Page 68 of Jett in Jeopardy

Had to run out to pick up a few things.

Be back soon. Breakfast is in the oven.

Love,

B.

The word love sent a warm ripple through my core, and a stupid grin formed at my mouth.Love B.Still grinning to myself, I peeked in the oven where Brody had left a stack of pancakes for me, way more than I could ever eat.

I took three pancakes off the serving plate and transferred them to my own plate before dousing them with maple syrup, which Brody had left on the kitchen table. I barely had time to shovel in one mouthful when the door swung open and Brody backed inside, dragging a huge Christmas tree behind him.

Jumping up, I hurried over to help. Between the two of us, we were able to wrangle the tree through the opening and lean it against the wall in the far corner of the living room, leaving only a thin trail of pine needles in our wake.

“What is this?” I asked once we were certain the tree would remain upright and not tip sideways.

Brody chuckled. “What does it look like?”

“It looks like a Christmas tree. I’m just not sure what it’s doing here.”

“It’s two days before Christmas and we didn’t have a tree. Actually, I’m lucky I went when I did. The lot downtown was pretty picked over. I hope this one’s okay.”

“I’m sure it will be beautiful, but I thought you didn’t really do Christmas.”

“Yeah, I figured maybe it was time to start again.” He leaned closer and kissed me. His lips were cold from being outside, and I could taste the mint from his toothpaste.

“Did you eat?” Brody asked, after breaking the kiss and straightening. “I left pancakes in the oven. Did you get any?”

“I was just starting to when you got home. Didyoueat? Because you have to know there’s no way I could have eaten everything you left.”

“I could eat some more.” He shrugged out of his coat and draped it over one of the kitchen chairs before going to the stove and filling his plate.

I sat back down and started eating again while Brody sat next to me and did the same.

“Hey, I was thinking,” Brody said. “After we eat, we should go out and buy lights and ornaments for the tree—if you want, of course.”

I grinned. “You know I want to.”

“One more thing.” He reached over and pulled something out of the pocket of his coat. “This is for you.” He pushed a small, square blue box towards me across the table. “It’s kind of an early Christmas present, I guess.”

My heart thumped faster in my chest while I looked down at the box. It was the kind of box people put jewelry in. I’d never been one to take a relationship slowly, but even I thought we might be moving a little too quickly for jewelry.

“What is it?”

He grinned and hacked off a chunk of pancake with the edge of his fork. “Open and find out.”

Fair enough. I plucked the cardboard lid from the box. Inside, against folded red tissue, was a perfectly ordinary silver house key. Of course, having lived here for a month, I knew it was the key to Brody’s apartment.

Was he asking me to move in? Frowning, I met his gaze.

“This is yours,” he said. “So you can come and go as you please, or move in if you’re ready. There’snopressure. I just want you to know that my home is your home whenever you’re ready.”

My throat squeezed tight, and I couldn’t speak. Instead, I jumped out of my seat, straddled his lap, and wrapped my arms around his neck before pressing my mouth to his in a sweet, sticky kiss. His tongue slipped into my mouth, sliding alongside mine. The kiss might have deepened into something more, but Brody pulled back before giving it a chance.

“Finish your breakfast, then we’ll go buy those ornaments and after, we’ll have the whole day together.”

I leaned forward and nipped at his earlobe, earning a sharp hiss that made my dick twitch. “I hopehave-the-whole-day-togetheris code for sex.”

He leaned back and shot me a speculative look. “You had the shit kicked out of you less than a week ago. Maybe we should hold off on sex for a little while longer.”

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