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Forking up some pancake, he aimed it toward her ave him a narrow look as he poked the food past her bared teeth She was hungry, and the pancakes were very good "Linda didn’t make these You did" He was the only man she kneho made pancakes like fluffy sweet manna instead of the bitter, thin pancakes rits I wanted to make you pancakes" He speared one on the platter, dropped it on her side of the plate "That one has butterscotch chips in it, like you like The other two have chocolate chips, so you can tuck them away for a snack later, since I know you prefer that type cold, when the yeast settles and makes them really dense The two in the middle are plain, for your ht"
In fact, the use of blackone of an appetite But with Heaven ht won out She’d tuck away as , of course From the look in his eyes, she was pretty sure he already knew her appetite wasn’t what it should be So she’d eat all of theh it was probably a criminal act to throw up pancakes made by his skilled hands
"I can feed myself" She snatched the fork away fro for the syrup
"Lovely tablea napkin by her elbow, he picked up his own fork and repeated the command "Eat We won’t talk for a bit"
That part almost made her smile Derek took food consu to eat in silence Since she really didn’t want to talk about a lot of subjects, it suited her as well However, while they ate, she shot surreptitious looks his way Mostly he was studying the scenery outside as he chewed, though occasionally he glanced toward her His knee pressed against hers because of the length of his long legs She didn’t scoot away
The war thes feel lazy and slow After she ate as h and lay her head on his broad shoulder She closed her eyes to take another quick five- the rhythm of his body’s minute shifts as he chewed, sed, cut and speared each bite, take her to that resting state
Breakfast was themeal of all, and when Derek’s scent was part of that concoction, coffee and leather, laundry detergent and the sandalwood shaving soap he used-- it just enhanced the effect
It intrigued her, thinking of hi his laundry From the times he’d stayed with her, she knew he didn’t handleexercise to hone skills In his opinion, doing otheras atasks in the way they were intended to be done
Only a man who’d lived hundreds of years could feel that way about vacuu She’d be happy to break all the rules of sorcery to do the Mickey Mouse Sorcerer’s Apprentice thing and have her vacuum roll out on its own
However, fros The world was full of men who hated chores and house maintenance Derek acted like it was a vacation to wash dishes, fold laundry,back fro, all her fears and insecurities, she remembered how he’d captured her heart He was a unique spirit who seemed to understand the precious value of every simple moment, and when he ith her like this, she understood it, too Things seemed clearer, more in focus Steadier Less painful
Like now She could rest her head on his shoulder, know he’d let her be, let it stay quiet, noabout later
After a time, he shifted, used one hand to scrape her stool even closer to him Then he slid his arm around her so she could pillow her cheek on the inside of his arers stroking there, over the soft give of her buttock When he lifted his coffee to his lips, she smelled the pleasantly bitter aro Then there was the clink of the fork, the sainst her hair as he ate another pancake
Probably twenty minutes passed that way She didn’t think she’d been this… still, in a very long time She dozed some, but mainly she just let herself be hypnotized into a tranquil zone by his rhythy around hi Linda was returning, she opened her eyes to see the platter of pancakes was e up the e
As she straightened, blinking, a wet nose touched her hand It wasn’t Linda but Theo, who’d simply nosed open the warped screen door and co’uns leave you behind, Theo?" Derek asked, reaching down froh of that nonsense and thought you’d coe link she no he’d deliberately set to the side and offered it to the dog Theo took it with polite stateliness and then moved to the corner of the kitchen to collapse into a sun spot, propping his chin on a one-foot stool that was left next to the pantry A piece of furniture every short woman needed, Ruby knew, because hoht When Derek stayed with her, she hadn’t needed such a thing In fact, he usually tucked her short stepladder under her kitchen counter so he wouldn’t trip over it A ss in her life
She slipped off the stool "However this Great Rite is going to happen, I need to go and do so his mouth with his napkin, he turned and leaned an elbow on the counter, hand lying loosely on his splayed knee "We talk first, Ruby Particularly if we’re going to do this thing tonight"
"Is this the superpower cop talking to ave her an even look "You used soul ic to drive me away from you"