He’d returned to the stove and was cracking eggs into a sizzling pan. “I planned three of them,” he said.
Of course he did.
“Because I knew what we were having for breakfast, but I don’t know what you’ll choose for lunch, and I know you’re a mood eater, so I wanted to make sure I have different options for dinner.”
“This looks like a lot of eating and pampering,” she said.
“Which is all anyone should ever do on their birthday,” Tarr said without missing a beat.
She looked back at the schedule, her eyes quickly spinning through it again. She did love to eat. And to get her toenails looking good again? She was all for that, because it had been far too long.
“This looks like the perfect day,” she said.
That caught Tarr’s attention. He stood at the stove, the spatula frozen above the pan, everything about him warm and wonderful and quiet and good.
“Yeah,” Briar said. “It’s pretty much all my favorite things, Tarr—bacon sandwiches, a pedicure, lunch out, time with my dog, a massage….”
Tarr expertly slid his spatula under the eggs in the pan and flipped them. “And time with your favorite person, right?”
“Oh, did I not mention that?” Briar teased, though she knew Tarr needed reassurance from her from time to time. Heck, probably more often than she gave it to him.
“No, I didn’t hear that part.” He grinned.
“Yes,” she said. “A perfect day includes time with my favorite person.”
“And that’s me, right?”
“Would you just let me finish a thought?”
Tarr glanced over at her, his expression open and vulnerable. “I’m sorry, honey.”
She moved into the kitchen with him. “Of course it’s you, Tarr. I haven’t spent my birthday with anyone in years, and I certainly wouldn’t do it now if I didn’t like you.” She met his eyes. “Reallylike you.”
“As much as Wiggins?”
She grinned and shook her head. “Don’t press your luck, cowboy. Wiggins is one of a kind.”
“Oh, boy, I know it,” he said.
She linked her arm through his, though he still needed the use of it to scramble the eggs. “Thank you, Tarr. This looks amazing in more ways than one.”
“Do you approve the schedule?” he asked.
“Does it matter if I don’t?”
“Of course,” he said. “I’m not going to make you do something on your birthday that you hate.”
“Well, I definitely don’t think there’s anything there that I hate,” she said. “I’ve never done a couple’s massage, and maybe I’m a little nervous about it, but….”
She drew breath, glad when Tarr gave her a moment to finish her thought. “It’s me and you, so what could possibly go wrong?”
He grinned at her. “Exactly. And don’t worry, sweetheart; I’m not expecting anything out of it. It will be dark and soothing, and I won’t peek at all.”
Briar didn’t think he would, but she still said, “That sounds great, Tarr.”
“Do your parents attempt to talk to you at all on your birthday?” he asked.
Briar shook her head. “They haven’t.”
