“You’re going to burn the pancakes.” Rico pushes me out of the way and rescues the pan from the stove before the smokegets enough to piss off the detector, and by extension, the whole house.
It’s too early on a Sunday morning after a game for me to rouse the whole house. They’d setmeon fire if I woke them up, even if most of them would probably sleep through the fucking thing.
“You were in a world of your own there.” Rico's a freshman, quiet, hardworking, grinder, who patrols the blue line like he’s defending his fucking grandmother. The guy’s no Artemis, but when he hits, you feel it.
Ask me how I know.
“You okay?”
I nod at him, but my silence makes him narrow his eyes. “Are you, though?”
He’s not someone I know very well, so I’m not just going to unload on him in the kitchen over a smoking pan of death-cakes, but the genuineness on his face tells me I could.
“Is it girl trouble? She’s... feisty.”
I chuckle. He’s not wrong. And I kinda love that she’s scared the shit out of my teammates with her attitude. They all heard about the donuts, and even if they hadn’t, they’d have seen her handiwork on my fucking car.
“Just trying to figure out how to not fuck it up.” Being straight is the only way to go. He doesn’t need the history, but if I don’t give him something he’ll probably just hang around and stare at me until I cave.
“Can’t help you there.” He pats my shoulder. “All I do is fuck it up.” He gives me a sad smile that tells me he’s had his heart broken, and the look in his eye tells me he has no idea what he did to fuck it up, only that he thinks there’s no way back from it.
“But I can make sure you don’t wake the whole house. And I can make pancakes without them beingcharred, so sit down and let me make your girl breakfast. Girls love guys who can cook.”
I arch a brow at him. If he’s thinking of moving in on my girl, I’ll knock that thought right out of his mind with a frying pan to the head.
“Down boy.” Like he’s read my thoughts, he puts his hands up. “I meant I’d teach you how not to cremate your food so she actually enjoys it. Not that I’ll steal your girl by feeding her yummy food.”
The lion in my chest simmers from ready-to-pounce to lying back down in a heap, but he keeps an eye cracked in case Rico says anything else that might stir him up again.
He shakes his head like he knows the feral beast inside me is jonesing for a fight. “Pass me the chocolate chips please.”
A few short minutes later, I have a stack of pancakes fit for my queen. If I’d done this myself it would have taken another hour, and they’d have an acrid scent wafting from their black and crispy edges.
I’m going to have to take Rico up on teaching me how not to poison my girlfriend with breakfast. Sounds like a good plan for future Tate. Right now, I have a queen to present my offering to.
With any luck, she’ll let me give her an orgasm when she’s done masticating.
She’s sitting up in bed when I get into my room. Her long honey-gold hair is tousled and wild around her face, and she’s scrolling on her phone. “You cooked for me?”
I want to take credit. But if I do, she’ll expect me to cook more often, and when Rico has to be around for the entirety of our relationship, she’s going to have questions.
“Rico did. He was doing his community service—saving the team from an early morning evacuation. My pancakes were not going well.”
She eyes the stack on the plate. “They look amazing.”
She’s not wrong. He put sliced strawberries, whipped cream, and chocolate drizzle on top of the pancake stack, and my mouth is watering at how good they look and smell.
She’s already plucking the fork out of my hand and carving out a bite before I hand her the plate. When her eyes flicker closed and her satisfied moan falls from her mouth, my cock wakes up.
“Good morning to you, too.” I can’t help smiling at her. She brings it out of me. No matter how bleak and hopeless things might have seemed in the past few weeks, my She Devil can always find a way to bring a smile to my broken face. Right now, it’s the simple enjoyment of a mouthful of fluffy, chocolate chip pancakes that look as though they have so much air in them they could float.
“These are amazing.” She points to the plate. “We need to keep Rico sweet so we can convince him to make some of these for you in a few weeks. You need to try them.”
I plonk on the bed, sitting facing her.
“You’re just going to watch me eat?”
I nod, but her eyes narrow.
