The thought of the fire in her dark eyes, and the way her lips parted when he told her he couldn’t live without her set his heart pounding all over again.
She’s going through a lot, he reminded himself again.It’s enough that she’s helping me with the wedding. I can’t ask for more.
But he couldn’t deny that he wanted more.
Pulling up at the inn for the second day in a row, heparked, grabbed the drinks and the bakery box, and headed in.
“Oh, look at that,” Trudy said in a pleased way when she spotted him. “You brought Jenny and Gael some breakfast treats.”
“Isn’t that nice?” her husband Ward said, looking up from his paper.
“I actually brought them for you two,” Erik told her, placing them on the counter. “Thank you for looking out for my two favorite people.”
Trudy’s eyebrows shot up for a second at that, and he could hardly blame her. After all, she was in on their fake engagement secret.
But she only nodded and smiled and didn’t make a peep, until she opened the box.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” she said. “Ward, look at this.”
Ward was out of his chair in a heartbeat for his wife. He wrapped an arm around her and gazed down at the treats.
“Very nice,” he said. “Cinnamon rolls are my favorite.”
A moment later, Erik heard footsteps on the stairs as Gael popped into view, his dark eyes sparkling, followed by Jenny.
Her long hair was down around her shoulders, and she wore a sweet smile, like she couldn’t wait for their day offun to begin.
Erik had to take a breath to steady himself.
“You’re here,” Gael said happily. “We’re going to look at houses.”
“We sure are,” Erik told him. “I brought you a hot chocolate with cinnamon to warm you up.”
“You drink hot chocolate with cinnamon?” Gael asked, his eyes widening.
“Well, I learned it from your mom,” Erik allowed.
“And she learned it fromme,”Gael said excitedly. “And I learned it from my abuela.”
“She sounds like one special lady,” Trudy said approvingly.
“She was,” Gael said, nodding. “She died.”
“I’m very sorry to hear that, young man,” Ward told him.
“Thank you,” Gael said. “She’s in heaven now. Can I have my hot chocolate?”
Erik plucked it out of the tray and handed it over, more than a little bit in awe of the resilient boy, who seemed to be able to make himself at home in any situation.
“Coffee?” he offered Jenny.
“Yes, please,” she said, taking it when he pulled it out.
Their fingers brushed and he felt a sizzle of electricity shoot through him.
“I’ll take that cardboard tray,” Trudy offered. “If you don’t need it. I use them to start seedlings.”
“Perfect,” Erik said, taking his own coffee out and handing it over.
