Page 53 of Recipes for Life

“I don’t.” The tone in his voice left no room for debate.

The look he gave me would have most women melting into a pile of goo, and believe me, I was close to it. But the look he focused on Wynn could cut glass at her suggestion, and I smiled big when she laughed at him.

“Okay, Murphy, you can come.” She popped a piece of fruit into her mouth, not bothering to look up in his direction.

Speak of the devil.

“Hey you,” I said as I saw him enter the living room. I saw the upturn of his lips in a small smile as he looked me over, the semi-serious look on his face morphing into something softer as he took me in.

“Hey, you ready?”

“Absolutely. Wynn said she’d meet us there… Could you maybe help me up?” I felt a little guilty asking him. Even though I knew I could do it on my own, I had been craving not only his presence, but also his touch.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he stalked over to me and his hands felt light as a feather as he wrapped them around me and pulled me up into his chest, almost like a hug. I heard him inhale deeply.

“Are you smelling me, Murphy?”

“Shit, sorry… I’m sorry.” He pulled from the embrace so quickly, I shivered at the loss of touch. I wanted to grab his hands and place them around me again.

“Don’t be sorry,” I whispered, considering he was still close to me. His head snapped in my direction instead of looking at the floor, his gaze was smoldering, and I found myself stepping into him again, hoping he would wrap me back up.

My phone’s alarm rang out from the sofa and snapped us both out of it briefly, but his eyes never left mine and, in his gaze, I felt the whisper of him all over my skin.

“We should head out or we are going to be late.”

Fuck the appointment,I almost said but knew Murphy wouldn’t even consider entertaining that idea.

He held his hand out to me, and I took that as my sign that it was time to go. The moment had dissipated before my eyes, butI was determined to get the answers I was seeking, come hell or high water.

He wrapped an arm around me in a featherlight touch so as to not hurt me and helped me to his truck. Once he got there, I could see the wheels turning. He kept looking at his lifted truck, then to me, and then back to the truck, his annoyance clear on his face.

“What’s wrong, Murphy?”

“The truck...it’s too high. How did I not notice this? Mom took her car to the store…”

“It’s not that bad, I can easily step up…”

“Absolutely not. What if you step wrong? What if you fall back? No, just give me a minute.”

I couldn’t help but be amused at his inner turmoil. It seemed like he was two shakes away from burning the car down with his eyes.

“Can…can I lift you? You’ll have to let me carry you up…otherwise, I can grab my dad.”

Another thing I noticed about Murphy was that he never touched me without me giving him explicit instruction to do so, and while every single part of me appreciated that, it was also enough to drive me completely insane.

“Murphy…”

“If that’s not okay, then fuck, I don’t know. Let me call my mom, or a taxi. I think there’s some app called Uber that’s useful…” He was stuck in his own thoughts right now, and I was beyond amused.

“Murphy…”

He swung his head until his gaze met mine, and he relaxed once he saw I was not at all stressed about the situation.

“I’m perfectly okay with whatever you need to do to get me into the car by yourself.” I put enough emphasis on the wordyourself,so he knew he didn’t need to find his dad or call his mom. I was met with a devastating smile that made me weak. At that moment, I realized Murphy hardly smiled—those were reserved for Lux and me.

“I’m just going to loop my arm around you, and if you could grab onto my neck, I can lift you to place you in the passenger’s seat.”

“Bridal style, you mean?”

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