Page 128 of They Break Beauty

“Yeah, I’ve seen it lately. Especially how he is with you. I love his nickname for you.”

“Cupcake, yep. It’s because he says I’m as sweet as icing sugar and just as appealing to the masses too.”

“I can see that.”

“You flirting with me, cutie?”

“A little.”

“I like a little flirt over breakfast.”

I walked into the kitchen. “You like a little flirting at any time of the day.”

Instead of rising to it, he barely gave me more than a second’s glance, then clammed up and looked down at his plate, continuing to eat his pancakes.

Question answered then. He was still pissed at me.

“There’s more,” Brianna told me, offering me a bright smile. “Made you a plate.”

I located another plate beyond the kitchen table over on the counter, taking in the stacked pancakes with raspberries and whipped cream on top. They were drizzled with a deep-red syrup, which I assumed was also raspberry-flavored. We didn’t have that on hand, so she had to have made it from scratch.

“You did all this?”

She lifted a shoulder—just like Lev did in similar circumstances. Pointing her fork with a drizzled piece of pancake on it at Colt, she told me, “I walked into the kitchen to find Maverick here spraying whipped cream into his mouth straight from the canister, so I knew I had to do something about it.”

“Hey,” Colt exclaimed with his mouth full. “Told you I’m banned from cooking.”

“I remember you telling me. But you could’ve at least eaten one of those Granny Smith apples in that bowl at the end of the counter.”

“Nah, I have way more of an intense sweet tooth than an apple can handle.”

She giggled.

Fuck me. It was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard. It rolled right through me.

She was sort of dressed down compared to what I was used to seeing from her through my Hex observations. All right, surveillance. In a pair of gray distressed jeans and an off-the-shoulder baby-pink top, and a pair of block heels, it was simple for her, but she somehow made it look absolutely stunning. In a way, she dressed up whatever she was wearing and took it to another level. Her ebony hair was pulled into a sexy half-up, half-down do with a few strands cascading about her face.

Jesus.

I caught myself.

I was liking it too much, revering her almost.

Seeing the three of them entangled in one another had obviously gotten to me more than I’d fully realized. The need to re-bond with my boys and to draw closer to Brianna and have my taste like the other two had was right there at the surface nagging at me fiercely.

But before that could happen, I needed to smooth things over with Colt and Lev.

We couldn’t come together as a unit until peace was made there.

“So much for me resorting to Cheerios this morning,” I said, walking over to the plate she’d very considerately made for me. “This is a lot better.”

“I saw the box and Colton told me they’re your snack food.”

I smiled, then grabbed the plate and made my way back over to them. “True. And sometimes my lazy breakfast when I can’t summon the wherewithal to cook. Or if I’m in a rush.” Although, that was rare, because I was highly-organized and efficient.

I took my first bite, the flavor exploding on my tastebuds. “This is amazing,” I told Brianna.

“High praise,” she said, amusement dancing in her eyes.

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