The timing happened to line up perfectly.
Forty-five minutes later, I walked from my kitchen when I heard a knock. She’d always been a punctual little shit, I’d give her that. When I opened the door, I stepped aside to let Morgan in, and as soon as she crossed over the threshold, she paused, and her brow knitted suspiciously.
I shut the door, fighting back a chuckle when I heard her sniff the air.
She turned to look at me with an inscrutable expression. “Are you…are youcooking?”
“Yes,” I answered matter-of-factly.
She poked her tongue against her cheek, still staring at me. “Why?”
“Because we’re celebrating.”
Her brows slightly rose in surprise, and she cleared her throat. I knew exactly what she was thinking. “Celebratingwhatexactly?”
I rolled my eyes. “Not Valentine’s Day. You can breathe.”
She let out a breath of relief mixed with a laugh, waving her finger at me. “You had me for a second.” She glanced around. “So…what are we celebrating then?”
I smirked. “It’s been one year since we made our deal.”
Her brow furrowed again. “Did you just happen to have that marked down on your calendar?”
“What, you’re telling me you don’t remember when we made it?”
“No…I don’t.”
“Well, the only reasonIremember is because it was Valentine’s Day, and Ihatethis fucking holiday. Actually…” I rested my hands on my hips and tilted my head in thought. “Now that I think about it…it’s rather fitting.”
She momentarily hesitated, almost as if she were afraid to ask. “What’s fitting?”
“Thatyoushowed up at my door that night, on the one day of the year that Ihatemore than any other, and we made a deal tohate-fuckwhen we needed and wanted. I never actually thought about the irony of it until just now…”
“Is there a point to all of this?” she scoffed.
I waved her off. “Needless to say…it’s been a year. So, I figured that our single asses could hate this stupid holiday together but celebrate the deal.”
“Celebrate…”
She seemed hesitant, which was fair. We’d never done this before—we didn’t spend a lot of time dawdling before or after sex. We got what we needed, and we were on our way. And perhaps it came off as more out of the ordinary than it already was because of what day it happened to be.
“Yeah. I mean…I think we’ve come a long way in that time. You have to agree that we don’t hate each other now. Not really. It’s more like…mostly tolerate with some great sex thrown in.”
“Oh, wow,” she said in a breathy voice. “Is this what it’s like to be swept off your feet?”
I snorted. “Shut up.”
“And to think I didn’t even bring you a gift,” she quipped as she shrugged off her jacket.
“Your presence is a present, Princess…or some bullshit like that.”
Morgan rolled her eyes, but I swore I saw a hint of a smile before it vanished. She turned toward the kitchen and sniffed again. “So, what takeout did you buy to pretend you cooked?”
“None, smartass.” I walked into the kitchen. “I cooked it myself.”
She cast a disbelieving look in my direction. “You cook…?”
“Don’t look so surprised.”
