Page 46 of Breaking the Habit

Gage shrugged, looking a little guilty. “Maybe.”

Riley pushed the eggs around in her bowl, relishing everything about this morning…and the night before. She didn’t get why Levi had been trying to avoid this. Why he didn’t want her to meet Gage. He was a funny, bright kid. Hell, she wouldn’t mind coming over more often and hanging out with both of them.

This was nice.Reallynice.

Levi clanked around in cupboards, and she noticed him extract a coffee pot, and then after a lot more rummaging, some filters. He seemed to be taking a long time, but she didn’t think much of it as she ate her eggs and chatted with Gage. When the coffee maker was gurgling and the first notes of the brew reached her nose, she released a long sigh.

“See, that’s the smell of a productive morning,” Riley said.

“My productive mornings smell like dried sweat and bleach,” Levi said.

“Why dried sweat?” Gage asked.

“Because everything smells like dried sweat in a gym. Hey, Gage, what did the bodybuilder say when he opened his protein tub?”

Gage paused, his fork suspended midair, a smile curling his lips upward. “Ummm, I don’t know?”

“No whey!”

Gage snorted. To Riley, Levi said, “I’ve got all the gym jokes a person could ask for.”

“You should publish a book,” Riley said, watching as Levi poured coffee into a mug for her.

“You want milk or…whatever?”

She shook her head, reaching for the mug. “Black is good.” Except this coffee didn’t look very black. She assumed it was the mug and took a healthy sip.

A second later, she spit it back into the mug.

Levi’s eyes widened, and Gage dissolved into laughter.

“Are you okay?” Levi asked.

She covered her mouth, trying to stifle the embarrassed giggles threatening to spill out. She nodded, body wracked with silent laughter.

“Sorry,” she said, trying to keep her voice measured. So here it was: Levi’s fatal flaw. He could tell jokes, beat a man to death, sex her from head to toeandmake breakfast the next morning…but he couldn’t make a pot of coffee. “That was horrible.”

“What, the coffee?” he demanded.

She nodded, and the laughter rippled out of her. Gage cracked up too, pointing at his brother.

He looked between Riley and Gage. “Okay, okay. I don’t know how to make coffee. So sue me.”

“Was that your first time?” Riley demanded, slapping her palm on the countertop. “You could have warned me!” That’s when she noticed the packet of coffee on the counter. It was instant coffee. Decaffeinated, no less. She fought another round of laughter.

He frowned, tossing the coffee into the sink. “I didn’t think it would be that hard.”

“Oh, honey.” She bit back more laughter, stabbing her fork into the eggs for her next bite. “I appreciate the effort.”

When she glanced up at him, she caught that shimmery chestnut glaze in his eyes, the one that made her feel warm from head to toe. They grinned at each other for a few moments, like starstruck lovers, like newlyweds, like any man and woman on the precipice of something big.

She liked this man. Every inch of him.

And she only wanted more.

Chapter 14

Once their bellies were full and Gage had wandered back into his bedroom for someCall of Dutyaction, Levi knew it was safe to take Riley back into the bedroom.

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