Page 49 of A Perfect Target

“I wouldn’t mind a couple of slices.”

She got the bread out and loaded the four-slice toaster, but didn’t set it to toast yet. Oh, he could get used to this…starting his mornings with the woman he loved cooking breakfast for him.

He sat up straighter in his chair at this thought. But of course, he didn’t love Suzanna. He refused to love her. He didn’t intend to love any woman for the rest of his life.

He reminded himself of Rachel’s betrayal and utter abandonment. He hadn’t even known she was unhappy until the day she told him she’d been having an affair and was leaving him and Sammy. He’d made the mistake of loving and trusting in a woman before with heartbreaking consequences. One bite of the apple had been more than enough for him and his son.

He continued to watch her as she cut up the pepper and onion and then removed the crispy bacon from the skillet. “There’s a grease can underneath the sink,” he said.

She got the can out and emptied the bacon grease from the skillet into it. As she began to whisk the eggs in a bowl, he looked out the window.

It was going to be another beautiful, cloudless day, but he already knew from taking Lady out earlier that it was cold out. He’d heard the weatherman hint at the possibility of a white Thanksgiving.

In the next couple of days they were going to have to go grocery shopping so he could buy all the items for a Thanksgiving meal. He was hoping they could accomplish that with nobody harming Suzanna.

He’d be on guard when they went out, but surely the person after Suzanna wouldn’t make a move on her while they were in public.

“You’ve grown awfully quiet,” she said as she poured the egg mixture into the skillet. She turned to face him, her expression somber. “Have you grown tired of my company yet?”

Her question surprised him. “No, not at all.”

“Are you lying to me?”

He laughed. “No, and trust me, Suzanna, I will tell you if I get tired of your company. Actually, what I was thinking about was grocery shopping before Thursday.”

She returned her attention to the egg mixture and added the peppers, onions and cheese. “Have you decided when would be a good time?” She pushed the bread down in the toaster.

“I know I don’t want to go tomorrow. Sundays the store is usually pretty busy even without a major holiday coming up. I imagine tomorrow it will be packed. I’d go today, but I don’t know when Sammy will be brought home. I think we’ll go Monday. How does that sound to you?”

“A little nerve-racking, but okay.” Once again, she turned to the cooking eggs. She slid the large omelet out of the pan and onto an awaiting plate.

“I don’t think anyone will be foolish enough to come after you out in public. There would be too many witnesses. Besides, there’s no need to worry, you’ll have your favorite bodyguard on duty by your side.”

She flashed him one of the smiles that melted something deep inside him. “Just so you know, you are my favorite bodyguard.”

“Ha, an easy decision on your part since I’m your only bodyguard,” he replied with a laugh.

Within minutes she had breakfast on the table. Their conversation remained light and easy as they ate. She talked about her work and the students. He laughed more than once as she shared, without using names, some of the antics of the children.

In turn, he told her funny stories about when he’d first started out as a young farmer. “I was ten or eleven when I told my father I wanted to be a farmer. He begged me to go into some other line of work. He told me farming was a hard life, and it was either feast or famine. But I was determined to follow in my father’s footsteps and farm.”

“And you love it.”

“I do,” he agreed. “I love the smell of the earth after a rainfall and watching crops grow. I love the feel of the dirt in my hands as I plant the vegetables in my garden. I’m definitely a simple man of the land.”

She smiled at him. “I have a feeling there’s nothing simple about you at all, Seth. I know you to be highly intelligent and a deep thinker.”

“Good, then my charade is working,” he replied, making her laugh.

He liked making her laugh. He liked seeing her relaxed and happy. This was the way she should be all the time, instead of having fear darkening her eyes and tightening all her features.

Damn the person who was after her. Damn the person who had put that deep fear into the depths of her eyes. He hoped like hell Dallas would figure out who the person was and get him behind bars where he belonged.

They finished eating and he helped clean up the kitchen, and then they moved into the living room. Seth turned on the local news while she worked on lesson plans in a notebook.

There was something so normal about them being in the same room. Even though they weren’t interacting with each other at the moment, he liked her presence. He liked that he could smell her perfume eddying in the air. They didn’t even have to talk for there to be a warm comradery and connection between them.

After the news, he turned on a show on farm futures to check the prices of different crops. When the show was over, she had apparently finished up with her lesson plans.