Page 22 of Rugged Fox

"Good morning, Mom. I figured since Easton had to sit outside all night, the least we could do was offer him coffee."

I should be proud. Really as a mother, I should be proud that my son was a decent human being and thought about another person's needs especially when that person had spent the night protecting us. And deep down I was.

"That was nice of you." I plastered a fake smile on my face because really, what else could I do?

Easton was sitting at the island with a cup of steaming coffee in front of him, wearing the same clothes from the hospital last night. Yet, somehow he looked just as sexy now as he had when he stormed into my hospital room. It wasn't fair. I was the one who got to sleep in a bed, but if anyone had to guess, they would assume I was the one who spent the night in a car.

"I was just heading out." Easton drained his cup in one big gulp. "Hendrix is taking over for me but I'll be back later to go over the plan moving forward."

Guilt washed over me. With a sigh, I moved to the other side of the island. I might have felt bad, but I still needed that barrier between us. The attraction I had for this man was causing me to be abnormally rude and that wasn't something I wanted Lucien to see.

"Feel free to stay. I’m sorry, I was just thrown off-kilter when Lucien wasn't in his bed. Normally it's a fight to wake him up. With everything going on, I had a moment of panic."

The understanding on Easton's face only made me feel worse. This man had been nothing but nice and caring to me since the moment we met and here I was showing him every one of my horrible personalities in rapid succession. He probably thought I was the biggest bitch in the world.

"Hey!" Lucien sounded offended. "I'm fully capable of waking up when I want to."

I gave my son my full attention. "Oh really? I wouldn't know because you've never done it for me."

For Lyla? Sure. My best friend loved to brag that at least half of the mornings she watched Lucien, he would wake up without a fight. Me? Never. Not once. I used to think how great it was that he slept so well as a baby. Now as a teenager, it was a pain in the ass.

"Maybe I just like having you wake me up in the morning," he replied sheepishly.

I huffed. That smile of his was going to be the death of me. It was too charming for his own good.

"Did you eat breakfast or was coffee as far as you made it?"

Yes, my son had his own cup of coffee sitting in front of him. No, I wasn't proud of my parenting choices but there were some battles I would never win. Considering it took me two cups in the morning to be a functioning adult, I would be a hypocrite if I scolded Lucien.

I did try though. For months we fought every morning about it. Until I realized that he was more like me than I wanted to admit, so we compromised. He could have one cup in the morning but only under my supervision and none of that fancy stuff. Not that we had a place in town besides the cafe inside the bookstore that sold anything fancy, and it would be a cold day in hell before my son stepped foot in that place. He was allergic to reading, and I doubted romance would ever be a genre he willingly picked up.

"We were discussing breakfast options when you yelled for me."

"And what did you decide?"

"That you're overdue for a trip to the grocery store."

I dropped my head to the marble countertop with a groan. The problem with having a son who acted exactly like you is that I should've known what he would say before it came out of his mouth. I walked straight into that one, but that didn't mean I wanted Easton to know that some days my parenting skills weren't exactly great.

I couldn't look at Easton when I responded with sarcasm. "Your honesty is refreshing. We can stop at Wickedly Delicious on the way to school and I'll go grocery shopping today. Text me anything specific you want. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to take my first cup of coffee with me while I grab a quick shower."

I grabbed my favorite mug and poured myself some coffee before saying goodbye to Easton. I thought I managed to slip away without any further damage to my ego when Easton hollering my name stopped me in my tracks. I was tempted to pretend like I hadn't heard him, but the fact that I had been rude already this morning made me stop.

Turning around with the cup up to my lips, I bought myself a few extra seconds to gather myself.

"I'm sorry, I had no intention of coming inside this morning, but when Lucien came out and asked, I didn't want to be rude."

I waved the apology off. "It's fine. Like I said, I was just thrown off and I'm not a functioning adult until I've had my coffee. My son was right, you deserved to come in for coffee after spending all night out in your car. You deserve breakfast too, but as Lucien so kindly reminded me, I'm overdue to go to the grocery store."

"I'd say that's to be expected after the way your last few days have gone."

Why did this man have to be so nice?

"You're too understanding," I blurted out and immediately wanted to slap myself in the forehead. This was what happened when I didn't have enough coffee in my system. The filter to my mouth might as well have not existed.

The smile Easton gave me made the butterflies in my stomach take up flight. I couldn't even blame it on the lack of caffeine because past experience proved his smile did that to me on any given day.

"I've been told that before." Easton's gaze dropped to the floor. "I've also been told I'm too nice and I give good advice most of the time. Not sure I agree with that last one but I can't control what others think of me."

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