Page 16 of Chasing Dreams
His insides knotted. She touched nerves he’d shielded for years. Austin looked away as though she’d revealed more than just the soft-looking skin of her arm. “I was working.”
“Sorry.”
Maybe that peculiar feeling in his stomach was because he needed food. Right. “Are you hungry?”
She shrugged.
“You must be by now. I’ve worked up an appetite.”
“I don’t want to be an imposition.”
“Why don’t we have leftover sandwiches?”
She slanted him a skeptical glance to see if he was serious. “For breakfast?”
“I’m not much of a cook. I eat what’s easiest.”
“Well, I’m a pretty fair cook.”
“Knock yourself out.” He let Daisy out and returned to show Shaine where everything was.
She dropped a knife, cast him a glance and washed the blade. Did his presence make her nervous? After several minutes, she relaxed and went about the chore efficiently.
Within no time she’d prepared pancakes with spiced apples she cooked in the microwave. She set his plate before him and passed him the pitcher of hot syrup.
The smell of cinnamon reached his nostrils. “How’d you do that so fast?”
“I do it nearly every day. For sometimes as many as twelve people.”
His fork paused above the steaming pancakes. He hadn’t considered her family. Other people had families. Why did the thought disturb him? “Are you married?”
She shook her head and sat across from him.
“Kids?”
“No.”
He poured them each a glass of orange juice. He hadn’t cared one way or another, he was just making conversation.
“I’m co-owner of a bed and breakfast,” she said. “I do most of the cooking.”
“Where is this place? Omaha?”
Shaine nodded and watched him enjoy his breakfast. “Just far enough outside the city to be quaint.”
She sipped her juice and tasted her pancakes.
“So Tom Stempson told you where to find me?” he asked.
Shaine laid down her fork. “He’s been working with me for several months. My part’s been rather halfhearted, I must confess. He wanted me to come back to the institute, but I wouldn’t do it.”
He didn’t say anything.
“After the thing with the Deets boy, he told me about you. Said you’d had experiences like mine.”
“Tom’s never given me away,” he said. “We only talk every few months, but he knows I don’t want any part of this.”
“I hope you’re not angry with him.”
