Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Every morning for the rest of my life.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Michael
We ate in silence for a bit, and it wasn’t awkward or strange or the way that silence could get between two people. So many times I had seen it in the restaurant—couples running out of things to talk about, and then finding that they wanted to fill the silence with literally anything. They didn’t feel comfortable just sitting and being together. I’d always taken it as a sign that maybe they shouldn’t actually be together, if they couldn’t handle a little silence.
But with Stevie and me, it just worked. It just… felt right. Like we should be doing this every morning.
After a few bites, Stevie teased me, nudging my foot with hers. “Mmm, how does it feel to be the one doing the cooking for once?”
“Oh, I don’t know, how does it feel to have the best omelet you’ve ever eaten?”
“Whoa, there, cowboy. The best omelet I’ve ever eaten is mine.” She winked at me.
“You sure about that? Pretty sure I heard you moan just a second ago when you took a bite.”
She gasped. “You were clearly mistaken.”
I grinned at her, just feeling relaxed, at home, even though this studio apartment wasn’t nearly nice enough for what Stevie deserved. “So… we need to talk…”
Stevie had a moment of horror flashing in her eyes, and I hastened to add, “…about you coming back to San Francisco. Back with me.”
Stevie relaxed. Not entirely, but she no longer looked terrified. “I want to come back, of course I do, but I’m not sure how things would look if I did. I practically fled, and if I came back and everyone knows I’m pregnant… and what about the restaurant? You had to get a new chef, right? I can’t just waltz back in there.”
“I did hire someone,” I admitted, because I’d had to, I couldn’t run my kitchen otherwise. “But he’s new, wet behind the ears, and he’s not up to par with you. I picked him because he seemed like someone the others would get along with and I figured since he was newer to the business he would be okay with continuing to follow your menu. I’m sure that he’d actually appreciate learning from you, if you were in the kitchen with him.”
Stevie laughed. “Flattery will get you everywhere,” she teased me, stealing a bit of bacon from my plate.
I chuckled. “I’m not going to take no for an answer, though. You belong back home with your friends and your family, and at our restaurant.” Stevie blushed, and I paused. “What?”
“Nothing.” She shrugged, still blushing. “It’s just that, you called it ‘our’ restaurant.”
“That’s because it is,” I promised her, squeezing her hand. “But if you want to go back, then that’s what we’re doing. After breakfast we’ll pack your things up and we can get you home today.”
She didn’t have much to pack up, and she could stay with me, since I knew Andy had found another roommate for the time being since she’d moved.
“It’s not that easy,” Stevie told me, shaking her head. “I have to give notice at my job, to my landlord… I could just… hand in my resignation with you because it’s you. Because I knew you before, for so many years, and I knew that I could get away with it then. But I have to give two weeks’ notice and all to my job and my landlord will have to know and I can’t just leave.”
“You can do all that over the phone,” I pointed out. “And why would you worry what your boss here thinks? It’s not like if he’s bitter you’ll have to struggle to get another job. I’m hiring you. You’ve paid up for the month, right? Your landlord will find someone else, no problem.”
Stevie laughed again, finishing up her omelet. “What’s got you so impatient, hmm?”
I shrugged. “We’ve spent enough time apart. Even the drive back to the city feels like too long.”
Stevie leaned in, putting her hand on my knee and giving me the sultriest smile I’d ever seen. I could so easily imagine wiping that smile off her face with a damn good kiss, and I could feel my cock starting to get stiff as my body heated up. God, I still wanted her so badly it was like I couldn’t even breathe.
“Poor desperate you,” she teased me. Then she stood up. “However have you been managing?”
As if she hadn’t been just as desperate for me last night, the little minx. Stevie grabbed the dishes and started to clean up, and I was tempted to just grab her and bend her over the table, fuck her right then and there, but I told myself to wait. I would get her all packed, get her home, and then we could have as much damn sex as we wanted.