She turned just in time to see him pull a black T-shirt over his head. Damn. He grimaced as he pushed himself to his feet, then reached for a crutch standing against the wall.
“Why didn’t you use that last night?” Penny asked.
“It’s always worse in the morning. By mid-afternoon I can usually put pressure on it.”
Penny nodded. Most patients were highly motivated to stop using a crutch when their armpits got chafed and sore. “You really don’t have to do this.”
Brett set his crutch against the counter and reached into the fridge. He pulled out a carton of eggs and a container of spinach. “I made Tyler shakes all the time. I always have extra.”
Penny made a face. “You use eggs in your shake?”
Brett laughed. “No, those are separate.”
She sat on the stool, twisting her key ring and trying not to think about what Brett would think when he turned around and saw her swollen face. “You like protein.”
Brett turned and set the eggs on the counter. The fridge door closed behind him as he met her eyes. Something flickered in his expression before one side of his mouth pulled into a grin. “Gotta fuel all of this somehow.”
Penny smiled and rolled her eyes. “So tell me about yourself, Brett.” She folded her arms and leaned over the counter.
“You already know everything there is to know.”
Penny snorted. “All I know is that you play hockey, you're friends with Kelty and Sean, and you tore your ACL.”
“Exactly. That's me in a nutshell.”
Penny ignored the comment. If he was avoiding talking about himself, she was too adept at hiding her own personal details to let someone else get away with it. “Does your family live close?”
“My parents have a house in the Northeast, and they travel overseas quite a bit. My mom's a business consultant. She started a company fifteen years ago and has been really successful. Now she gets hired by corporations to troubleshoot their operations.”
It took Penny a moment to respond to that. It wasn’t often she heard about women in positions of power like that. “And your dad?”
“He quit his job about two years into that business and has worked for her ever since.” Brett turned to pull a banana from the counter and grinned at the expression on her face. “I know. I'm intimidated too.”
Penny breathed a laugh. “That's amazing.”
“They're incredible people.” Brett peeled the banana and threw it in the blender along with a handful of spinach and two scoops of protein powder from the container on the counter.
“Siblings?” Penny asked.
“One. My sister. She's getting her master's in psychology at U of A.”
Penny exhaled. “So what are you, a rocket scientist?”
Brett laughed out loud. “Alas, I’m but a lowly contractor.”
Her cheeks warmed, and she was grateful for the sound of crunching ice from the dispenser, then the whir of the blender motor when Brett turned it on. This wasn’t fair. Brett was funny and attractive and in the same house as her while she was supposed to be standing solidly on her own two feet for the first time in her life? It was like this was some kind of cosmic joke.You think you want to be single for once? Well how about now . . .
Brett turned off the blender, and Penny cleared her throat. “What kind of contractor are you?”
“Commercial builds. Apartment complexes, hotels, office spaces. It varies by project.” He poured the shake into two cups and handed her one.
“Do you have a straw?” she asked. He raised an eyebrow as if to say,Oh, you’re a princess?Penny scoffed. “What? I have sensitive teeth!”
Brett turned and reached into a drawer behind him, then handed her a stainless steel straw. “Sorry, that's probably going to hurt your teeth, too. I don't have any plastic ones.”
Penny waved him off. She wouldn’t complain about him trying to save the environment. “This will be perfect. Thank you so much for breakfast.”
Brett opened the carton of eggs. “Scrambled or over easy?”
