I pull myself up, pushing my hair out of my face. "Oh my God, I fell asleep."
Brett squints one eye. "On the kitchen floor?"
"Take a seat and you’ll see why.” I tap the tiles next to me.
He huffs a soft chuckle, looks around as if I’m playing a joke on him, and slides down against the pantry door.
"Ah, radiant heat," he says.
"It’s my favorite part about this house.”
"I could see by the smile on your sleeping face, which was the only reason I didn’t worry you had fallen and passed out cold on the kitchen floor."
"I used to lay here in the mornings, spread eagle, getting in everyone’s way. It was my thing," I tell him.
"To be a pain in the butt?" he asks, laughing.
“Well, it is what the youngest is meant to do. I had a role to fill."
"I suppose I had my moments as the youngest child, too," he says. "Just not in the middle of the kitchen floor."
"You must not have beenas exciting of a child as I was," I joke.
"I can’t argue," he says with a smirk. "If you want to stay warm, I can take care of the truck. I need the keys."
"Don’t you need two people to jump a car?" I ask him, thinking back to the couple of times Ace’s car died and he would need me to hold the cables still while he tried the engine.
"I can handle it," he says. "Stay warm."
I reach into my pocket for the keys and hand them over. "Thank you.”
Before standing up, he leans over and places a kiss on my cheek. "Anything for you."
He walks out of the kitchen and I toss my head back against the pantry door, feeling the need to catch my breath. I haven’t moved a muscle, but I feel like I ran a marathon.
Since he’s outside, freezing, I figure it might be nice to whip up a couple of hot cocoas to warm him up after.
I can’t help myself when I peek out the front window, holding the two empty mugs in my hands. Brett is placing the cables under the hood of the truck as thick fog pours out of his mouth. His cheeks are red, but I swear he’s smiling out there.
And here I am, smiling—in the house that felt so empty an hour ago.
I heat some milk in the teapot and hear an engine roar to life at the same moment the teapot whistles.Thank goodness.I pour the milk into the mugs, followed by the cocoa powder, and grab two thin stirring spoons from the drawer.
"All set," Brett says as he walks back into the kitchen. "I think the battery got too cold last night. It might be time for a new one, but I can help you out, so you don’t have to go pay an arm and a leg at the mechanic."
"You’re an awfully sweet guy, you know?" I hand over the mug of hot cocoa.
"Not to everyone," he says, looking down into the hot liquid. "Thank you for this."
"I’m not buying it. You seem to be the guy who is always there for everyone."
"Only for the people I like," he says, lifting his mug up to his face to hide his coy smile.
I follow his lead and take a sip of my hot cocoa too. "Well, I only make hot drinks for people I like.” I’m almost positive my cheeks are burning red.
He shakes his head with a dismissive smile. "Were you planning to spend the day at the shop?"
"I was, yes."
