Crook elbowed him.“Brick always looks like that.”
“Fair point.”
Tessa laughed, shaking her head.The two of them were harmless in a goofy, older-brother sort of way.It felt normal talking to them.Hell, easy, even.Maybe too easy, because she didn’t notice the sound of heavy bootsteps behind her until both men abruptly straightened like soldiers who’d just spotted a superior officer.
She didn’t have to turn around to know who it was.Tessa felt him.Brick.
His stare hit her back first.It was hot, sharp, and unmistakably possessive.Then the scent of soap and clean cotton and something darker rolled across the room.The kind of scent that made her stomach flutter.
Trigger cleared his throat.“Uh, thanks for breakfast, Tessa.”
“Yeah, real good, thank you!”Crook added, already backing up.
Neither man even took a plate.They practically fled.
Tessa blinked, watching them disappear out the side door.“Was it something I said?”
“No,” Brick rumbled behind her.
She turned.He filled the doorway, broad shoulders blocking the light, black long-sleeved shirt stretched across a chest that had no business being that wide.His hair was still damp from a shower.A cold shower, if she had to guess, but the ends curled slightly at the tips.
His eyes weren’t cold this morning.They were heated and locked on her.Oh.Right.The possessive thing.Tessa wasn’t sure if she ought to be pleased or irritated.She never encountered a man who was as intense as Brick.
She tried not to smile.“Good morning.”
Brick gave a noncommittal grunt.The man communicated exclusively in glowers and low rumbling sounds, but she was getting better at interpreting them.
This one meant something like, ‘you’re cooking for other men and I don’t like it but I’m pretending I’m fine.’It was kind of sweet actually.
“You hungry?”she asked lightly.
Another grunt, but he moved toward her, dropping into a chair at the small table off to the side.His presence filled the entire kitchen.
Tessa finished plating the food.Eggs, bacon, toast, and a bit of fruit because Brick looked like someone who probably forgot fruit existed, and set the plate in front of him.
Brick stared at it, then at her.“You didn’t have to do this,” he told her.
“I know,” she said softly, sitting across from him.“But I wanted to.”
His jaw tightened like he didn’t know what to do with that.
He shoveled a bite of eggs into his mouth, and Tessa would swear on a stack of case files that his eyelids fluttered just a little.
“You like it,” she teased.
Brick didn’t look at her.“It’s fine.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
His gaze flicked up, sharp.“What?”
“You almost smiled,” she said, leaning her chin into her hand.
Brick froze.She’d caught him.A faint flush.It was barely noticeable, but there, and it bloomed over his cheekbones.
“I don’t smile,” he muttered.
“Everyone smiles,” Tessa said.
