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Her eyes opened slowly, fluttered, then her head dropped slightly as she realized he was watching her.
“Hey, you,” he whispered, stroking his thumb across her cheek.
She smiled, but he could tell she was shy. “Hey.”
Her voice was so low he only just heard her.
“What do you say I rustle up something for breakfast?” he offered.
She tucked her head down and snuggled against him, hair tickling his chest as she buried into his body and pulled the comforter farther over them in the process.
Jess planted a kiss to his collarbone and sighed into his skin.
He lay with her in his arms for a few minutes then dropped a kiss to the top of her head and wriggled back.
His stomach growled. Loud.
“As much as I want to stay like this, I think my body needs some fuel.”
Jess laughed and rolled over.
“What’s so funny?”
He propped himself up and looked down at her. She was still trying to hide from him, face partially covered, but she didn’t look nervous any longer.
“Jess?”
She groaned then turned back toward him. “I probably shouldn’t tell you, in case you change your mind.”
He raised an eyebrow and watched her.
She groaned again. “You’re the first guy to offer me breakfast in bed, okay?” She let her eyes meet his. “Here I was worried you’d make an excuse and bolt, and instead you offer to feed me.”
Ryan leaned forward to kiss her, brushing the hair from her face so he could see her better. He liked that her trademark pink blush was starting to cover her cheeks again.
“I don’t recall saying anything about breakfast in bed exactly, but it can be arranged. Although if I remember correctly, you never actually gave me dessert last night.”
She responded by pushing him away and throwing a pillow at him. He caught it and grinned.
“Okay, okay! Your wish is my command.”
He stood up and walked across the room. Most of his clothes were in a heap near the foot of the bed, but it was her silk robe hanging on the back of the door that caught his eye.
“Mind if I borrow this?” He plucked it from the hanger and held it up.
Jessica was blushing all over again but she nodded, sitting up with the sheet clutched to her chest.
He grinned and put it on, just managing to secure the pink satin with the flimsy tie. It barely covered him but it made her smile, laugh even, and right now he’d do anything to see those lips of hers upturned, those chocolate-brown eyes sparkling.
Even if he did have to make a fool of himself.
He was about to turn around and make a joke when he heard a phone ringing.
“Yours?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Your cell?”
It was his. He took off down the stairs and looked around for where he’d left it. Nowhere. He scanned the room and found it just as it stopped ringing.
When he flipped it open he saw he’d missed a few calls. All from the same number.
Ryan gulped.
His parents. Or his son. He hoped everything was okay. After so long being used to only thinking about himself, he should have at least phoned to tell them he wasn’t going to make it home last night. Not that his parents would be worried, but George might be. He was going to have to change his habits if he was going to gain George’s trust again.
He hit redial.
“Hello.”
His son picked up almost immediately.
“Hey, George, it’s your dad.”
There was silence for a moment, before his son cleared his throat.
“I thought something had happened to you.”
Ryan felt as though someone had reached into his chest and stuck a knife through his heart. If he was going to get this dad business sorted, he was going to have to start acting like a father, not a bachelor with no responsibilities.
“I, ah, ended up staying at a friend’s place. I should have phoned.”
There was silence on the other end.
“George?”
“Are you coming home soon?”
Ryan looked down at the pink robe, at his hairy legs poking out, and then turned to look at the stairs. He wanted to see his son, to be there for him, but he also didn’t want to hurt Jess, and if he left now she’d think he’d used her. That he was as bad as the last guy who’d clearly broken her heart by not caring enough.
She deserved better than that. But then so did his son.
“I’m going to be a bit longer.” He paused, cringing at the silence down the line. “But I’ll be home soon, then we should grab some lunch, okay?”
“Yeah.”
Ryan hated the way he felt when George hung up. Like he was being torn in two different directions. Yanked one way in his heart, then the other.
He sighed and put down the phone. Fifteen minutes ago he’d been on cloud nine, had felt like everything was going to work out perfectly, and now he was all messed up in his head again. He needed to do something to make things right, and that might mean talking to his boy about Jessica. Somehow.
“Is everything okay?”
Ryan turned to find Jessica standing nearby. He was pleased he’d put down the phone because it would have dropped from his hand and hit the floor.
She was wearing his T-shirt and what looked like nothing else. It only covered her down to the top of her thighs, and she had her ankles crossed, legs together, hair all mussed up and falling around her face. She must have found it while he was on the phone, which meant he’d missed seeing her walk into the room naked.
“Ryan?”
He realized he was standing there like an idiot, mouth hanging open. Her face was like an open question mark, eyes showing her confusion. He didn’t like it. He liked what he saw, her big brown eyes watching him, so much skin on show apart from what was hidden beneath his shirt, but he hated that she was unsure of him.
Ryan crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her, smiling as he realized that she now smelled like his cologne. He kissed her neck, then her cheek, then her lips, hands buried in her hair.
“Everything is fine.”
She pressed her face against his chest, fingers teasing his bare skin where her dressing gown didn’t stretch enough to cover him.
“So where’s breakfast then?”
He growled and slapped her bottom. Jess shrieked and jumped away from him.
“Any more naughty business and I’ll take a photo of you like that,” she threatened.
He followed her across the room, teasing her. “Oh, really?”
She giggled, darting away, one hand holding down his T-shirt. He couldn’t help but smile at her modesty. After the night they’d just had, here she was still innocent enough not to want him to see her bare in the daylight.
When she moved again he pounced, grabbing her wrists and pinning her against the wall.
“You win.” She wriggled but didn’t put up much of a fight.
Ryan held her, restrained her, taking the chance to kiss her before backing away.
“If I win, that means I get a prize.”
He let go of her wrists and walked into the kitchen, taking a look in the pantry. Jess followed him, but she stopped to fill the jug.
“Coffee? That can be your reward.”
He shook his head, reaching for a loaf of bread and the maple syrup.
“French toast?” he asked.
Jessica nodded.
“And my prize is that you say yes to lunch with me today.”
She leaned back against the counter, eyes slanted slightly like she didn’t believe him. “What’s the catch?”
“My son’s joining us.”
Jessica gulped and watched Ryan’s face. He wasn’t kidding.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
He looked around. “Eggs?”
She went to the fridge and pulled out a tray, still waiting for him to respond.
Ryan nodded, but she could tell he was teetering on being unsure about it.
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea or not, to be honest. But I’m not here long and I don’t want to feel torn between the two of you. I want to enjoy you both and that means not keeping us a secret.”
Us. She took a silent, deep breath.
She had no idea what that even meant. What they even were to one another. Last night had only further complicated her jumbled thoughts.
This was supposed to be fun, something casual, but it was starting to feel a whole lot more serious than that.
“When you say us …”
Ryan looked up as he cracked eggs into a dish.
“Jess, you mean a lot to me.” He paused, before opening a drawer and reaching in and rummaging, emerging with the whisk. “I want George to know how much you helped me when I was away, and I don’t know why I should have to keep that a secret. If I’m going to make things right with him, I need to be honest. About everything. And I think it might help to open up to him.”
Okay. That sounded better. More like introducing her as a good friend.
“So when I meet him you’ll tell him we’re …”
He smiled. “Close friends.”
Right. “I just don’t want you to push it with him. If he thinks I’m your girlfriend it might make things difficult for you.”
Ryan dipped the first slice of bread into the bowl and gave her one of his double-wattage grins.
“I’m not going to make this difficult for him. But I have to be honest about what’s going on in my life if I want him to let me back in. Trust me again. I’ll talk to him beforehand, explain myself so he understands.” He paused. “I’m doing this for him. If I thought it wouldn’t be the right thing for him, I wouldn’t even suggest it.”
Jessica sighed. She knew what he meant, she just wasn’t convinced, personally, that his son was ready to meet her.
“Do you have any fruit?”
Jessica moved back to the fridge again. He seemed set on them meeting, and she wasn’t going to hurt his feelings by saying no to the lunch. But she hadn’t missed the look on George’s face the other day, and something told her it might not be the right thing to do. Even if Ryan was doing his best to evade her questions right now, they had to tread carefully.
But he sure was good at changing the subject. “Go back up to bed,” Ryan told her, pausing and leaning toward her to plant a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll bring breakfast up when it’s ready.”
Ryan watched as Jessica’s fingers played across his chest as they lay side by side. Breakfast had been started and then somehow quickly forgotten about, but he wasn’t complaining.
He sighed as she snuggled in closer to him.
“What?”
