He flipped the pancakes easily, not even setting his coffee mug down. He was a pro.
Meanwhile, she was overheating at his nearness.
"Maybe I'm tired of women who are all style and no substance," Valentin said.
The words surprised her so much, she looked up into Valentin’s face.
One of her brothers, she couldn't tell which, snorted softly. But she couldn't tear her gaze from Valentin's as he looked down at her.
"Maybe I'm looking for someone more like your sister."
At that, her brothers fell silent.
He didn't mean it, of course. Or he did, the part about wanting someonelikeCrystal. Not Crystal specifically.
Telling herself that enabled her to finally break the stare.
She poured her eggs into the skillet, where they sizzled. "I'll remember that when I'm choosing your candidate for date number three. 'Someone like me.'"
Valentin smirked, but there was something behind his eyes that she couldn't make out.
He flipped the first four pancakes onto her brother's plates, splitting them equally.
"Good plan," she said as he poured more batter onto the griddle. "Sometimes feeding them distracts the grizzly bears from their playthings."
He laughed, then turned to ask her brothers what they were studying and how their classes were and when they'd graduate. Not soon enough.
She needed to match Valentin or she wouldn’t have the money to pay their next semester’s tuition.
"And what about your parents?" he asked, including her in the question as he leaned back in the corner where her counter made a V. He now had a plate full of pancakes and eggs in hand and had abandoned his coffee mug to the counter beside him. "I'm realizing I've been remiss in knowing the things a friend should know."
"Dad died right after Reid was born," she said. "And Mom passed three years ago."
"Crystal's been our mom in every way that counts," Michael offered. "Our mom worked a lot, so Crystal was always the one fixing dinners and tucking us into bed and helping us with our homework."
"Doing our homework for us," Reid said.
She rolled her eyes. That'd been one time.
"She makes a mean pot of spaghetti and meatballs." Michael let his fork clank onto his plate, a satisfied sigh escaping him as he sat back and rubbed his stomach. "We had it almost every night for supper."
"Can't get her to do our laundry, though," Reid pouted. "Not since I turned ten."
She stuck her tongue out at him. And then caught herself, stealing a glance at Valentin. He was watching her with a bemused expression.
"So she's bossed you two around your entire lives. And then she invented a career where she gets to boss other men around in the guise of finding them a woman?"
She gaped at him.
"When you put it that way..." Michael lifted a hand over his mouth as if he were considering it.
She tossed a crumpled paper towel at the prince. "What? How dare you! I feed you breakfast and this is the thanks I get?"
He didn't even have to dodge her ineffective missile. The paper towel fell harmlessly to the floor well short of him. "Bad aim," he said cheerfully, stuffing another bite of eggs in his mouth.
"Try the saltshaker," Reid offered.
"Or your pancake," said Michael.
