“Yeah, I do. Now take a bite,” he ordered.
She did. “Mmm. That’s good!”
“I took some online cooking classes when I left football,” he said. “Here, have some more.” He tucked another bite into her mouth, then took one himself.
“I’ve taken a lot of online cooking classes, too. I enjoyed it, and I learned a lot. But Brody, you really don’t have to wait on me like this.”
“Oh, but I do. Did you not know by now that I’m a service Top?”
“I know you’ve mentioned that before, but I suppose I’ve never really quite believed they existed. I just thought… I don’t know what I thought.”
“Well, we do exist. For me a really great kink dynamic is about serving each other’s needs—and that means it goes both ways. Power exchange, right? It should be a total energy exchange, in my mind. Or, that’s what works best for me, anyway.”
He held another bite of omelet to her lips, and this time she opened her mouth without being asked, then chewed thoughtfully.
“I have to say, I do like it. It just takes a little getting used to. I’ve always been the one to serve, in every capacity. And I’ve never been with a man who can cook, other than outside on the grill.”
“Oh, I can cook, and more than eggs. My newest thing is a Moroccan tagine. I ordered the perfect clay pot just for that, and it’s so damn good. And I finally convinced my mother to give me her famous lasagna recipe.”
“You haven’t talked much about your family,” she said, “other than mentioning you were close with them, that one nightwe talked by the firepit at Micah and Arrow’s place. You have one sister, if I remember correctly?”
“We’re all pretty close. And yeah, my sister Kylie is older by two years. She’s married to a really good guy, Parker, and my niece is about to turn three. Olivia is as sassy as her mother is—they have their hands full with that little girl, but she’s a lot of fun. They live not far from my parents, so they see each other all the time. And now that I’m no longer playing ball, I see them a lot, too. I have four aunts on my mom’s side, so there are a lot of cousins. Micah’s dad is my father’s only brother, but Mom’s side definitely made up for it.”
“That’s a good sized family.”
“Not huge, but I guess there are plenty of us, and we love each other a lot. I know your family experience hasn’t been the best.”
“It hasn’t, no. I’d always dreamed of having siblings. Maybe my life would have been a little less lonely if I had.”
Brody put the plate down and took her hand. “You’re not alone anymore, though.”
She looked up at him, and his gaze was steady on hers. What was he trying to tell her? Not that he was going to be a permanent fixture she could count on. No, surely not. That would be unrealistic.
“Yes, I’ve created a whole chosen family here at the Ranch. And I have Micah, and now Arrow, who feels like a big brother to me. So, I suppose I do have family now.”
He looked as if he was going to say something, then he picked up the plate again. “Yeah, you sure do,” he said before spearing another bite of omelet and offering it to her.
She took it, chewed, then swallowed without really tasting it. Had she insulted him? She hadn’t meant it as a rejection. Or maybe she was reading far too much into the whole exchange. Yes, that had to be it.
But after cleaning up the dinner dishes, she wasn’t so certain. She was just as uncertain about how she would handle it when his time at the Ranch was over, and he was gone. In these few weeks she’d become so used to his presence, whether they were having sex, or simply talking. He made her laugh a lot, and it wasn’t as if her friends didn’t make her laugh all the time, but it was so different with him. She would miss him when he went back home.
Don’t think about it now.
She was usually pretty good at compartmentalizing. Why was it proving to be so difficult when it came to him? Not only difficult, but impossible. And that was very dangerous territory.
Anxiety rippled through her, making her stomach go tight and her limbs weak.
This was not good. And it was only going to get worse. She had to face reality. Because this wonderful thing between them was temporary,couldonly be temporary. And what would happen to her after it was over?
She couldn’t stand to even consider it.
“You know, I should probably go home for a bit,” she said, trying not to reveal the panic coursing through her. “To get a change of clothes, and… you know. Take care of a few things.”
“Sure,” he said from where he was drying his hands on a dishtowel by the sink. “You’re right next door, so easy enough.”
“And… maybe I’ll sleep at home tonight.”
“Okay.” He set the dishtowel down and sat at the table next to her. “You don’t have to live in my t-shirts, certainly. But is something else going on? Because we haven’t spent a night apart in weeks.”
