Page 8 of Echo

Brodie was the first person who’d seen the booth I had created, and his compliment meant a lot to me. “Thanks.”

“Just called it like I saw it.”

He was careful with the blankets as he put them back into position, then we walked through the door at the end of the hallway. “Since you’re so much bigger than me, you should take the bed. It’s only a queen, but it’s got to be more than twice the size of my couch. So I’ll take that.”

“Not gonna happen, baby.” He dropped his black duffel near the closet door and turned toward me, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “No way in hell am I gonna kick you out of your bed.”

My nose scrunched. “You won’t get much sleep on my couch, though.”

He looked at my bed. “With how tiny you are, a queen-sized mattress is plenty of space for both of us.”

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. “I’m the furthest thing from tiny.”

“Only in the places where a man wants his woman to have curves.” His eyes heated as his gaze raked down my body. “It’ll be hell keeping my hands off you, but I swear you have nothing to fear from me. I’d never touch you unless I knew damn well that you wanted it. But if you’re not comfortable sharing a bed with me, I’ll be fine in the living room. I slept in lots of worse places during my time in the Marines.”

There was no doubting the sincerity shining from his eyes. My gut told me that I could trust Brodie…it was my own self-control that I was worried about. “We can share.”

“Good.” He gestured toward his bag. “I’ll take care of that after I bring in my equipment. Gotta get that done while Jeff is out so he doesn’t know I’m listening in.”

“Sounds like we have a plan.” I followed him down the hall, detouring to the kitchen when he headed for the door. “While you’re taking care of all that, I’ll get to work on that lasagna. And those brownies I owe you.”

Pausing with his hand on the knob, he looked at me over his shoulder. “I’m not gonna turn down anything you want to bake, but you’ve more than paid me back for steppin’ in with Jeff by letting me stay with you.”

“Then maybe I’ll make them just because.”

“Works for me,” he grunted.

I fanned myself with my hand after he walked out, whispering, “Holy heck, that man is too hot for my own good.”

By the time he was settled into my place with his equipment set up, the lasagnas were in the oven, and a pan of brownies was ready to pop in once dinner was done.

“Do you mind if we eat at the island?” I pointed at the small, rectangular table that was pushed against the wall, with two chairs tucked underneath. “I hardly ever use that.”

“You’ll never get a complaint from me when you’re serving a home-cooked meal.” He stalked over to the sink and gently nudged me out of the way. “Except for when it comes to cleaning up. You cooked, so I’ll take care of this.”

I lifted my hands in a gesture of surrender. “You won’t get any arguments from me. I hate doing dishes.”

“Good thing you don’t need to worry about them from now on, then.”

It was going to be rough to go back to doing them myself when he was gone, but I had a feeling that wasn’t the only thing I would miss about him. Including having someone to share meals with.

I enjoyed watching him devour the plate of lasagna and bowl of salad that I served him less than an hour later. And the second helping.

When we were done, I put away the leftovers while he cleaned our dishes. Then we moved to the living room to eat our dessert and get to know each other a little better.

I was blown away when he said, “Gotta admit, I already knew you were an audiobook narrator.”

“You did?” I tilted my head to the side and asked, “How?”

He jerked his chin toward the equipment he’d stacked near my oversized chair. “Picked up audio of you recording a scene. Confused the fuck outta me at first. I thought you were in here with someone until you did the guy’s lines.”

“Oh my gosh,” I whispered when I realized what he might’ve heard,

“Never read a romance book before, but I can see how you can afford this place. It was hot as fuck.”

“And on that note, I should probably get ready for bed.” I stood and gave an exaggerated yawn. “It’s been quite the day.”

“Go ahead, baby. I’ll wait until you’re done.”

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