I glare at him, and his stupid smirk grows in response.He enjoys my annoyance.Warren tilts his head back and forth, decidingsomething. “Fine.”
“Fine, what?”
He pulls a set of car keys out of his pocket and rattles them. “You’ll have to drop Luke and me off and pick us up, but you can have my car… today.”
Before I think, I’m crossing the kitchen and throwing my arms around his waist. I press the side of my head into his chest, opposite from Willow’s. “Thank you!”I really didn’t want to take the bus.
The cotton of his shirt is soft under my fingers, but nothing else about him is. The hard lines of his chest are all solid muscle and bone. He smells like the softest hint of fuel and rust—sort of like an old penny. Not something I’d normally find sexy, butdamnif it isn’t wafting straight from my nose into my pulse.
I’m suddenly aware of my breasts as they push into his side, pressing farther with each deep inhale I take of his intoxicating scent. I’ve been here for far too long.Move away, Chloe.I pause and lift my chin to see his face.
He looks down at me with a pained expression that makes me step back until my hands find the countertop behind me. “Sorry,” I mumble.
He frowns after clearing his throat. “Don’t be.”
“When, um, when do you get off?” I ask.
His eyes widen, and one side of his lip curls up.
“Off work! When do you get off work?” My cheeks heat.
“Four.”
I nod, take the keys from him and put them into the diaper bag. “I guess we have time for breakfast after all, Will.” I avoid eye contact with Warren like my life depends on it.
I reach for her as Warren speaks. “Yes. Duty calls.”
He makes us scrambled eggs and toast. Luke joins us at the table, and we all eat breakfast together, as we have since our negotiations last week. Whether Warren wants to admit it or not, I think Willow and I are both growing on him. He picked her up out of her bouncer chair last night, then read a book on the couch as she slept on his chest.
I hadn’t even asked, and it gave me a chance to catch up on work. Moments like that, and these breakfasts together, keep the loneliness at bay. I’m starting to dread the end of these five months.
“I’ll clean up.”Luke gathers all of our plates and heads to the kitchen.
Warren faces me. “So, I have a favour to ask.” I think about the car keys sitting in my diaper bag, perhaps not a kind gesture as much as a bribe.
“Yes?” I ask sceptically.
“It’s my birthday next weekend, and I was wondering if I could have a few people over on Saturday.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Bryce?”
Warren smirks. “Yes, he would be one of them.”
I sigh. “I mean, this is your house too. You can have people over. Let me know when to make myself scarce.”
“Oh, right.” Warren’s face falls. Was he going to ask me to hang out with him and his friends?Surely not.“Thanks.”Didn’t think so.Still, a twinge of disappointment rises up. I want to be invited, even if it’s out of pity.
Oh, wait, Saturday—I forgot. “I actually have someone coming over Saturday too. Sorry, I should have asked.”
“Nurse boy?” It’s better than last week’s nickname—Scrubs.
“Calvin, yes.” I stand to get Willow ready to leave.
“And, I mean, you’ll be hanging out upstairs…” he says this as if it is a question despite there not being one at all.
I nod, studying his expression that tells me nothing.
Warren purses his lips. “Cool.” He turns to grab his lunch from the kitchen, and my eyes follow him for a change as he putters around the kitchen. He reaches for the top cupboard where he keeps his snacks—full well knowing the rest of us can’t reach them. His shirt raises a little, and I catch a glimpse of his toned abdomen. My thighs squeeze together.
