Page 44 of The Bartender's Baby

“Yeah!”

“I’m getting dressed. I’ll be down in a minute.”

I grumbled a few curses and tossed the burned rubber pancake into the trash. I shook my head, annoyed with myself for being so careless, and waved my hands a few times, not really helping the smoke situation but needing to dosomethinganyway.

This was my fault. I hadn’t turned off the stove because I’d only meant to be upstairs a minute, tops. But then I got distracted and…

Tabby’s hands skated up my back, her chin against my spine. “You made breakfast?”

“I was making you pancakes, but I walked in on you and forgot where I was.”

She kissed my shoulder blade. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not.” I turned, folding my arms around her. “I could’ve burned the house down. I could’ve?—”

“But you didn’t. And I hate to tell you, but I’m not a great cook. I burn stuff all the time, so you better get used to it.”

I knew she was trying to make me feel better, but in that moment, thinking about the what-ifs of how I could have possibly hurt her or the baby clouded my brain.

“Hey.” She dug her index finger into my pec. “I’m fine. Frogger’s fine. No big deal.”

After a few moments, I curled my hands around her jaw. “Yeah. Sorry. Minor meltdown.”

“Down, boy,” she teased, offering me a flirtatious smile, and I took in her pink cheeks and bright eyes. Orgasms did her body good. Like a shot of vitamins.

I grinned, taking credit even if she didn’t offer it, and kissed her. “I’ll cook up another batch. You like almonds?”

“Yeah.” She helped herself to digging out plates and utensils for us, along with maple syrup and some OJ. A few minutes later, I had our breakfast plated up, and we took out our cell phones, checking our combined schedules.

As far as I was concerned, a synced Google calendar was as good as an engagement ring. We were practically married.

“You’re meeting with contractors today?” she asked, testing my sanity once again when she licked a dot of syrup off her fork.

“Yeah. With Collin coming, I want to show him some tentative plans.”

“You really think he’s in? Because didn’t I hear you talking to Liam about how he travels a lot?”

“Yeah, but he’s apparently tired of that life, and he likes the idea of going in on ownership with me, so he has some stake in it as opposed to being hired to work under somebody.”

She chewed, her eyes taking on that same sort of faraway glassiness whenever she was in thought. Eventually, she tipped her chin up to me. “If you like him, I’m excited to meet him.”

Then, to my utter despair, she dragged the tip of her index finger along the rim of her plate, collecting more of the maple syrup, and sticking it in her mouth. If my burned pancake hadn’tso rudely interrupted us, I wouldn’t have the problem currently camped out in my shorts right now.

Tabby, completely unaware of how she had my heart and cock wrapped around her little finger, drank down her orange juice and then stood, taking our plates to the sink, where she rinsed them off before sliding them into the dishwasher. She even stacked the plates the right way.

I mean, honestly. Was there anything this girl didn’t do perfectly?

“I’m heading out early to meet with my group before the presentation,” she said, making her way back over to me.

“Good luck,” I told her, tugging her down for a kiss.

“We’ll need it.” Pivoting away from me, she wrapped herself up in her coat and looped her bag over her shoulder. With a pet to Lucy’s head, she plucked her keys from the basket and waved goodbye to me.

“Hey.”

She stopped, glancing over her shoulder, brow arched in question.

“I’ll see you later at work.”

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