Page 97 of On The Rocks

And then she was out again.

I’d never met anyone who could go so completely to sleep in a blink. I tried to steal back some of the covers, but that was a losing battle.

Resolved to be awake, I slipped out of bed and checked my phone. After ten wasn’t too bad. I got dressed and wandered out to the living room and made coffee.

When that didn’t rouse her, I whipped up some waffles with the ridiculous heart-shaped maker I found in the cabinets. I swore I’d become Laverne’s little project. Since my own mother never took that kind of interest in me, I didn’t have the heart to tell her not to bring food and kitchen appliances over on each of her visits.

I shoved the waffles into the air fryer to stay warm. When that didn’t wake her up, I went onto bacon.

Finally, she appeared at the door, wearing my borrowed shirt and a pair of boxers she’d found in my stash. Damn, she did look good in my clothes.

She pushed her wild hair out of her face. “You didn’t wake me.”

I flipped over the lengths of bacon. “Figured the food would.”

She came up behind me and she ducked her head under my arm. “Bacon always works.”

“Good to know.” I lowered my head to hers and gave her a slow, lingering kiss.

“You taste like maple syrup.” She licked her lips and slipped her hand under my old sweatshirt to lightly scratch my belly. “How are you all muscly with the food you eat?”

“Chopping wood.”

She squeezed my upper arm. “Can’t say I’d hate watching that.” She slipped away and went right to the coffee.

A knock at the door had her glancing at me with wide eyes.

“It’s probably Laverne or Kain.”

She glanced down at herself. “Hell.”

“You’re covered.”

“Barely.”

I laughed. “Well, go on into the bedroom if you don’t want to be seen.”

“Griffin?”

“See? Laverne.” I crossed to the door and unlocked it. “Hey, love of my life.”

“Charmer.” Laverne went onto her toes and brushed my cheek with a kiss before pushing inside. “Oh, Lennon.”

She cleared her throat. “Um, hi.”

Laverne glanced from me to her and then back, her smile widening.

“Don’t get any ideas.”

“No ideas. Just happy.” She came in with a casserole dish and set it on the dining room table. “When did this come about?” Laverne went right to the kitchen and filched a piece of bacon from the plate.

Lennon hurried down to the living room and grabbed one of the throw blankets and wrapped it around herself. “Nice to see you, Laverne. You do this often?”

“I like to make sure he’s eating.” She crunched into the bacon and chewed, a thoughtful look on her face. “And now that I know you’re playing sleepover, I’ll stay away.”

“You don’t need to do that.” Lennon cupped her coffee mug between her hands and sat down at the table. She peered under the foil of the casserole. “Hmm, I don’t mind you stopping in with stuff like this.”

Laverne laughed. “Neither of you cook, I take it?”

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