a bra are on your hallway floor.”

I damn near tipped over my chair to go see if he was right. When I got to the hallway, I realized he was. I vaguely remembered pulling off my clothes on the way to my bedroom, but how in the ever-loving fuck had I walked over them on the way to my front door?

I scooped the clothes up off the floor and threw them into my bedroom, then slammed the door shut.

When I got back to the table, Beau had a shit-eating grin on his face.

I shoved my fists on my hips and glared at him.

“Really? You’re going to laugh at me for that? I have one of the crappiest workdays of my life, and you’re going to laugh at me?”

His expression changed to one of compassion. “Sit down and tell me about it.”

I shook my head and sat down. I stared at my pizza.

“Come on, Maddie, eat. You know you want to.”

“Yeah.” I picked up my half-eaten slice and finished it off. I started to feel better.

“You want to tell me about it?”