Page 28 of There Are No Words

“Yeah, and what’s that?”

“Nothing important.”Okayyy.“I made you breakfast, though. I know you usually eat yogurt and are on your way out, but you’re eating for two now.”

I wasn’t sure why, but that comment annoyed me, too. But I was really trying to bite back my mood swings and cool it.

When I didn’t object, Brady smiled and winked at me. I swore that wink should have been illegal. It made me feel out of control. Brady Moore winked, and I feared I would do something stupid, like strip down naked and demand he have his way with me.

He walked behind me to the stove, went to the cabinets, made some noise fishing through the utensil drawer, and the next thing I knew toast and an herbed ricotta cheese omelet was in front of me.

Tears filled my eyes, and I looked upward, trying to will them away, but I couldn’t. It was like I had no control over the water flowing from my eyes. It was running down my cheeks, and I choked back a sob, which only had me swallowing hard.

Brady was next to me in an instant, his hand resting on my shoulder. His strong, large hand. Geez, why did he have to be designed like a Roman sculpture—perfect in every way. “What’s wrong?” he asked, concern lacing his voice. Of course he wasconcerned because I was crying over his sweet gesture, the beautiful breakfast he’d made for me. I was scaring myself, so why shouldn’t he be worried?

I batted my lashes and looked up at him through the tears. “This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I guess I’m overwhelmed, that’s all. First the pregnancy book and now this.”

He brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear, and I loved the way his touch felt. I missed it when the sensation left my body and immediately wished he’d touch me there again.

“May I have a tissue?” I questioned, looking at the box next to the couch in the living room.

* * *

Brady

I passed her a tissue and watched as she dabbed at her eyes. What the hell was going on with her this morning? It was like she was on a goddamn rollercoaster.

I wished I could get a glimpse into what was going on in that pretty little head of hers. Scratch that, I had a feeling I wouldn’t want that. Yeah, I was perfectly fine out here, oblivious to what went through a woman’s mind.

She sniffled and peered down at her food.Do I ask her if she’s okay now?Of course I shouldn’t do that, then she’d think I thought her showing emotion meant she wasn’t okay before. Better idea: I’d ask her about work. That was always a safe topic.

I sat back down across from her and cleared my throat. “So how’s everything going at work?” She’d told me about some party she was planning.

With her fork in hand, she looked up at me, and her lips parted slightly. Oh, shit, what had I done now? Was somethinggoing on at work that was upsetting her? That would make her cry?Let’s try this: shut the hell up, Brady!

Allegra raked her bottom lip through her teeth. Fuck, how I wanted to put my thumb there and pull down on her bottom lip. I shook my head. Not the time for that.

“One of the most influential people I wanted to attend wasn’t going to because of some scandal or another.”

“But they changed their mind?”

“When I told them the party was going dark, yes.”

I furrowed my brows. “Dark?”

“Yeah, like no social media. No phones at all actually.”

“Oh, you mean archaic.”

She laughed and her cheeks turned rosy. There was the Allegra I knew.

“It’s actually a good idea,” she defended in between bites of her omelet. “It will create buzz around the party and more people will RSVP, which is exactly what we want.”

“How do you figure?” I asked, leaning back.

She closed her mouth as she finished chewing, licked her lips, then answered, “Easy. People have FOMO. They want to know what’s going on, and if no one can post about it on social media, then people are going to feel left out.” She tucked her hair behind her ear to keep it from falling in her face as she ate. “Really, this party should have the most attendees we’ve ever had.”

“You sound confident.” Allegra was nothing if not confident as hell, especially when it came toBellissima. She had this glimmer in her eye, too, one that said she could talk about her job day and night and be completely satisfied.

She shrugged. “This is really good.” She pointed to her plate and wet her lips again.Stop wetting your lips, Allegra, unless you want me to come over there and claim them with my own.“It comes with the territory. If I’m not confident in my decisions, then nothing will get done.”

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