“Yeah?” His hands cupped my face, thumbs brushing my cheekbones. “What did you think?”
“I think you’re mine,” I said. “And I’m never taking off this jersey.”
His smile was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
CHAPTER 34
OWEN
The kitchen smelled like coffee.
I cracked another egg into the bowl, watching the yolk break against the whisk as Harlow moved around me. She reached past me for the pepper, her hip brushing against mine, and I caught myself smiling.
This was what I wanted. Every morning. Forever.
“You’re staring,” she said without looking up from the cutting board where she was massacring a bell pepper.
“I’m supervising. There’s a difference.”
“Supervising implies you know what you’re doing.” She gestured at the bowl in my hands. “You’ve been whisking those eggs for three minutes. They’re scrambled, not traumatized.”
“I like them fluffy.”
I set the bowl down and reached for the bacon, laying strips across the pan. The sizzle was loud, filling the kitchen with the delicious aroma of bacon.
We were moving around the kitchen like we didn’t have anywhere else in the world to be. Except we did. Class. Practice. Real life.
But right now, real life could wait.
“So,” Harlow said, popping a piece of bell pepper into her mouth, “about that fight last night.”
“What about it?”
“You broke his nose.”
“Allegedly.”
“I saw the blood.”
“Could’ve been a preexisting condition.” I adjusted the heat on the burner, watching the bacon curl at the edges. “Maybe he has a very fragile face. Not my fault.”
She snorted, moving past me to grab mugs from the cabinet, making my oversized t-shirt ride up, revealing a sliver of bare thigh, and my hands trembled to touch her. She was only wearing a T-shirt and panties. In my kitchen. Making breakfast with me like it was the most normal thing in the world.
I was the luckiest man alive.
“He deserved it,” I added, more seriously now. “What he said to you…”
“Was gross and inappropriate, yes.” She set the mugs down, finally looking at me. “But you didn’t have to go full caveman about it.”
“I absolutely did.”
“Owen.”
“Harlow.” I mimicked her tone exactly. “He talked to my girlfriend like she was a piece of meat. The only appropriate response was violence.”
She threw a piece of bell pepper at my head. I caught it mid-air and ate it, never breaking eye contact.
“Show off,” she muttered.
