Page 20 of Just One Kiss

Now she was being reprimanded by a four-year-old. "You're right. Are you done eating?"

He popped the last bite of eggs into his mouth and then said, "Can I have a cookie?" with his mouth full.

"Finish what you're eating first."

He swallowed and smiled. "Now?"

"I suppose you can have one."

"I'll get it for you, buddy," Jake said, as he got to his feet. "I want one, too. What about you, Hannah? Cookies for breakfast?"

"Why not? It seems like that kind of morning."

Jake brought the cookies to the table and then said, "We should leave as soon as we're done with breakfast. The guy I spoke to in the other cabin was plowing the road earlier. We should be able to get back to the highway."

"I'm fine with that. I still need to get someone to fix my tire."

"We'll figure that out once we get back to town."

"Can we play a game now?" Brett asked.

"Actually, we're going to take a ride," she told him. "Do you want to see my house?"

Brett suddenly looked uncertain. "What about Mommy? Isn't she coming back here?"

"Don't worry. She knows where to find you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. And at my house, I have some photos of me and your mom when she was a little girl. Would you like to see them?"

Brett gave a vigorous nod. She was happy he was too little to understand much, and he wasn't asking questions she couldn't answer.

"I'll get my puppies," he said, running out of the room.

As Brett left her alone with Jake, a new tension entered the air. "I don't want to talk about last night," she warned, making a preemptive strike.

"Did I ask you to?" he countered.

"I'm sure you were going to."

"I wasn't. Actions speak louder than words. What happened last night told me a lot."

"It didn't tell you anything. You took me by surprise, that's all."

"Whatever you say."

She frowned at his easy agreement. "Don't make it into something else, Jake. You and I are not going to be anything more than friends."

"So, we're going to be friends?" he asked with a sparkle in his eyes. "I like that. It's the first step."

He was deliberately baiting her, and she really shouldn't take that bait. But she couldn't seem to help herself. "It's not the first step or any step. It's nothing. We're nothing."

"Are you done?"

She gave him a long look. "You made a fool of me once; you're not going to do it again," she said. "Now I'm done."

Chapter Six

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