Page 29 of Stone's Promise

"You needed it." He slid the plate toward me. "Hope you like pancakes. I figured after last night, you deserved breakfast."

Warmth bloomed in my chest. After last night.He wasn't brushing it off. He wasn't acting weird. He was making me breakfast.

I sat at the counter, watching him move around the kitchen like he belonged there—which, of course, he did. But I was the one out of place, wrapped in his shirt, in his house, in his world.

And I liked it way too much.

I bit into the pancake, humming in approval. "These are good. Who taught you to cook?"

"My uncle," Cody said, pouring more batter into the pan. "Said a man should be able to feed himself without relying on a microwave."

I smiled, resting my chin in my hand as I watched him.There’s that side of him again.The one most people didn’t get to see.

He glanced at me. "What?"

"Nothing," I said, but my heart was already racing. I wanted to bottle this moment up. Keep it forever.

But forever wasn’t part of our deal.

I cleared my throat. "I, uh, should probably head home soon."

His movements paused for a fraction of a second before he nodded. "Sure. Whenever you're ready."

I didn’t move. Neither did he.

CODY

I PULLED UP TO EMILY’Shouse just as the sun started burning off the last traces of morning haze. She sat in the passenger seat, quiet but comfortable, her fingers tracing the rim of her empty cherry soda can.

Last night still played in my head. The way she touched me. The way she trusted me. I wanted to say something. Maybe tell her I didn’t mind if she stuck around a little longer. But she had a life to get back to, and I had no right to ask her to change that for me.

She turned to me, lips curving into a soft smile. “Thanks for breakfast. And for last night.”

A warm feeling settled in my chest, but I kept my voice level. “Yeah. We had fun.”

She hesitated, like she wanted to say something else, but instead, she opened the door and stepped out. I watched her walk up the steps to her front door, a little part of me wishing she’d turn back.

She didn’t.

Max groaned. I patted his back. “Yeah, I know.” I shook it off and headed straight to the gym.

The moment I walked into the gym, Ryder had a look like he was ready to roast me. “Late start to the day?”

Liam chuckled from where he was wrapping his hands. “Man, you’re glowing. Something you wanna share?”

I rolled my eyes and headed to the heavy bag, throwing a couple of quick jabs. “Not a damn thing.”

Ryder snorted. “Right. And I’m the Pope.”

I ignored them, letting the rhythmicthudof my fists against the bag drown out their nosy remarks. I should’ve expected this. They weren’t blind. And I wasn’t exactly doing a good job of hiding the fact that I felt different this morning.

Lighter.

Even when I pushed through drills and sparring rounds, Emily wasn’t far from my mind. I needed to be careful. She had her life. I had mine. This was supposed to be temporary.

Right?

By Monday morning, I was ready to shake the weekend off and get back to business. But when I checked my phone while grabbing a protein shake, my gut twisted.

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