“Logan,” I called afterhim.
He turned and looked back atme.
“One of these days you’re going to wake me too early and I can’t be liable for what happens to you,” I told him, one hand on my hip. My hair was in a top knot and I was wearing tight sleep pants and a thin thermal shirt with no bra. Not exactly a Victoria Secret model, but when I made that threat, heat flared in Logan’s eyes, and he looked my body up anddown.
“I’ll take my chances.” He winked and left theroom.
I exhaled loudly, trying to ignore the pulse of passion that started up every time I was in the room with that man. I needed a coldshower.
I made it downstairs in record time. Seven minutes and I was brushed, showered, and shaved. I had never been one of those high-maintenance girls. Just some mascara and lip gloss and I was good togo.
Sophie was making the coffee and I jumped right in to help. Opening the fridge and freezer at the same time, I took stock of the ingredients. Eggs, bacon, hash browns. Boring. I didn’t watch six thousand hours ofChoppedandIron Chefto serve basic breakfast on my first day as the pack’s newchef.
“You got breakfast?” Sophie asked. She was all done up with full make up and a push up bra under her sports bra, making the girls extraperky.
I nodded. “I gotthis.”
She looked unsure but then shrugged. “Alright, I’ll go for my run,then.”
Logan and Keegan were sitting on barstools drinking coffee and discussing the new hires, while Gear, Cooper and Nadine made their way into the livingroom.
“You need help?” Nadine offered, lookingsleepy.
I smiled. “Sure. You can be my sous-chef.”
“Huh?” She lookedconfused.
I just chuckled and handled her the bacon. “Start cutting these in half. I want smallstrips.”
She shrugged. “I can do that. But fair warning, don’t let me near thestove.”
“Got it.” Iwinked.
I pulled the hash browns out and started them browning while I heated two other pans for my eggs and bacon. Then I went to the spice cabinet and was relieved to see a pretty good stock. I pulled the cayenne pepper and salt, then got a small pan going for my sauce. After separating the yolks and squeezing some lemon juice into the pot, I added the salt and cayenne pepper and I had the makings of some fine hollandaisesauce.
Nadine looked at me. “Okay, they’resmall.”
I quickly made a woven hatch pattern with the small bacon strips while the sauce simmered, then put the woven bacon squares into the hot frying pan. The moment it hit the griddle, Logan and Keegan startedmoaning.
“That smells amazing,” Keegan said,standing.
“Is that hollandaise?” Logan asked in shock, peering over the counter and into mypot.
I nodded. I didn’t like talking much when I was in the kitchen. It messed with my Zen. Cooking was therapy for me. My mom and I would cook everything from scratch sometimes, making an entire two-hour meal without saying more than a few words. We just worked intuitively around each other like oldfriends.
My heart pinched at the memory as I dropped my eggs onto the frying pan and began using a glass to cut perfect circles of the hash browns. They were going to have to be in place of my English muffin since we didn’t haveany.
I instructed Nadine to line up the plates and then started an assembly line, laying two circles of hash browns on each plate, a sunny-side up egg on each hash brown, a woven bacon square, and then a drizzle of hollandaise over everything. By the time I was done, I looked up to find the entire pack staring at the food, drooling. Even Sophie, who was back from her run, lookedimpressed.
“Bon appétit,” I told everyone, and then they all pushed forward to grab aplate.
The second the moans started, I couldn’t help but smile. I had cooked for my mom, a few friends from college, and an ex-boyfriend, but never a big group likethis.
“You’re so fired,” Keegan told Sophie with a mouthful offood.
Sophie gave him the middle finger, but her half smile made itlighthearted.
Dom had come in from his watch station outside and grabbed a plate, mumbling his thanks to me. I saw at least six guns peeking out of his jeans and boots and strapped behind his shoulders. This man was seriouslypacking.
