“Fine,” I grumble, but I watch him the whole way there like I’m afraid he’ll disappear if I blink.
He plates the food a minute later and sets it in front of me—eggs, bacon, toast, and a second cup of coffee. I raise an eyebrow.
“You cook for all your hookups?”
He rolls his eyes and slides onto the stool next to me. “No. You’re the first one I haven’t ghosted.”
I try not to let that go straight to my chest, but it does anyway.
“Pretty sure this means you’re stuck with me now,” I say.
He gives me a crooked smile and leans in, brushing his shoulder against mine. “Guess I’ll have to suffer through it.”
We eat side by side, shoulders touching, knees bumping, coffee warming our hands, and something softer warming everything else. He makes fun of my choice incereal in my cupboards. I tell him his eggs are overcooked. He flips me off and feeds me a piece of toast in the same breath.
“Okay, I’ll give you this,” I say, licking a smear of jam from my thumb. “Your toast game is solid.”
Todd hums smugly and steals a slice of bacon off my plate. “Damn right it is. You think I survive on raw athleticism and good looks alone?”
I give him a look. “Youdo notget to call yourself good-looking andstealmy bacon in the same breath.”
“You let me steal your heart last night,” he murmurs, barely above a whisper.
It shuts me up instantly. My chest squeezes, breath caught somewhere between startled and stupidly happy. I cover it with a smirk. “Bold of you to assume you didn’t handyoursover first.”
He rolls his eyes, but he’s grinning. “You’re awful.”
“Uh-huh.” I reach across and drag his plate toward me. “I’m also taking this egg as payment for emotional whiplash.”
“You would.”
“I just did.”
We eat the last bites in easy silence, that quiet kind of comfortable where nothing has to be said but everything feels said anyway. Then I glance at the clock and groan. 9 a.m.
“Shit. It’s Monday. We have class.”
Todd sighs like I just told him the Easter Bunny isn’t real. “Ugh. Right. What’s first for you?”
“Lit Theory. You?”
“Chem Lab. With Daniel, unfortunately.”
I shoot him a look. “You and Daniel in a lab with open flames? That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.”
“He flirts with the professor and leaves me to do the work,” Todd says. “I am the victim.”
“Sounds about right.”
I grab our empty plates and bring them to the sink, rinsing them off before glancing back over my shoulder. “We should shower before we go. Can’t have the whole campus sniffing out our very obvious sex haze.”
He leans against the counter, arms crossed, smirk lazy and a little smug. “I’d rather smell likeyouall day. Like a reminder.”
My breath catches for a beat, and it takes everything I have not to walk over and kiss him against the cabinets again. Still, I manage a shaky laugh. “Tempting. But if Daniel gets one whiff of you, he’ll know. Might even make a team chat about it. Probably not the best idea—even if the possessive side of mereallyloves it.”
Todd raises a brow, all mock innocence. “So, you’re clingyandpossessive?”
“Oh, absolutely,” I say, closing the distance between us.
