The good news was that Xavier had finally opened the envelope. He didn't say so directly—he rarely spoke more thantwenty words to me a day—but it was clear he had because Violet now had a name. It was progress for him, but I didn't comment on it or anything other than how he was coming along with changing diapers, making bottles, and burping babies.
"So, Violet, what do you think about soup for lunch today?" I laughed to myself when she babbled an incoherent answer. "I know soup is pretty much permanently on the menu these days, but I'm in the mood for something new. I just hope your daddy doesn't mind." And if he did mind, well, he could make his own lunch and dinner.
Feeling inspired, I decided to make some flatbread to go with the Indian stew I felt like making. My phone buzzed on the countertop, and I glanced over and froze. I'd deleted the number from my phone, but there was only one person with a seven-eight-six area code who would be calling me.Jason.My ex.
I ignored the call and went back to rolling out the dough for the flatbread, hoping that would make him go away. Eight messages later, it seemed to have worked.
"Ba-ma-ba-ba-wa!"
I turned with a smile. "You're right, I should let the flatbreads rise for a few minutes before I pop them in the oven. And sure, I'll feed you first." I swore she smiled at me as if she understood. "Let's start with this." I tried a smashed-up banana and mashed sweet potatoes, and she ate enough for me to feel confident she was older than I originally thought.
I added the foods to my notes on what she liked and didn't like so that I could pass them on to Xavier at some point. Maybe I would just email it to him; that would probably be for the best.
The man had an annoying habit of being both infuriating and gorgeous, which confused me, or rather, my body. I both wanted him and wanted to be as far away from him as possible, which just left me a mixed-up, hormonal mess.
I put the bread in the oven before settling Violet down for her afternoon nap, and Xavier stomped in just as my feet hit the bottom of the stairs. I stared at the beautiful sight he made as he shrugged out of his thick, wool-lined flannel jacket to reveal a dark gray thermal that hugged his biceps and pecs in the most delicious way. He tugged off his shoes, a move that drew attention to his thick thighs and slender waist.Damn, he's just perfect.
He looked up at me with a scowl on his face—of course—and I scowled in return. He was always scowling and always annoyed, and I wasn't sure if it was the unknown situation with Violet or if it was me, but I decided that I didn't care.
I popped my earbuds in and started a new audiobook while I finished making lunch. The old Rosalee, the one who bent over backward to make sure there was never any tension, who made sure everybody was happy except her, was gone. These days my focus was on me and my happiness first. Well, after Violet's, of course, because she was a baby and my charge, and she was so stinkin' sweet.
I checked the oven and reset the timer, folding a load of laundry while my stomach protested its hunger loudly. At least I thought it was loudly, because that's how it felt while I listened to the unfolding story of best friends who realized they wanted to be more. I was aware of Xavier moving throughout the cabin, and I worked hard to ignore him, which was easy when I escaped upstairs to put away Violet's laundry as well as my own.
She was still sleeping peacefully, so I hooked the monitor onto my back pocket and went back to the kitchen. The flatbreads made me smile. "Perfect!" I set them on a cooling rack and went to grab a drink from the fridge. When I turned, Xavier was there, literallyright therebehind me, and then in front of me. "Oh! You scared me."
His hand went to my mouth, a scowl on his face—still—and then he shushed me. Shushed. Me. I did something I hadn't done since I was a kid. I licked his palm. He withdrew his hand quickly and frowned. "Did you just lick my hand?"
I shoved at his chest, but he didn't move, of course. "You scared me, covered my mouth, and then you shushed me."
"Violet is sleeping," he whisper-shouted.
"I know," I answered through clenched teeth. "I put her to sleep." But his nearness was getting to me, and the temperature in the room shot up by about ten million degrees.
His gray eyes were dark and stormy, swirling with emotions I couldn't read. His full lips were thick and lush and, goodness gracious, I wanted to kiss them.
Badly.
I stepped back and banged into the fridge with a groan, grabbing the back of my head. "Excuse me," I growled and slammed the bottle of water on the table harder than necessary before I ladled a bowl of stew for myself.
"What in the hell is this?" he roared, and the question echoed off the wood cabinets.
"The baby's sleeping," I said in a sing-song voice as I scooped up the first spoonful and groaned at the burst of flavors on my tongue. "And it's lentil stew," I answered before getting back to my audiobook. I jumped up to grab two flatbreads, mostly ignoring the perma-scowl on Xavier's face, before I returned to my seat with a satisfied smile.
This was perfect. A rich, hearty stew and a delicious romance book were the perfect way to spend an afternoon. The book was just starting to get good. The hero and heroine had kissed—twice—and now they were about to talk about it. In the back of his pickup truck underneath a big, bright moon.
"Are you listening to me?"
I blinked and looked up into—surprise, surprise—a scowling pair of gray eyes. "What?" I paused the book and returned his scowl, and then some.
"I was talking to you, and you didn't say a word."
I shrugged. "I didn't realize talking was something we did. I was listening to a book," I said and pointed to one of my earbuds. "What were you talking to me about, Xavier?"
He sighed, his nostrils flaring with annoyance and his jaw clenched, but when he spoke, his tone was neutral. Neutral for Xavier, anyway. "I opened the envelope and I read the papers inside."
I stared blankly, unsure if I was supposed to respond. "Okay."
There it was—that annoyed look.
